20 Years before the Wolfe
Review of the Mysterious Press / Open Road Kindle eBook (May 22, 2012) of the 1997 Severn House Publishers hardcover of the original 5-part novel as serialized in All-Story Magazine (August to December, 1913).

“I hope he keels you!” he screamed, shaking a fist at Knowlton.
“Chacun tire de son côte,” said Knowlton calmly.
“Mon Dieu! Français!” shrieked Dumain. “Eet ees degradation!”

I picked this up from a Kindle Deal of the Day purely out of curiosity to read a Rex Stout (1886-1975) novel from his early pulp fiction magazine days. Her Forbidden Knight first appeared as a 5-part serial in 1913 and was not even issued as a novel until rediscovered in 1997. It predates Stout's popular Nero Wolfe detective series (1934-1975) by 20 years.

The writing here is very dated of course, and includes a lot of purple prose and very improbable characters and situations. A mixed group of men decide to become the protectors of an innocent female telegraph operator at a New York hotel. They deem themselves as Errant Knights but with the self-deprecatory moniker of the "Erring Knights". They resent the presence of a new suitor, the "Forbidden Knight" of the title, who is apparently winning over the heart of the operator. Various fisticuffs ensue until they finally accept him, but then disaster strikes as it is discovered he is an apparent criminal on the run. Will true love win out in the end? No prizes for guessing the ending 🤔.

See front cover at https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.f60d76e708117e76a0fb1ce6d81a5d2f?rik=ECWDH3cAZhzbXw&...
The front cover of the August 1913 issue of The All-Story Magazine, although Rex Stout’s premiere of “Her Forbidden Knight” was not featured on the cover promo. Image sourced from the Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase.

There wasn't really much of a mystery to this, so it is not even worth giving a rating on the Ease of Solving scale. Pretty much anyone would guess the twist at the end which saves the day.

See front cover at https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/...
The cover of the original Severn House Publishers edition (1997). Image sourced from Goodreads. ( )

This early pulp fiction product was free or something, so I took it. Yes, it's pretty awful but an interesting example of the genre. Laughable characters, simplistic plot, improbable resolution--a quick read and I enjoyed it. Here and there were tiny signs of the masterful writer that Stout would become, but they were few. Worth reading by anyone hoping to be a writer simply for the encouragement that one's mastery can improve. ( )

One of the few books Stout put out that did not involve Nero Wolfe. One might be more inclined to call it a thriller than a mystery, as there is no puzzle to solve, per se, but it's interesting to watch the pieces slowly fall into place.

Starts a bit slowly, and the characters were next to impossible to understand, as far as I could see. I assume they were authentic, but nevertheless, what was the deal with all these fellows who hang around a hotel lobby all day and eat out every night? Where are they getting their cash? Are they mobsters waiting for an assignment from the boss? I wasn't sure. Maybe I was supposed to understand the context, but I didn't, and so the book didn't really come together for me.

Still, if you assume that the characters have motivations, and that the motivations have some sort of rhyme or reason, the last half of the book chugs along nicely, with a couple of good fights and a nice trial scene. Stout was better later, but this book is anything but bad. ( )