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Title: Observe a Writer's Growth
Review: I was amazed at how sophomoric and amateurish was this great writer's first novel. Stout was obviously a competent wordsmith, even at the beginning, but appeared hopelessly far from ever becoming an author of merit. "Her Forbidden Knight" reads like a college Creative Writing major's attempt to create a Harlequin Romance. It's worth reading, however, to illustrate the way a writer can grow. Placed alongside one of the later Nero Wolfe novels, it may serve as inspiration for an aspiring author who has not yet gotten the hang of it and fears that s/he never will.
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