Murder is No Joke is a novella published by Rex Stout in 1958 in his collection Four to Go. A longer version was published later that year in the Saturday Evening Post, under the title Frame Up for Murder.

The sister of a prominent clothing designer (Alex Gallant) hires detective Nero Wolfe to investigate a mysterious woman (Bianca Voss) who has a strong hold over her brother’s business affairs. As Wolfe speaks to Bianca by telephone, he apparently hears her being murdered, and sure enough, she is found dead of strangulation. Matters grow more mysterious when a local actress is likewise found dead of cyanide poisoning. True to form, Nero Wolf traverses red herrings and deception to figure out which of several suspects is the perpetrator as well as the motives involved.

The story is standard Rex Stout fare, and was considered sufficiently meritorious to be included by Jacques Barzun in his 1961 anthology The Delights of Detection. ( )