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Title: Three for the Chair
Series:
Nero Wolfe #28
Author: Rex Stout
Rating:
4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages:
190
Words: 67K
Another collection of three novella’s (because they really aren’t short stories) and I enjoyed them all. I enjoyed each story more as I progressed through the book. “A Window for Death” was ok. “Immune to Murder” was pretty good. “Too Many Detectives” was the best as Nero Wolfe had to work with a bunch of other detectives who were all on the hook for a murder, as was Wolfe.
I think what I enjoyed the most about that story was that it tied back to a former case that I actually remembered. :-D Plus seeing a bunch of other detectives giving things their own spin, Wolfe definitely didn’t have it all his own way. I like Wolfe because he’s so smart but at the same time, I feel very empathetic towards Archie when he lets things happen to Wolfe to try to teach him a lesson. Wolfe needs to be taken down a peg or two every once in a while and I enjoy watching that. I think the author realizes it too and that’s why he is constantly letting Archie try to whittle down Wolfe’s ego. It might work a little but every new book Wolfe’s ego is just as big as he is.
Each novella had it’s own Wiki page, so the synopses below is just over 1900 words long. Open it at your own risk. You have been warned.
★★★★☆
From Wikipedia:
A Window for Death:
David R. Fyfe, a high school English teacher, asks Wolfe for advice concerning the death of his brother Bert. Twenty years earlier, Bert had left his family to pursue uranium mining opportunities in Canada. He had returned to New York and reconciled with his siblings—brothers David and Paul, sister Louise, and her husband Vincent Tuttle—in order to tell them of his success in finding a profitable site. Johnny Arrow, his Canadian business partner, accompanied Bert to New York.
Bert had invited the family to dinner and the theater, but he developed pneumonia in the days leading up to it and was confined to his apartment. Dr. Frederick Buhl, the family physician, was called in from Mount Kisco to attend him and brought his nurse, Anne Goren. Anne gave Bert a dose of morphine to help him sleep, as instructed by Buhl; the next morning, though, Bert was dead. Arrow claims to have made an agreement with Bert that grants control of the mining business and any assets derived from it to either partner if the other dies, causing the family to suspect him. Altercations between Anne and Paul, and between Paul and Arrow, only cloud the matter further.
Wolfe accepts a $1,000 retainer from David to investigate the circumstances of Bert's death and decide whether to involve the police. He focuses on the hot-water bags that had been placed in Bert's bed to keep him warm; Paul claims that they were empty when he found the body, but Anne insists that he told Louise he had emptied them himself. The incident is similar to the death of the Fyfes' father 20 years earlier, due to pneumonia worsened by a bedroom window left open during a blizzard. Bert was tried on a murder charge and acquitted, leading to his long estrangement from the family.
Archie investigates the idea that Bert may have been poisoned or given an overdose, but Buhl states that the morphine was not tampered with and Anne says that she followed his instructions exactly. Wolfe brings Saul Panzer in to help and takes interest in the matter of some ice cream that Paul had bought for a Sunday party at the family home in Mount Kisco. He had put it in the refrigerator at Bert's apartment on the night of his death, but no one can remember seeing it since then. Archie fails to learn its whereabouts, but Wolfe surprises him by asking him to bring Buhl, Arrow, the Tuttles, and the Fyfes to the office.
Wolfe informs the group that he has decided to notify the police about Bert's death and explains his theory of the crime. The ice cream Paul bought had been packed in dry ice to keep it cold; the murderer emptied the hot-water bags and placed the dry ice on top of them to lower Bert's body temperature to dangerous levels without causing frostbite burns or leaving any traces once it evaporated. Wolfe has learned that Tuttle provided an alibi for Bert during the murder trial, and that Bert had returned to New York to check into it. He had visited the landlady from whom he and Tuttle had rented rooms 20 years earlier, and Saul confirms that Tuttle has recently visited her as well. Based on David's statement that his father had refused Louise permission to marry Tuttle, Wolfe accuses Tuttle of opening the window to cause the elder Fyfe's death in revenge, then of causing Bert's death to prevent him from uncovering the truth.
Tuttle is convicted of the murder of the Fyfes' father, and Arrow sends Wolfe and Archie a large payment in gratitude for clearing his name.
Immune to Murder:
Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin travel to a hunting lodge in the Adirondacks owned by oil tycoon O.V. Bragan. They have been invited at the request of Theodore Kelefy, ambassador to the United States from a foreign country with large oil reserves, so that Wolfe can cook a dish of freshly-caught trout for a meeting of dignitaries at the lodge.[a] In addition to Wolfe, Archie, Bragan, and Kelefy, five others are present – Kelefy's wife Adria; his advisor Spiros Papps; Assistant Secretary of State David M. Leeson and his wife Sally; and James Arthur Ferris, head of a rival oil company who is vying with Bragan for drilling rights in Kelefy's country.
At the first night's dinner, Bragan spites Ferris by arranging for him to sit uncomfortably close to the lodge's blazing fireplace. The next morning, Bragan, Ferris, Kelefy, Papps, and Leeson set out to fish on different stretches of the river that runs through the property, in order to catch trout for lunch. After Wolfe starts to cook, Archie goes fishing on his own and finds Leeson's body, showing signs of a fatal head injury. Once lunch is finished and Wolfe begins to pack for the return trip to New York, Archie tells him of the discovery.
The state and county police detain everyone at the lodge and soon establish that Leeson was murdered, most likely with a piece of firewood. District Attorney Jasper Colvin questions the group and begins to concentrate on Wolfe and Archie, hinting that someone may have hired them to kill Leeson. Colvin questions Wolfe about the fact that he cooked none of the trout Kelefy brought in, but Wolfe refuses to answer out of irritation over Colvin's attitude.
In a private meeting, Wolfe turns down Bragan's offer to hire him to catch the murderer. They are interrupted by Ferris, who threatens to tell the state attorney general of Bragan's attempt to influence Kelefy and Papps so that the negotiations will turn in his favor. Later, Kelefy asks Wolfe what he plans to say to Colvin about the unused trout. Wolfe offers to state simply that he chose not to cook them out of caprice, and also promises to say nothing about the confrontation between Bragan and Ferris. Kelefy takes off an emerald ring and has Adria give it to Wolfe as a token of gratitude. After they leave, Wolfe and Archie examine the stone and find it to be flawed and of poor quality.
Wolfe then calls his lawyer, Nathaniel Parker, and the two converse in French to prevent anyone listening in from learning about their discussion. He then has everyone gather in the main hall and calls the Secretary of State to explain his theory of the crime. The real reason he did not cook any of Kelefy's trout was that they were not fresh; they had been caught earlier and kept in a pool of water near the river. Surmising that Kelefy had simply had an unlucky day of fishing, Wolfe said nothing to avoid embarrassing him. However, when Kelefy had Adria give him the ring, Wolfe realized that it was meant as a bribe to conceal the truth, and an insultingly cheap one at that. Wolfe deduced that Kelefy had caught a creel of trout earlier in the day to allow him time to get the firewood piece and take Leeson by surprise. From Parker, he has learned that Kelefy is protected from prosecution by diplomatic immunity, and that anyone who swears out or serves a warrant against him will be subject to a prison term.
When Wolfe starts to comment on Kelefy's choice to have Adria give him the ring, she knocks the phone away and Sally angrily confronts her. Adria had seduced Leeson while he was stationed in Kelefy's country, and Sally found out and had him recalled to the United States. When Adria encountered Leeson again at the lodge, she began to seduce him again, prompting Kelefy to kill him.
Kelefy, Adria, and Papps leave the lodge to return home, Wolfe gives the ring to Colvin, and he and Archie depart for New York. Kelefy is executed a month later – whether in response to the murder or the failed oil-rights negotiations, Archie never finds out.
Too Many Detectives:
Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin have been summoned to appear for questioning in Albany by the New York Secretary of State, part of an effort to investigate wiretapping activities by the state's private detectives. Dol Bonner, her assistant Sally Colt, and three other detectives from New York City have been brought in for the same day. Albert Hyatt, a deputy official, is in charge of the inquiry and calls Wolfe and Archie into his office to go over a statement Wolfe has provided. A man calling himself Otis Ross had asked Wolfe to tap his phone line and report all conversations, believing that his secretary might be leaking confidential business information. Wolfe took the job, but ended it after Archie discovered that the client was not the real Ross.
One of Hyatt's staff members finds a man strangled to death in another meeting room; Wolfe and Archie identify him as their client. The city police detain everyone at the scene for questioning, under the direction of Chief of Detectives Leon Groom. Hyatt states that the client had come to see him shortly before the day's meetings were to begin, introduced himself as William A. Donahue, and said that he wanted to give information on some illegal wiretaps he had arranged - including the one performed by Wolfe. Donahue had been sent to another room to wait until Hyatt had more time to speak with him.
Wolfe and Archie are arrested as material witnesses and held for most of the day until Wolfe arranges bail through his lawyer, Nathaniel Parker. They take a room at a nearby hotel, not being allowed to leave the city, and Archie calls the other detectives for a meeting so they can share information. Donahue had gone to all of them, giving a different name and address to each one and asking for a wiretap to be set up; from Lon Cohen, Archie learns that the targets were all members of a committee tasked with investigating the use of charity funds. Wolfe asks the detectives to mobilize as many operatives as they can and has Archie call Saul Panzer so that he can be ready to get instructions from Wolfe in the morning.
Wolfe gives Archie that morning off, but when Archie returns to the hotel after a walk, he is taken for questioning by the district attorney. After being released, he spends the afternoon at his leisure and has dinner with Sally, only to be interrupted by a call from Wolfe. They find all the other detectives gathered in the room upon their return, and Hyatt and Groom arrive soon afterward. Wolfe and Dol have been taking reports from operatives all day long and gaining information on Hyatt and Donahue. Hyatt had been hired by a profitable fundraising organization to provide legal counsel, but the formation of the committee threatened its activities. Unable to get any information from the members directly, he arranged for Donahue to set up the wiretaps. Donahue's visit to his office was a surprise, and Hyatt killed him to prevent him from exposing the truth.
Hyatt is convicted of the murder, and the other detectives invite Wolfe to a celebratory dinner; Wolfe declines, but invites them to dine at the brownstone instead. Archie realizes that Wolfe left him out of the investigation because there was nothing he could do to assist, and also because he could serve as a distraction for the district attorney so that Wolfe and Dol could go through the operatives' reports undisturbed.
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