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.
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.
