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Case Case Introduction Year Published
Fer-de-lance 7-23 June, 1933. Fred Durkin asks Wolfe to help Maria Maffei, his wife's best friend. Maffei's brother Carlo is missing, and Maria suspects foul play -- she wants her brother found and she wants to see "the one who hurt him." 1934
The League of Frightened Men 2-12 November, 1934. A group of Harvard alumni approach Wolfe because they fear a classmate Paul Chapin. A college hazing incident left Chapin handicapped years before. The men now fear for their lives after a number of them are found dead under mysterious circumstances. Letters from Chapin hint at his involvement and his intent to harm others of the league. 1935
The Rubber Band 7-9 October 1935. A group of people claim to be owed a very large of money by a foreign nobleman (who happens to be traveling in New York). Long ago, the nobleman (alias George Rowley) was in prison for murder and to be hanged. When he was liberated by the Rubber Band (a group of toughs led by a man nick-named Rubber), the nobleman promised to pay back half of a fortune he said he would receive should he return to his home in England. Descendants of and actual members of the Rubber Band ask Wolfe's help in getting payment from the nobleman. 1936
The Red Box 30 March - 4 April 1936. Archie maneuvers Wolfe into leaving the brownstone to investigate the murder of a model for the Boyden McNair Agency. Essential clues in the case are believed to be in a mysterious red box, which is missing. Wolfe, Archie and the police must find the box to solve the mystery. 1937
Too Many Cooks 5-9 April, 1937. Wolfe and Archie travel to Kanawha Spa in West Virginia by train for the five-year gathering of Les Quinze Maitres -- the Fifteen Masters. Wolfe is Louis Servan's guest, invited to address the gathering on the subject of American contributions to la haute cuisine. 1938
Some Buried Caesar 12-15 September 1938, published the following year. On the way to the North Atlantic Exposition to exhibit orchids, a blown tire causes Archie to hit a tree. He and Wolfe are stranded and forced to accept the hospitality of the owner of a nearby ranch. Later, when a man is found dead on the premises, local authorities say he was gored to death by a prize bull, but Wolfe says it was murder. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Some_Buried_Caesar/zMtXPzZO-94C?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PR3&printsec=frontcover 1939
Over My Dead Body November 1938. Carla Lovchen requests Wolfe's services in proving the innocence of her friend Neya Tormic. Carla says that Tormic is really Wolfe's adopted daughter. Tormic is accused of stealing diamonds from the locker of a fencing student at the fencing/dancing school where she works. A mystery of international intrigue, high finance, and murder develops. 1940
Where There's a Will 14-16 July, 1939. The will of wealthy and famous Noel Hawthorne causes suspicion and ill-will in the Hawthorne family. Wolfe is hired to iron out the matter. 1940
Black Orchids March 1941. A flower show at which Lewis Hewitt is displaying three black orchids draws Wolfe from the brownstone. A murder at the show and a heated rivalry between growers embroils Wolfe and Archie in a mystery. 1942
Cordially Invited to Meet Death 18-27 August 1942. Party caterer to the social elite Bess Huddleston hires Wolfe to find who is sending anonymous letters (placing in question her discretion) to her clients. 1942
The Silent Speaker Cheney Boone, director of the government's Bureau of Price Regulation, has been murdered just before he is to give a speech. The primary suspects are the members of the National Industrial Association who were in the building at the time of the murder. 1944
Not Quite Dead Enough March 1942. Major Archie Goodwin returns to the brownstone to enlist Wolfe's aid for Army Intelligence only to find Wolfe and Fritz training to join the army. When a murder occurs and it appears that Lily Rowan is involved, Archie takes the blame, is arrested and Wolfe must clear him. 1946
Too Many Women 18 March - 5 April 1947. Jasper Pine, president of Naylor-Kerr, Inc., hires Wolfe to investigate the death of Waldo Wilmot Moore. The official police investigation reports that the death was accidental, but an internal company audit reveals the opinion of Kerr Naylor (son of the company founder) that Moore was murdered. 1947
And Be a Villain 18 March - 3 April 1948. Referred to in later books as "the Orchard case." A "bleak" financial outlook forces Wolfe to call in a favor from Mr. Richards of the Federal Broadcasting Company. Richards sheds light on the prosperity of the Madelaine Fraser radio show. Cyril Orchard had been killed on the live radio show by a poisoned drink. Wolfe gets a job to clear the show and its sponsors names. Suggestion: Read this story before you read "The Second Confession" and "In the Best Families". This is the first novel to set up the importance of Arnold Zeck in Wolfe's life. 1948
The Second Confession 16 - 27 June, 1949. James A. Sperling hires Wolfe to break up the relationship of daughter Gwenn and lawyer (supposed Communist) Louis Rony. When Zeck enters the scene and Rony ends up dead, Wolfe calls in Saul, Fred, Orrie, and Mr. Jones to uncover the mystery. Suggestion: Read "And Be a Vilain" before you read this novel, and be sure to read The Second Confession before you read "In the Best Families". Otherwise, you won't understand the importance of the role of Arnold Zeck. 1949
In The Best Families 6 April - 8 September, 1950. Millionaire Sarah Rackham hires Wolfe to find out the mysterious source of her husband's income. (Suggestion: Read "And Be A Vilain" and "The Second Confession" BEFORE you read this novel. Otherwise, you will not understand the importance of the role of Arnold Zeck.) 1950
Man Alive June 9-10 1947. Cynthia Nieder asks Wolfe to find her supposedly dead Uncle Paul, whom she says has returned to New York after reportedly killing himself by jumping naked into a geyser in Yellowstone Park. 1947
Omit Flowers 6-8 July 1948. Virgil Pompa forfeited all claim to professional respect as a chef when he joined the management of the fast-food chain AMBROSIA, but Marko Vukcic knows him too well to believe him a murderer when he's charged with the murder of Floyd Whitten, husband of AMBROSIA's owner. Marko asks Nero to prove that Pompa is innocent. 1948
Door to Death 5-7 December, 1948. Seeking a replacement orchid-tender (Theodore left indefinitely to attend his sick mother), Wolfe and Archie go to northern Westchester to talk to Andrew Krasicki about accepting the position. Krasicki's love-interest turns up dead (poisoned by ciphogene), Krasicki is arrested and Wolfe is faced with solving the murder or losing the horticulturist. 1949
The Gun with Wings Alberto Mion, top tenor at the Met, was found dead with the gun on the floor beside him and a bullet through the roof of his mouth. The police ruled it suicide. Alberto had several reasons to die, whether suicide or murder. His alleged seduction of Clara James provoked her father into hitting Mion in the throat so hard that he needed an operation even to hope to sing again. He'd lost thousands of dollars in recording contracts and tours even in four months out of action. His wife wanted to leave him for Fred Weppler, the Gazette's music critic. Peggy Mion and Fred Weppler know the gun wasn't beside the body when they found it and they want Wolfe to find the murderer so they can stop suspecting each other. 1948
Bullet for One October 1945. Sigmund Keyes, industrial designer and member of the horsey set was shot and killed during an early morning gallop in Central Park South. A posse of five clients arrived at the brownstone seeking Wolfe's help in assigning blame to Victor Talbott, Keyes ace salesman. Wolfe accepted the case but pointed out that while he could catch fish, he could not necessarily catch one particular fish. 1949
Disguise for Murder March 1950. Wolfe hosts the Manhattan Garden Club; several hundred guests file in and out of the house viewing the orchids. Cynthia Brown, one of the guests, is strangled in Wolfe's office after telling Archie that she recognized the murderer of Doris Hatten, her friend. 1950
Murder by the Book 19 February - 12 March, 1951. Inspector Cramer shows Wolfe a list of names found in the room of a murdered man who was fished out of the river on New Year's Day. A few weeks later, John R. Wellman tells Wolfe of a letter written by his dead daughter. The letter mentions a name on Cramer's list. Wellman wants the person that killed his daughter; thus, Wolfe has a client. 1951
Prisoner's Base 24 - 30 June, 1952. Archie and Wolfe begin with a quarrel ending in Archie tearing up his salary check. Consequently, when Priscilla Eads appears unannounced on their doorstep, asking to rent the South Room for $50 / night until her birthday, Archie lets her as part of a maneuver to get Wolfe to draw up a replacement salary check. After Wolfe inevitably throws her out, Archie feels responsible on learning of her murder later that night. *Archie* becomes Wolfe's client. 1952
Home to Roost 31 July - 6 August, 1951. Arthur Rackell, a young man with flamboyantly left-wing politics, has been poisoned. His uncle claims that he was an undercover FBI agent and that his politics were a cover, and hires Wolfe to find the killer. 1951
The Cop-Killer Summer 1951. Carl and Tina, who work at Archie & Wolfe's regular barbershop, panic when a cop shows up, since they're immigrants who've had a tough life, and come to the brownstone for help. Archie discovers that the cop, who was looking for a hit-and-run driver, was found murdered in Tina's stall at the shop. 1952
The Squirt and the Monkey Winter 1952. Harry Koven, creator of the Dazzle Dan comic strip, hires Wolfe and Archie as part of an attempt to find out who stole his Marley .38. In a complex scenario, both Koven's and Archie's Marleys become involved in a murder, for which Archie is arrested. 1952
The Golden Spiders Begins Tuesday May 19, 1953, ends Friday May 29. One of the neighborhood kids, Pete Drossos, comes to Wolfe after a woman in a car at an intersection pleads for help, apparently at gunpoint. His only clues to her identity are the license plate number, and that she wore golden spider earrings. Within a week, three people have been murdered by being run over, including the woman who gave Wolfe a $10,000 retainer, and the only way to keep up self-esteem in the brownstone is to earn the money by catching the killer. 1953
The Black Mountain 11 - 19 March, 1954. Marko Vukcic is murdered in front of his house on East 54th Street. Wolfe finds that Marko was involved in raising money for a Yugoslavian rebel group. Wolfe and Archie travel to Montenegro, site of the Black Mountain, to trap the killer. 1954
Invitation to Murder Latter half of 1952. Herman Lewent needs his inheritance. When his father died he left everything to Herman's sister with a request that she 'consider Herman's needs' - which she did with monthly payments. Last year she died from poisoning and her husband, Theodore Huck, inherited her estate. Huck continued the payments as requested by his wife's will, but now was becoming romantically involved with his houskeeper or his nurse or his secretary and the possibility of marriage is threatening Herman's financial future. Wolfe agrees to work ten minutes on the problem for one thousand dollars, takes Herman's money and sends Archie to do the work. 1954
The Zero Clue Latter half of 1953. Probability wizard Leo Heller wanted a partnership with genius detective Nero Wolfe. Wolfe thinks Heller is a charlatan and Wolfe is more interested in chasing thrips off his orchids. When Heller is found murdered some cryptic notes in his office point to N.W and Archie. 1954
This Won't Kill You World Series, October 1952. Pierre Mondor insisted that during his stay as Wolfe's guest, Wolfe must take him to a baseball game, so Archie isn't enjoying the NY Giants in the World Series as much as he'd hoped. 1954
Before Midnight 12 - 19 April, 1955. LBA (Lippert, Buff, and Assa), the ad agency for Pour Amour perfume, has been running a trivia contest - given 20 short poems as clues, identify the historical women therein (only restriction: they are known to have used cosmetics). They're not concerned that the guy who made up the answers has been murdered, but that one of the contestants may have taken a copy of the answers from his body. So Wolfe technically isn't looking for a murderer...The assignment is to sort out the problem of the contest before midnight of the day the answers are due. Only quite a few things are thrown in his way... 1955
The Next Witness Summer 1954. As the story opens, Wolfe is the next witness for the prosecution, scheduled to testify about the defendant, who he had rejected as a client. Wolfe, listening to the preceding testimony, skedaddles with Archie, having become convinced of the defendant's innocence. 1956
When a Man Murders May 1954. Three years after her multimillionare husband Sidney Karnow was reported MIA and presumed dead in Korea, Caroline remarried Paul Aubry. Six months later, Sidney has reappeared. Paul and Caroline seek Wolfe's help, only to find themselves facing a murder charge when Karnow is found dead in his hotel room. 1956
Die Like a Dog A Wednesday and Thursday, early 1954. A black Labrador retriever follows Archie home from what turns out to have been a murder scene. Archie's Wolfe-baiting backfires when Wolfe turns out to like the idea of a dog, if he can blame it on Archie. 1956
Might as Well be Dead 9 - 16 April, 1956. Nero Wolfe is employed by a Nebraska businessman to locate his missing son. The young man left his family in shame after being accused of embezzling from the family business. Now, after more than a decade, the family learns that the son was falsely accused, and they wish to make good on the mistake. Wolfe locates someone who looks like the son, except that this man denies being related to the family in Nebraska and is fighting a murder conviction. 1956
If Death Ever Slept 20 May - 4 June 1957. Otis Jarrell believes that his daughter-in-law has betrayed his business secrets to competitors, and wants proof. 1957
A Window for Death August 1955. Bertram Fyfe and Johnny Arrow discovered a huge uranium strike, and Fyfe reestablished contact with his estranged family. When Fyfe died of pneumonia in New York, the bulk of his estate - his share of the strike - reverted to Arrow. Now Fyfe's family wants Wolfe to investigate. 1957
Immune to Murder Autumn 1955. David Leeson, Asst. Secretary of State, has persuaded Wolfe to visit River Bend to cook brook trout for an ambassador that the US wants favors from. 1957
Too Many Detectives Early 1956. All 590 PIs licensed by the state of New York have been summoned to appear for questioning about some wiretapping scandals. An ex-client who hired Wolfe for wiretapping under false pretenses is found murdered at the scene of the hearings. 1957
Christmas Party 20 - 23 December, 1957. Archie attends a Christmas Party where the host is killed with a poisoned drink and the bartender, disguised as Santa Claus, disappears. 1958
Easter Parade Easter 1957. Archie begins the story in the office with a speech to Wolfe. He tells him that he is not an orchid snatcher, that he will help in the plant rooms, tail suspects, lie to Cramer and take Wolfe's moods, but he won't snatch an orchid from a female bosom in the Easter parade. 1958
Fourth of July Picnic 4 - 5 July, 1956. Wolfe consents to serve as guest speaker at the annual picnic of the United Restaurant Workers of America, in memory of Marko Vukcic (and to get them to stop harassing Fritz to join). 1958
Murder is no Joke 1957 (see also "Frame-Up for Murder"). Flora Gallant seeks to hire Wolfe to investigate Bianca Voss and remove whatever hold she has on Alec Gallant, Flora's brother. Soon afterward, Bianca is found murdered in dramatic circumstances. 1958
Champagne for One March 1958. Archie is invited as a last-minute substitute for one of the chevaliers at the annual Grantham House dinner party for unwed mothers, one of whom dies from a glass of poisoned champagne (cyanide). Another guest at the party hires Wolfe to find the murderer quickly, before the cops unearth a scandal from his past. 1958
Plot it Yourself 18 May - 3 June 1959. Leading authors and playwrights are being sued for plagiarism and the plagiarized manuscripts are mysteriously turning up in the their homes or their publishers offices. Wolfe takes on the Joint Committee On Plagiarism Of The National Association Of Authors And Dramatists(NAAD) And The Book Publishers Of America(BPA) as a client and agrees to do something about the situation that would make them pay his bill not only because they had to, but also because they felt he had earned it and they had got their money's worth. 1959
Poison a la Carte April 1958. The Ten for Aristology met on April 1st for their annual dinner. This year it was prepared by Fritz Brenner and special guests included Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. During the first course, blinis with sour cream, Vincent Pyle complained of sand in the sour cream. When the fish service arrived he excused himself and left the table. Two hours later he was dead of arsenic poisoning. Fritz was disconsolate and Wolfe was irate. 1960
Method Three for Murder September 1960. Wolfe and Archie have a spat and Archie quits and leaves the brownstone in a huff. As he steps out the door he meets a cab driver coming up the steps. She needs help and offers a fifty dollar retainer. The problem? She has the body of a woman in her cab with a six inch knife in her chest and a prowl car is just now slowing to check out the cab. Archie splits the retainer with Wolfe and takes him on as his assistant. 1960
The Rodeo Murder August 1960. Lily Rowan throws a party on the occasion of the World Series Rodeo, inviting a number of the competitors to her penthouse apartment. Wolfe attends with Archie, lured by the offer of blue grouse. 1960
Too Many Clients 9 - 14 May 1960. A man asks to hire Wolfe and Archie to find out who's been following him to a compromising place. When he doesn't show up for Archie to tail him, Archie learns that 1) the man gave a false name, 2) the real person has just been murdered, and 3) the murder occurred at the victim's home-away-from-home love nest. Everybody wants to hire Wolfe and Archie to get the murder cleared up without the love nest's existence being made public. 1960
The Final Deduction 25 April - 1 May, 1961. Althea Vail has received a ransom note for $500 000 for her missing husband, Jimmy. She intends to pay, but hires Wolfe to ensure that she actually gets her husband back. 1961
Gambit 12 - 16 February 1962. Murder at a chess club, during a tournament where the victim was playing twelve simultaneous games, blindfolded (i.e., he himself didn't have a board for any of them). 1962
Death of a Demon January 1960. Lucy Hazen pays Wolfe to listen to her talk about how she will *not* murder her husband, as a way to snap herself out of brooding about it. This becomes awkward when Hazen is shot to death later on... 1962
Eeny Meny Murder Mo 5 - 6 January, 1958. Bertha Aaron has witnessed some unethical behaviour in a member of the legal firm for which she works. Fearing to confide in the senior partner (who has a heart condition), she comes to the brownstone, but is strangled with Wolfe's own necktie in the office while Archie is discussing her with Wolfe. The title is a reference figuring out which partner was being referred to, and who murdered her. 1962
Counterfeit for Murder 26 - 27 January, 1959 (see also "Assault on a Brownstone", a complete rewrite of this story). 1962
The Mother Hunt 5 June - 23 July, 1962. Lucy Valdon hires Wolfe to discover the identity of a baby that was left on her stoop with a note implying that he was fathered by her late husband. 1963
A Right to Die 24 February - 13 March, 1964. Wolfe's talk to the Kanawha Spa servants back in _Too Many Cooks_ bears unexpected fruit. 1964
Kill Now Pay Later December 1960. Pete Vassos, Wolfe's regular shoeshine guy, is murdered after stumbling onto the scene of the murder of another client, Dennis Ashby. 1964
Murder is Corny September 1961, referred to in the papers as the "Sweet Corn Murder". The man who delivers guaranteed-fresh corn on the cob to Rusterman's and the brownstone is found dead in the alley behind the restaurant, head bashed in. Archie is suspected due to another witness' testimony. 1964
Blood Will Tell August 1962. Archie receives an expensive stained necktie in the mail with a note on James Neville Vance's stationery asking that he keep it until called for - but the stain looks like blood. Checking out the return address, Archie is present at the discovery of the body of another tenant in Vance's apartment building. The victim's estranged husband hires Wolfe. 1964
The Doorbell Rang 5 - 15 January, 1965. Rachel Bruner, a rich widow being harassed by the FBI, hires Wolfe to make them stop. Wolfe and Archie begin rooting around looking for people who have suffered unfairly at the FBI's hands. 1965
Death of a Doxy 29 January - 7 February, 1966. Orrie Cather is held as a material witness in the murder of a woman. Archie discovers the body having been sent to do an errand for Orrie. There is a lopsided love triangle between Orrie, the doxy and a banker. Wolfe commits to having him set free. 1966
The Father Hunt 17 August - 8 September, 1967. Amy Denovo never knew her father, and knows nothing about her mother Elinor's past. Elinor left her some untraceable cash in a locked box, with a note saying only that it was from her father. Amy hires Wolfe to uncover her mother's past and find her father. 1968
Death of a Dude 2 - 13 August 1968, called "the huckleberry murder case" in the papers because the victim was shot while picking some. While Archie vacations at the Bar JR Ranch in Lame Horse, Montana, Harvey Greve is arrested for murder. Archie and Lily (the ranch owner) don't believe he did it, so Archie takes a leave of absence to clear it up. 1969
Please Pass the Guilt 4 - 30 June, 1969. Peter Odell, Vice President of Continental Air Network went to the office of Avery Browning and opened a desk drawer. The resulting explosion destroyed the desk and Peter Odell. 1973
A Family Affair 29 October - 7 November, 1974. Pierre Ducos, a waiter from Rusterman's, appears at the brownstone at 2 am; Archie puts him in the South Room to wait until morning, since he won't tell Archie what's wrong. A few minutes later, Ducos is killed by a bomb disguised as a cigar tube. Wolfe, of course, takes any murder on the premises as a personal insult... 1975
Assault on a Brownstone 26 - 27 January, 1959. Complete rewrite of 'Counterfeit For Murder'. Wolfe investigates murder of woman who found counterfeit money and is trying to collect a reward. 1985
Frame-up for Murder 1957. An expanded rewrite of 'Murder Is No Joke' for the Saturday Evening Post where Wolfe and Archie are drawn into a murder investigation when a woman they are talking to on the telephone is found dead. 1985
Bitter End 11-12 July, 1939. Who put the quinine in the Tingley Tidbits pate? After a bitter experience at the dining-room table, Wolfe vows to bring the miscreant to justice. 1985
Before I Die October 1946. Meat rationing is in effect in NYC and Wolfe wants - NEEDS chops, steaks, tenderloins and roasts. Dazy Perrit, local gangster and black market operator needs Wolfe to protect his daughter from rival gangs. Wolfe, willing to work for meat, cooks a murderer's goose. 1949
Help Wanted, Male May 1944, while Wolfe and Archie were working for Army Intelligence. Somebody's sending death threats to everyone involved in the prosecution of Peter Root, including Wolfe himself. 1949
Instead of Evidence October 1945; alternate title "Murder on Tuesday". Eugene Poor, half-owner of Blaney & Poor Novelties, says his partner wants sole control of the business and is willing to kill to get it. Wolfe undertakes only to make sure that the police get all the facts if Poor is murdered - and is called on to do so before bedtime. 1949
Booby Trap Captain Albert Cross had been investigating the theft of some samples of a new type of grenade and was due to make a report to the group of intelligence people that Wolfe works with when he was found dead on the pavement beneath his hotel room window - an obvious murder. Archie and Wolfe, after using Cross' notes to recover the grenades, are working on who killed Cross and why. Wolfe won't let Archie keep one grenade as a trophy - and after Archie returns it, someone employs it to set a booby trap for another member of the group. 1942