Character descriptionChauffeur.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionDrugstore Soda Jerk

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionArchie's aunt.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionFriend to Althea Vail.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionMaster chef in Wolfe's kitchen, has a small apartment in the basement. (In "Fer-De-Lance," his apartment is across from the plant room, not in the basement.) Swiss; native French speaker, served in WWI. Uninterested in murder, except whether a client is in the offing; gets anxious about household finance when Wolfe isn't working. Doesn't like to talk while cooking. Changes to his old slippers at 9 pm because of "things left on his feet by the war to remember it by". Implied he was a member of the Swiss Alpine Patrol during WWI.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionSecond in line behind Saul Panzer when Nero and Archie need extra manpower.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionPaul Chapin's wife; maid of Dr. Loring Burton's wife; approximately 5- years old; generally unattractive.

Reserved notes for this caseOnce doped Archie with chloral hydrate; mentioned to explain how Archie knows what it's like.

Character descriptionReporter at the Gazette. Dark skin, dark brown eyes. Neat little face, slick black hair. Neatest (card) shuffler Archie knows.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionInspector with NYPD, Homicide. Has tolerate / hate relationship with Wolfe. He respects Wolfe, but is greatly irritated by his eccentricities. Habitually chews (but rarely lights) cigars. Notably, Cramer lights a cigar in Wolfe's office during "Instead of Evidence" in which the murder weapon is an exploding cigar! First name is given as Fergus one time, but generally accepted as Lionel. Had a son in the Army Air Corps during WWII. Archie has called Mrs. Cramer on the phone more than once to reach the Inspector at home. Archie's favorite alias for him is "the man about the chair" or "any name with a double "d", e.g., Mr. Judd". At no time is Inspector Cramer ever referred to in the books as "Lionel T." Cramer; his first name is given as "Fergus" in "Where There's a Will." There is a lone later reference to him as L.T.C. (The Silent Speaker), but never Lionel. Stout's biographer, John McAleer, asked Stout to explain the "Fergus"/"L.T.C" discrepancy; Stout replied: "No significance. Laziness. I didn't bother to check on whether he already had a first name. Of course, all discrepancies in the Nero Wolfe stories are Archie Goodwin's fault." (from "Royal Decree; Conversations with Rex Stout) He is featured in a book by Stout called Red Threads, first published 1939, tracking down a killer with a young fashion designer. There is no reference to Nero Wolfe.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionFBI agent.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionProcess Server.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionHired hand used by Wolfe and Archie when extra manpower is needed. Not the best, but can tail better than anybody but Saul. The favorite "irregular" after Saul - Fritz: "I'm glad it's Orrie instead of Saul or Fred"; Archie: "Such a chore for Saul or Fred of course, but I didn't like doing it for Orrie."; Mr Wolfe: "He doesn't have the dignity of a man who has found his place and occupies it, as you have, Fred." Bald, burly, 5'10, 190 lbs; moves like a bear. Married with four children. Archie: "You can trust him to hell and back."

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionHead of the Westchester county detectives. Archie describes Dykes as, ". . . neither friend nor enemy. Most of the enforcers of the law, both in and out of uniform, in the suburban districs, have got an inferiority complex about the New York detectives, either public or private, but Dykes was an exception. He had been a Westchester private eye for more than twenty years, and all he cared about was doing his work well enough to hang onto his job, steering clear of mudholes, and staying as honest as he could."

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionAttorney to Althea Vail. Looks like a clean-shaven Abraham Lincoln.

Reserved notes for this caseWolfe dismissed him as a suspect because he was wealthy and had nothing to gain by the plot.

Character descriptionDoc Vollmer's assistant.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionNero Wolfe's tough and witty assistant.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionAlthea Vail's banker.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionDistrict Attorney, Westchester County.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionOlder man. Wolfe's orchid nurse. Lives in small cubbyhole on the roof with the plants. First mentioned in ch. 3 of "Fer-de-lance" - Archie sometimes hears him shouting at Wolfe in the mornings.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionWolfe's butcher.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionAlias of a kidnapper.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionAuthor.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionSculptor.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionAssistant District Attorney.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionStar character of the TV show "Have Gun Will Travel", played by Richard Boone.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionTop hired hand Nero and Archie look to for manpower. Hosts regular Thursday night poker game at eight pm at his apartment in Brooklyn. Rust-colored hair, 5'7, 145 lbs, big nose and flat ears. In the "Rubber Band" (ch. 6) Archie tells us that Panzer has a photographic memory when it comes to faces.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionAlthea Vail's older brother. Balding, round-faced.

Reserved notes for this caseWolfe dismisses him as a suspect because he would not be capable of managing the complex plot.

Character descriptionState Police.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionChairman of the Board of the Continental Mines Corporation. Abrupt. Brutal. Likes Wolfe's office.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionInitially an employee in N.Y. D.A.'s office. Later Cramer's man. Detective (sergeant). Unfriendly.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionAlthea Vail's first husband.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionAlthea Vail's daughter.

Reserved notes for this caseTried to get Wolfe to recover the ransom money for her to earn the money her mother had already paid him.

Character descriptionAlthea Vail's son, reputated brat. Broad-shouldered 6-footer, sloppy dresser, poor head for alcohol. Hobbies: helicopter pilot, mountain climbing.

Reserved notes for this caseHired Wolfe to help him recover the ransom money when his mother said that if he could recover it, he could have it. Archie helped him to be a "man" and not cancel the contract at his mother's insistence.

Character descriptionSecretary.

Reserved notes for this caseFound murdered in White Plains (Westchester County), near Katonah, having been run over by her own car. Rival to Althea Vail. Typed the fake ransom note for Jimmy Vail's "kidnapping."

Character descriptionRetired actress, wealthy widow of Harold F. Tedder; remarried to Jimmy Vail in 1957. Made a splash in her twenties as the milkmaid in _Meadowlark_.

Reserved notes for this caseShe and Jimmy faked the kidnapping and the secretary, Dinah Utley was in on it too. She killed Dinah when she panicked thinking that Wolfe was on to her. She killed he husband, Jimmy, when she realized that he had been involved with Dinah and that he would leave her because she murdered Dinah.

Character descriptionEntertainer (stand-up comic). Attractive to women, 5'10, 150 lbs. Dark eyed & dark haired.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionM.D. Wolfe's consultant where a physician is needed. Wolfe likes him. Always accepts a beer when he calls in the evenings. He leaves abruptly after business is finished. His house and office is one minute (60 yards)from the brownstone. His brownstone still has a vestibule (Mr Wolfe removed his years ago to make the front hallway bigger). Once signed a medical certificate that Mr Wolfe was batty. Once took 22 stitches in Archie's side when a character "went wide enough but not deep enough". Short. Spectacled.

Reserved notes for this caseHe put up Wolfe and Archie overnight when they were hiding from the police until after the 48 hour deadline.

Character descriptionDoc Vollmer's son.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionCaretaker.

Reserved notes for this case

Character descriptionMaster detective. Genius. Estimated weight: 1/7 ton. Carries a large platinum watch in his vest pocket. Sends a check every month to his mother in Budapest ("Fer-de-lance, ch. 13)..

Reserved notes for this case