- Case
- Bitter End
- Year Published
- 1985
- Case Introduction
- 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.
- Notes
- Resolution
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(Note: See also _Bad for Business_, one of Stout's Tecumseh Fox novels, which is the same story without Wolfe, in which Amy Duncan had taken a job as one of Dol Bonner's operatives.)
Characters in the case:
Guthrie Judd's muscle.
Character descriptionRetired prize fighter.
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Searched Arthur Tingley's office.
Character descriptionPoliceman
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Ill with grippe during 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.
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VP Provisions & Beverages Corp. a competitor of Tingley Tidbits.
Character descriptionVice-President Provisions & Beverages Corp.
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Investigated murder of Arthur Tingley
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.
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Assisted Inspector Cramer during Arthur Tingley murder investigation.
Character descriptionPoliceman
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Niece to Arthur Tingley, secretary to Leonard Cliff.
Character descriptionSecretary
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Mentioned
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
Assisted Inspector Cramer during the Arthur Tingley murder investigation.
Character descriptionPoliceman
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Character descriptionNero Wolfe's tough and witty assistant.
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Mentioned
Character descriptionPolice commissioner. Unfriendly.
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Mentioned
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.
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Uncle to Philip Tingley.
Character descriptionBanker - promoter
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Sister to Guthrie Judd, mother to Philip Tingley.
Character descriptionSister to Guthrie Judd.
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Senior Production Manager
Character descriptionProduction Manager
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Owner and operator of Tingley's Tidbits.
Character descriptionOwner of Tingley Tidbits.
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Adopted son and half-brother to Arthur Tingley.
Character descriptionHalf-brother to Arthur Tingley
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Father to Arthur and Philip Tingley.
Character descriptionFather to Arthur & Philip Tingley
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Treated Amy Duncan at the brownstone.
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.
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Found quinine in Wolfe's pate.
Character descriptionLab analyst
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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)..
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Fearful of losing her job at Tingley's Tidbits.
Character descriptionProduction Manager at Tingley Tidbits
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Meals in the case:
(no meals are currently in the NWD for this story)
Orchids in the case:
(no orchids are currently in the NWD for this story)
Quotations in the case:
(no quotations are currently in the NWD for this story)