- Case
- Disguise for Murder
- Year Published
- 1950
- Case Introduction
- 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.
- Notes
- Resolution
-
Mrs. Carlisle murdered Cynthia Brown because Cynthia recognized Mrs. Carlisle as the "man" who was entering Doris Hattan's apartment the day she was murdered. Homer Carlisle was having an affair with Doris and Mrs. Carlisle murdered Doris because she was a jealous wife. The key information is provided up front: Cynthia said she "wouldn't have recognized him if he hadn't had a hat on," and that she first saw him in the plant rooms. None of the men were wearing hats upstairs, but most of the women were. Only 2 women stayed until the body was found, only one of whom could reasonably pass for a man: Mrs. Carlisle. If Cramer hadn't sealed the office, Wolfe would have pointed this out right off the bat.
Characters in the case:
Mentioned.
Character descriptionMentioned. Male lead in Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name.
Reserved notes for this case
Attended orchid show at the brownstone.
Character descriptionFriend of Malcom Vedder.
Reserved notes for this case
Acted as receptionist at orchid show at the brownstone.
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
Brother to Cynthia Brown.
Character descriptionThe name is an alias.
Professional criminal.
Reserved notes for this case
Friend of Mimi Orwin and Doris Hatten. Left dead on the floor of Wolfe's office.
Character descriptionProfessional criminal.
Reserved notes for this case
Attended orchid show at the brownstone with his wife.
Character descriptionVice president North American Foods Corporation.
Reserved notes for this case
Attended orchid show at the brownstone. Discovered body of Cynthia Brown in Wolfe's office.
Character descriptionWife of Homer Carlisle.
Reserved notes for this caseStrangled Cynthia Brown because she recognized Mrs. Carlisle as the "man" who was going into Doris Hatten's apartment the day she was murdered.
Cynthia Brown gave this name to Archie when he asked who she was.
Character descriptionaka Cynthia Brown.
Reserved notes for this case
Seals the office after the investigation of Cynthia Brown's murder there. Wolfe claims Cramer employs "malefic spite" in sealing the office.
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 descriptionBoard member, Softdown, Inc., and assistant to the president of Softdown, Inc.
Aggressive.
Reserved notes for this case
Character descriptionNero Wolfe's tough and witty assistant.
Reserved notes for this case
Strangled last year.
Character descriptionFriend of Cynthia Brown.
Reserved notes for this caseWas having an affair with Homer Carlisle--he was paying for her apartment.
Acted as 'mingler' at the orchid show at the brownstone.
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
Assisted Inspector Cramer with the Cynthia Brown murder investigation.
Character descriptionHomicide cop. Assisted in Cynthia Brown murder investigation.
Reserved notes for this case
aka Skinny. Had Archie fit to be tied.
Character descriptionPrivate Investigator.
Reserved notes for this case
Suggested that Wolfe host and orchid show at the brownstone.
Character descriptionEditor of the garden section of the Gazette.
Reserved notes for this case
Attended orchid show at the brownstone. Offered to solve case for Inspector Cramer.
Character descriptionPsychiatrist.
Reserved notes for this case
Inspector Cramer's 'shorthand dick'.
Character descriptionNYC homicide cop.
Reserved notes for this case
Attended orchid show at the brownstone with his mother Mimi.
Character descriptionSon to Mimi Orwin.
Reserved notes for this case
Mother of Eugene Orwin.
Character descriptionMember Manhatten Garden Club.
Reserved notes for this case
Takes names at the door as members of the Manhattan Flower Club come to view the orchids. "I was at the door to do a job and I did it," Saul said in response to Cramer's badgering that he memorized each face to each name.
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
Mentioned by Cynthia Brown.
Character descriptionGangster, known as the King of the Black Market.
Reserved notes for this case
Assisted Inspector Cramer in the Cynthia Brown murder investigation.
Character descriptionInitially an employee in N.Y. D.A.'s office. Later Cramer's man.
Detective (sergeant). Unfriendly.
Reserved notes for this case
Attended orchid show at the brownstone.
Character descriptionActor
Reserved notes for this case
Pronounces Cynthia Brown dead from asphyxiation in the office.
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 case
Quite upset with Cramer for sealing the office during the investigation.
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
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)