- Case
- Death of a Dude
- Year Published
- 1969
- Case Introduction
- 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.
- Notes
- Resolution
-
Wade Worthy did it.
Characters in the case:
Lily's pet name for Archie (see _Some Buried Caesar_).
Character descriptionEscamillo is the name of the toreador in the opera "Carmen" by Georges Bizet. aka Archie Goodwin
name given to him in Some Buried Caesar by Lily Rowan. At that time, Escamillo was a famous bull fighter. When Lily first saw Archie, he was distracting Caesar (the bull) from Nero so Nero could leave the pasture, hence the nickname.
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Named for the way she took jumps on the day Lily first rode her.
Character descriptionLily's horse at the Bar JR.
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Mentioned by Carol Greve while brainstorming with Archie about possible suspects other than Harvey.
Character descriptionMarried to Dr. Robert C. Amory. Tries to pretend she likes Lame Horse, but only comes there because her husband loves it.
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Mentioned by Carol Greve while brainstorming with Archie about possible suspects other than Harvey.
Character descriptionPhysician from Seattle, married. Loves to ride and fish, so he vacations with his wife at Bill Farnam's in Lame Horse, Montana.
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Mentioned. Three years ago, Woody tried to get Archie to read Bacon's essays, and Wolfe remembers Archie telling him about it.
Character descriptionEnglish essayist.
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Mentioned (Archie thinks of him every day at breakfast while in Montana).
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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Mentioned when Archie quotes E.E. Brodell's Who's Who entry to Lily.
Character descriptionDeceased. Father of Edward Ellis Brodell.
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Collected his son's body.
Character descriptionOwner and publisher of the St. Louis Star-Bulletin, St. Louis native. Father of Philip Brodell.
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Murder victim. Fathered a baby out of wedlock on a local girl.
Character descriptionA dude in Montana.
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Mentioned by Archie when Wolfe ridicules the idea of basing a firm conclusion on a man's guilt or innocence solely on Archie's knowledge of his character.
Character descriptionSecond in line behind Saul Panzer when Nero and Archie need extra manpower.
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Harvey Greve's defense counsel. Archie doesn't think he believes in Harvey's innocence, although he's doing his job.
Character descriptionAttorney from Helena, Montana with a reputation from the Continental Divide to the Little Missouri.
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Goes all out when preparing meals while Wolfe is a guest.
Character descriptionLily Rowan's cook and housekeeper, who travels with her, e.g. to the Bar JR in Montana.
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Mentioned by Archie in his initial letter to Wolfe, in connection with Wolfe's first meeting with Harvey Greve.
Character descriptionWorld Series Rodeo promoter, married to Ellen Dunning. Attended Rowan rodeo party.
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Mentioned by Archie when Wolfe ridicules the idea of basing a firm conclusion on a man's guilt or innocence solely on Archie's knowledge of his character, in reference to the events of _Death of a Doxy_.
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."
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First seen dancing with Woody at Woody's Hall of Culture.
Character descriptionBig-boned widow, out of luck, who does the laundry and housework at the Bar JR.
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Mentioned. Woody likes to set up a Scrabble game for 4 players, where the names of the other 3 absentee players are set up on cards by the letter racks: Shakespeare, John Milton, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Character description19th century American author.
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Resents Archie's questioning.
Character descriptionDude ranch owner, Lame Horse, Montana.
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Takes over for Harvey after the arrest. Even he goes cagey on Archie.
Character descriptionCowboy
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A guest at Lily Rowan's ranch.
Character descriptionNero Wolfe's tough and witty assistant.
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Her seduction and subsequent pregnancy by the victim are her father's motive for murder, but Archie and Lily say he didn't do it.
Character descriptionDaughter of Harvey and Carol Greve, 19 years old in 1968, has an illegitimate baby.
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Alma is her only daughter, which Carol says was a great piece of luck.
Character descriptionFormer rodeo star, now retired and married to Harvey Greve.
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Murder suspect, but Lily and Archie don't believe he's guilty.
Character descriptionCowboy. Eventually works for Lily Rowan, running the Bar JR Ranch in Lame Horse, Montana.
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Offended by the idea that he would shoot a man in the back, even though Brodell had seduced his girl. Still says he wants to marry Alma Greve.
Character descriptionWorks at a Presto gas station in Lame Horse, Montana; crack shot. Son of Morley Haight.
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Told Gilbert not to talk to Archie. Harvey was active against him in the last election, so he doesn't mind having Harvey in the can.
Character descriptionSheriff of Monroe County, Montana, where the Bar JR ranch is located.
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Mentioned (Archie sends his regards in his letter to Wolfe).
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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Mentioned (Archie buys some fly swatters for him while mailing his letter to Wolfe).
Character descriptionWorks at the Bar JR ranch.
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Harvey helped get him elected. He and Haight would each love to see the other get a black eye over this case.
Character descriptionCounty Attorney for Monroe County, Montana. (In New York he'd be called the district attorney.)
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Guest at the Bar JR.
Character descriptionRising stage actress in New York City (made a sort of hit in the winter of 1967 in "Not Me You Don't", an off-Broadway play). Something of a protegee of Lily's, in her early twenties, and something of a nuisance because she indiscriminately practices being seductive.
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One of the best customers of Henrietta the bootlegger.
Character descriptionRides herd at the Bar JR.
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Mentioned. Wolfe called in a favor from him, and he got the facts of the case from the Attorney General of the state of Montana after receiving Archie's letter.
Character descriptionHas extensive banking and mining interests in the area of Lame Horse, Montana.
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Mentioned. Woody likes to set up a Scrabble game for 4 players, where the names of the other 3 absentee players are set up on cards by the letter racks: William Shakespeare, John Milton, and Waldo Emerson.
Character descriptionEnglish writer, blind. Author of _Paradise Lost_ and _Paradise Regained_.
Reserved notes for this case
Mentioned by Archie when Wolfe ridicules the idea of basing a firm conclusion on a man's guilt or innocence solely on Archie's knowledge of his character, in reference to the events of _Death of a Doxy_, when Saul's opinion cast the deciding vote on whether Wolfe would take up Orrie's cause.
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.
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Says (bowdlerized) that he used to be so ugly they had to tie his mother up before she'd nurse him.
Character descriptionOne of the two wranglers at Bill Farnham's dude ranch in Lame Horse, Montana.
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Mentioned. The "JR" in the Bar JR's name stands for his name, and Wade Worthy has been hired to write a biography of him.
Character descriptionDeceased. Millionaire sewer man and Tammany Hall figure, father of Lily Rowan.
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She and Archie alibi each other. She won't hear of Wolfe staying at a hotel when the mountain comes to Mohammed.
Character descriptionAttractive blonde. Daughter of millionaire sewer man James Rowan, owns the Bar JR ranch in Montana.
Reserved notes for this case
Mentioned. Woody likes to set up a Scrabble game for 4 players, where the names of the other 3 absentee players are set up on cards by the letter racks: Shakespeare, John Milton, and Waldo Emerson.
Character descriptionEnglish writer.
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His hall is next to Vawter's General Store; he built it in the late 1930s with money inherited from his father.
Character descriptionOriginally named for Theodore Roosevelt, but his father changed it (for Woodrow Wilson) when he was 10 years old. Runs Woodrow Stephanian's Hall of Culture in Lame Horse, Montana, which among other things serves as a cinema.
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Helping customers when Archie drifts in and talks to Henrietta the bootlegger. Acts as a bouncer at the dance hall when needed.
Character descriptionWorks at Vawter's General Store in Lame Horse, Montana; son of Mort and Mabel.
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Helping customers when Archie drifts in and talks to Henrietta the bootlegger.
Character descriptionWorks at Vawter's General Store in Lame Horse, Montana; married to Mort.
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Helping customers when Archie drifts in and talks to Henrietta the bootlegger.
Character descriptionRuns Vawter's General Store in Lame Horse, Montana with his wife and son.
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"The mountain comes to Mohammed", as Lily and Archie say when Wolfe arrives at the ranch in response to Archie's letter. Brought 4 books, including _Man's Rise to Civilization as Shown by the Indians of North America from Primeval Times to the Coming of the Industrial State_, by Peter Farb.
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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Guest at the Bar JR, hired by Lily to take the research compiled during _The Father Hunt_ and write a book: _A Stripe of the Tiger: the Life and Work of James Gilmore Rowan_.
Character descriptionProfessional author, specializing in biography. Wrote _The Head and the Heart_, a biography of Heywood Broun.
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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:
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