Vowing to avenge the murder of his dear friend, Marko Vukcic, Nero Wolfe, along with his faithful partner, Archie Goodwin, journey to the hazardous mountains of Montenegro.
Trouble in Triplicate tells a trio of tales in which the murder victim comes to Wolfe before being killed. In "Before I Die" a crime boss brings a blackmail case to Wolfe, never expecting to die. But just in case, he makes Wolfe the executor of his estate, thereby making Wolfe and Archie Goodwin the prime suspects in his murder. Wolfe's task: solve the crime boss's murder before he and Archie are erased by the boss's vengeful hit man. In "Help Wanted--Male" Wolfe blows off a prospective client who has received a death threat mere hours before the man's brutal murder.
An employee of a very large corporation dies in a hit-and-run accident. Rumors abound that it was murder, disrupting morale. Nero and Archie are hired to either scotch the rumors or find the truth re: the mysterious death. These circumstances put Archie smack dab in the middle of hundreds of young working women -- many of them suspects, most of them of interest to Archie on other levels.
"Not Quite Dead Enough" - March 1942. Archie's now Major Goodwin - very good, since he's been in the Army for only 2 months, and the idea of Army discipline...well, Archie refers to snapping to one's feet and so forth in the presence of a general as 'Rocketteing'. After clearing up 'that mess down in Georgia' (an unrecorded case of his own for Army Intelligence), his superior calls him in to ask why Wolfe hasn't cooperated when asked to work for Army Intelligence. Archie confidently assumes that the Army just mishandled Wolfe, and that he's sunk deep in his normal rut.
