Unwilling to accept a suicide ruling after witnessing the death of the admittedly morbid Faith Usher, Archie Goodwin is assisted in the investigation by Nero Wolfe, who has been warned to stay away from the case.
This latest entry in the estimable Nero Wolfe audio canon is a veritable time machine, transporting listeners back not only to the upscale New York City of the 1950s, but also to an era when wit and literacy flourished in the mystery genre. Prichard again proves that he is the perfect Archie Goodwin, surely the most interesting sidekick of them all the voice of Stout's most liberal instincts as well as a shrewd detective in his own right.
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.
Orchids and machine guns, the privileged rich, and tough private eyes make for a heady mix, which reader Michael Prichard spins in classic late 1940s' style. The phlegmatic, cerebral, orchid-and-food-fancying sleuth Nero Wolfe, like a twentieth-century Mycroft Holmes, accepts a case involving not only the players mentioned, but also a search for Communists. Prichard tells the story in the first- person point of view of Wolfe's right hand, the tough, canny, and pleasure-loving Archie Goodwin.