Rex Stout, Triple Jeopardy

Rex Stout, Triple Jeopardy
© Rex Stout 1951. 1952
This edition Bantam Books, 1993
Available from used booksellers

A collection of immediately post-WWs novellas.  In my opinion, these are not among the strongest of the novellas Stout wrote about Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.  That means, however, that they are, at their worst, quite readable, and a must-read for any of the followers of the Wolfe saga.

The opening story, “Home To Roost,” is about the poisoning, in a quite public setting of Arthur Rackell.  He has been working in the import-export firm owned by his uncle Benjamin and living in the Rackell residence (Benjamin, spouse Pauline, and Arthur, with servants).  Arthur had, before his death, begun espousing political beliefs that echo that of the CPUSA at the time.  To avoid ongoing disagreements, especially with his aunt, Arthur has told her that he has been working undercover for the FBI as an informant.  He died while dining with 5 friends or acquaintances, 2 men and 3 women.  One of the men was the trustee of a bail fund for people accused of crimes in conjunction with their membership in the CPUSA.  Both the FBI and the NYPD decline to share any information’ even refusing to confirm or deny Arthur’s claims to his aunt.  Making little progress (following an extended session with all concerned), Wolfe sets a trap—into which he guilty party falls.  Parts of this are strongly reminiscent of “Poison ala Carte” (which was a later work), which is a little disappointing.  Furthermore, the story wraps up with what I think we would have to call little in the way of convincing evidence of guilt.

In “Cop Killer,” two undocumented immigrants (or illegal aliens, pick your label), Carl and Tina Vardas call on Archie to help them leave New York (they both work at the barber shop patronized by both Goodwin & Wolfe).  Archie convinces them to tell him why they are so eager to leave town—it’s because a cop has spent the day at the shop questioning everyone (individually) about their activities the preceding night.  Archie goes to find out what’s what, and discovers that someone has killed the cop.  When he finally gets away and returns home, he finds Wolfe lunching with Carl and Tina.  After lunch, and some questioning of them, Archie gets a call from Purley Stebbins (from the shop; he’s investigating the murder), and Archie returns to the shop.  Later, Wolfe shows up, and in fairly short order identifies the crucial piece of evidence and clears Carl and Tina.  This is the best of the 3 stories.

“The Squirt and the Monkey” is my pick for the least of the novellas.  Harry Koven, a successful cartoonist, wants to hire Wolfe to help him discover which of his associates has stolen a loaded gun from his desk.  Archie objects (privately, to Wolfe) o the undertaking, but Wolfe’s the boss, and Archie’s off to the combination home and studio.  The plan is for Archie to plant his (unloaded) gun in the desk and then Koven will develop a situation in which everyone has a view of the desk drawer—presumably the guilty party will do a double-take or something.  Of course, something goes wrong.  (What follows are spoilers.)  Someone, presumably our gun thief, gets Archie’s gun from the desk, returns Koven’s gun, and proceeds to shoot one of the inhabitants—Adrian Getz—with Archie’s gun.  The killer then opens a window (it’s very cold outside) for the purpose of harming a monkey that’s kept in a gage, and tosses Archie’s gun into the cage.  Inspector Cramer arrests Archie for carrying an unlicensed gun, threatens to revoke Wolfe’s PI license.  Wolfe sets up a mass meeting (by threatening to sue Koven) and discovers the killer.  Now, the things that are wrong with this are really annoying.  For one thing, Archie would never leave his gun, unattended, in an unlocked desk drawer for going on 5 hours.  Second, Cramer would know full well that Goodwin is not likely to have tossed the gun into the cage with the monkey.  So it had to be someone else.  But either Cramer has a brain cramp or he’s so intent on getting at Wolfe and Goodwin that he just ignores that.  The resolution—Wolfe’s discovery of the murderer is nicely handled, though.  And for me there’s an interesting economic tag.  In the final scene, Koven blurts out that his take for the cartoon is 10% of the gross--$400 a week—so the gross is $4000 a week, in 1952.  Adjusted for overall inflation, that would be the rough equivalent of $4,000 a week for Koven and $40,000 in total income from the strip.  Just thought you’d like to know.