Three For the Chair (Mass Market Paperback)

"A Window for Death" - a.k.a. "Nero Wolfe and the Vanishing Clue". No relation to "Door to Death". Two members of the Fyfe family, father and son Bertram, 20 years apart, died of pneumonia - but it seems to have been murder in both cases, since a window was deliberately left open each time to sabotage the patient's recovery. But Bertram Fyfe died with a half-share in a big uranium strike - which now reverts to his young partner Johnny Arrow rather than his family. Arrow, his executor as well as his friend, says that Fyfe had returned to New York because something was eating him from his past, andnot just a desire to reconcile with the relatives who nearly pinned his father's murder on him. The family wants Fyfe's death investigated, some with an eye on the lion's share that went to Arrow, but Arrow has an ironclad alibi. The 'vanishing clue' mentioned in the alternate title is the key to discovering what really happened, if the reader can deduce its existence. Wolfe handles the final confrontation by dictating a letter to Cramer in front of the suspects - Cramer himself doesn't appear.

"Immune to Murder" - Adapted for A&E's 2nd Nero Wolfe season. Ambassador Kelefy, whose country is being courted for favors by the U.S., has eaten Wolfe's recipes at restaurants all over the world, and Asst. Secretary of State David Leeson has persuaded Wolfe (against Archie's counter-efforts, who has to put up with Wolfe grousing about imaginary lumbago after the long drive) to visit O.V. Bragan's fishing lodge in River Bend and cook brook trout for his country. When Archie joins in the trout-fishing efforts, he hooks not only a granddaddy fish, but the body of David Leeson. The situation is interesting, but the local law enforcement types are portrayed as somewhat fumbling - although that could be attributed to the sheriff & the DA trying to run things directly instead of leaving it to the real experts. Good story, nice change from Wolfe's usual habitat.

"Too Many Detectives" - Thanks to a big wiretapping scandal, the state of New York has noticed the licensing process, such as it is, for private detectives, and all 590 licensed by the state of New York have been summoned to testify. Wolfe, Archie, Dol Bonner, and Sally Colt are among those on the day's lineup in Albany when a former client of Wolfe's - who provided a false name to dupe Wolfe into an illegal wiretap - is found murdered at the hearings. Several of the other detectives have had (or claim to have had) similar experiences. Wolfe and Archie, under arrest as material witnesses, don't trust the Albany cops to uncover the truth, and all the P.I.s want to keep their licenses, so a massive cooperative private investigation is undertaken.