Murder By The Book

Murder By The Book was published in 1951, making it the 19th Nero Wolfe novel. The book starts off with Inspector Cramer showing up to speak with Wolfe. Cramer shows Wolfe a list of names, which has been found in book inside Leonard Dykes' apartment. Dykes had been found dead, floating in the river. None of the names on the list can be found in the phone book, and so Cramer figures out that they are all fake names. What Cramer wants of Wolfe is an opinion on what they might be doing inside one of Dykes' books. Wolfe tells him that perhaps Dykes was writing a book and perhaps thinking of pen-names to use instead of his own. With that Cramer leaves. Soon a man names John Wellman shows up, wanting to speak with Wolfe. Wellman explains to Wolfe that his daughter, Joan Wellman, has been killed in Van Courtlandt Park. She had been run over by a car, but also had a large lump on her head as though someone had struck her there. The police say it was a hit and run accident, but Mr. Wellman believes that there was no reason for his daughter to be out in the park, late at night, in February of all times. Wolfe agrees. Wellman asks Wolfe to take the case and try to figure out who killed his daughter. Wolfe takes the case and Wellman tells Wolfe that he'll bleed his bank account dry to find his daughter's killer, which, of course, Wolfe very much likes to hear. Wellman reads Wolfe the last letter that his daughter wrote to him, and in it she mentions setting up a meeting with a man named Baird Archer. Joan Wellman works for a publisher, and Mr. Archer had sent in a book manuscript for publication, which Joan's company turned down on Joan's recommendation. Joan sent Archer a letter stating that his book had been turned down, and Archer then called her to set up a meeting at which he would pay her 20 dollars an hour to discuss ways in which Archer might make the book better. All of this is stated in the letter. Upon hearing the name Baird Archer, Wolfe remembers that it was one of the names listed on the paper found in Leonard Dykes' apartment. Parenthetically, Wolfe is disappointed in Archie, because Archie failed to make the connection. Wolfe believes that there must be a connection between Dykes, Baird Archer, and Joan Wellman, and starts out trying to establish the connection. One of the catches is that Dykes was dead when Joan Wellman had been murdered, so it can't be a simple case of Dykes using the Archer name to set up the appointment with Joan Wellman and then killing her. Wolfe's investigation brings him, rather, it brings Archie, to a typist named Rachel Abrams. Abrams is murdered 2 or 3 minutes before Archie enters her office. As Rachel is laying dead on the pavement below, Archie goes through her receipt book, and finds that she had done some typing for a Mr. Baird Archer. With this information, Wolfe becomes positive in thinking that Dykes must have written a book and that anyone who has ever read the book his being killed. (Dykes has been killed for writing it, Joan Wellman for reading it when it was submitted for publication, and Rachel Abrams was killed for having typed it out for Dykes) Now all Wolfe has to do is figure out who is killing these people, and what was in that book that was so important.

Murder By The Book is notable for many reasons. One of which is that Archie travels to California as part of the investigation. Another event worthy of note is that Wolfe actually leaves the house, to go and eat dinner with Marko Vukcic at his restaurant, Rusterman's. Marko plays a large role in the book Too Many Cooks. We also learn that it takes an income of at least 10,000 dollars a month to keep the Wolfe household afloat. (Quite a sum, but Wolfe does have to pay Archie, Fritz, and Theodore, plus have enough left to pay Fred and the gang when needed. Plus, all the orchids, food, beer…..) Another notable part of the book is that Archie holds a dinner party for several women when Wolfe is away at Rusterman's. Also, Wolfe allows Archie to cut several flowers from his orchid plants. I quite enjoyed the book, but enjoyed Too Many Cooks a little bit more. Still, it is on par with Fer-De-Lance. I bought my copy of Murder By The Book at a small used bookstore in Belleville, Illinois. I paid 4 dollars for it. That's the most I've paid for any non-hardback Wolfe books. It's in good shape, printed in October of 1963. The spine is in good shape, and the binding is holding up just great.

Here's a picture of my copy of the book:

Here's a picture of my hardback version of the book. It's an ex-library copy:

Here are some quotes from Murder By The Book:

--Mr. Briggs, to Wolfe: "I know something of you Mr. Wolfe, and I regard your methods as unethical and reprehensible. I am here under protest."

--Inspector Cramer, to Wolfe: "I just thought I'd show it to a genius and see what happened. With a genius you never know."
Wolfe, back to Cramer: "I'm sorry. Nothing has happened."

--Archie, describing James A. Corrigan: "He had the jaw of a prizefighter and the frame of a retired jockey and the hungriest pair of eyes I ever saw-not hungry the way a dog looks at a bone you're holding but the way a cat looks at a bird in a cage."