Where There's A Will
Where There's A Will was written in 1939 and is the sixth Wolfe book in the series. The book open with Wolfe being hired to look in to the will of Noel Hawthorne. Noel, a wealthy millionaire, had died in an accident but instead of leaving his fortune to his wife and family, he left the bulk of it to his mistress, Naomi Karn. His family (his three sister, named April, May, and June) wants Wolfe to talk to Karn and try to get her to accept less money, so that Noel's wife might have more. If Wolfe fails, Mrs. Noel Hawthorne will contest the will in court, and the sisters don't want all of the publicity. Soon, Cramer bursts in and tells everyone that there is evidence that Noel was murdered. After this, the family decides that publicity is sure to follow, so they tell Wolfe that instead of trying to get Karn to take less money, they want Wolfe to find the "real" will so that this "fake" one can be exposed. Soon enough, Naomi Karn is found dead, in the Hawthorne's house no less, and the case takes on a new twist. In order for Wolfe to find the real will, the murderer must be found and exposed, and Wolfe and Archie set out to do so.
Where There's A Will is a great Wolfe book. The story is griping and the outcome is plausible. The mystery keeps unfolding and taking turns, until Wolfe finally explains what has happened in an office showdown. I liked it as much as The League Of Frightened Men, but not quite as much as The Rubber Band or Too Many Cooks. (By the way, I think the reason I like Too Many Cooks so much is that the setting is so unlike any of the other Wolfe books I've read to date. Plus, the dialogue and setting on the train was excellent and unlike any other situation Wolfe and Archie have found themselves in. The mystery itself is a good one, but not excellent.) Oh, by the way, we learn in this book that Cramer's first name is Fergus!
I got my copy of the book (paperback) in a trade with another Wolfe fan.
Some quotations from the book:
Wolfe, to Prescott, in reference to Archie: "Mr. Prescott, I beg your pardon for having in my employ a young man whose soaring imagination alights on such clichés as sinister plots and forged wills."
Archie, speaking about Fed Durkin: " …..but since it was Fred, he ate in the kitchen with Fritz. Fred put vinegar on things, and no man who did that ate at Wolfe's table. Fred did it back in 1932, calling for vinegar and stirring it into the brown roux for a squab. Nothing had been said, Wolfe regarded it as immoral to interfere with anyone's meal until it was down and the digestive process completed, but the next morning he had fired Fred and kept him fired for over a month."
Miss Dunn, to Wolfe: "I thought detectives didn't assume, I thought they deduced."
Wolfe, to Cramer: "I don't depend on my clients. They depend on me."