Three Doors to Death

Three stories. The first is about fashion, faked deaths and real murder. The second story is about murder, family wealth and diners. The last is about love, anger and flowers. Nero Wolfe even gets out of the house in that last story. Archie Goodwin finds a lot of girls who he would be willing to marry. We get three great stories. Everybody wins!

"Three Doors to Death" is a collection of 3 short Nero Wolfe novels by Rex Stout. In "Man Alive", Cynthia Nieder asks Wolfe to find her uncle after seeing him in New York. Paul Nieder had "committed" suicide by jumping in a geyser. Before Wolfe can find him, Nieder is murdered. In "Omit Flowers", Mario Vukcic asks Wolfe to help clear his friend, Virgil Pompa who is accused of murdering Floyd Whitten. In "Door to Death", Theodore Horstmann takes a leave of absence, and Wolfe goes to Joseph Pitcairn to hire his orchid man until Theodore returns. While there, Dini Lauer, Mrs. Pitcairn's nurse, is found dead under an orchid bench. Wolfe feels obligated to solve the crime. All three of these short novels are excellent. The plots are strong. I always enjoy going into the old brownstone with Archie and Wolfe.

I cannot stop reading this book! The charactures are so vivid and real that I feel as though I am really there. Read this book!

This edition boasts "As Seen on TV!" on the cover, alluding to the fact that one (as of the 2nd season) of the 3 stories herein has been adapted by A & E. The introduction is provided by Jonathan Kellerman, but otherwise the book is pure Stout. Archie provides a rare foreword, having noticed that Wolfe got a fee in only 1 of the 3 cases herein, to head off any funny ideas that might turn into a nuisance. :) "Man Alive" - Cynthia Nieder, a young model getting hands-on experience as a fashion designer, not only inherited her uncle's half of Daumery & Nieder upon his death, but can supply the creative talent that was his contribution to the business. (Jean Daumery supplied the nuts-and-bolts business talent needed.) Cynthia wasn't surprised that uncle Paul killed himself within a week of Helen Daumery's death in a riding accident, since he'd been in love with her. (Although jumping naked into a geyser is an unusual method...) That is, she wasn't surprised until she saw him in disguise a week ago in the audience at Daumery & Nieder's fall show, a few weeks after his partner Daumery's death in a boating accident. Did she really see him? Is the business as solvent as the creative side of the house thought it was? Who is trying to befuddle whom here? "Omit Flowers" - Marko Vukcic, Wolfe's best friend, asks Wolfe to investigate the death of Floyd Whitten, who married the wealthy widow of the founder of the AMBROSIA fast-food chain, but not because of any care for the victim. Virgil Pompa, a once great chef forfeited any claim to professional respect when he took a high paying job in AMBROSIA administration, was once 'the best sauce man in France', and Marko owes him a lot. More, he knows Pompa well, and won't see him tried for a murder he didn't commit. "Door to Death" - I recommend A & E's excellent, faithful adaptation with Maury Chaykin as Wolfe. Wolfe hardly ever leaves the brownstone, but a crisis has arisen: Theodore, the orchid nurse (as Archie calls him) is on an indefinite leave of absence due to his mother's critical illness. Not that Wolfe is worrying about old Mrs. Horstmann - with Theodore away, he can't just relax with the plants for a few hours a day; he has to *work*, and he's not a pro like Theodore. Wolfe trudges all the way to Westchester with Archie, to tempt Andy Krasicki away from Mr. Joseph Pitcairn's orchids and into the brownstone for the duration. Andy is willing, and Wolfe, while happy to have his problem solved and to receive a tour of Mr. Pitcairn's orchids (as grown by Andy), might just as well have waited at home for a reply to his letter. But during the tour, they find Dani Lauer, Mrs. Pitcairn's nurse, dead under one of the orchid benches - apparently knocked out, then left to die during the previous night's fumigation. Wolfe sets to work to get his stand-in orchid tender out from under.