This novella was first published as ‘Invitation to Murder’ in an abridged format in The American Magazine in April 1942. It is tenuously linked to Black Orchids, the novella I reviewed in my last post, as Nero Wolfe has flowers from those orchids placed on the coffin of the character who dies in this one.
Synopsis
‘Bess Huddleston, a high-powered, high-society social secretary sort of woman, comes to Nero Wolfe with two anonymous letter. The letters involved her and she was afraid that if they went on she would lose her business as a party arranger for the high and lofty. When Archie went to investigate he ran right into the middle of a very unpleasant murder. And then it was up to Nero Wolfe.’
[Tower Books Blurb]
Overall Thoughts
Like the opening to Black Orchids, the beginning to this story feels muted or unleashed in terms of its comedy potential. It is like the narrative revs its engine, hinting at the humour it could unfurl, but then it doesn’t go on to do so.
The poison pen letters that Bess Huddleston (who some believe is moulded on the persona of Elsa Maxwell) discusses with Nero Wolfe, present an interesting variation on a well-known trope. The letters are sent to other people, not directly to Bess, but they all suggest that she has been blabbing other people’s secrets, with each letter including the secret relevant to that particular recipient. So, it has a double sting in its tail. The evidence suggests that they are being sent from within Bess’ own household. Again, this reinforces my feeling that the crime setups of Stout appeal to me more, than how they are then resolved.
Bess’ household is interesting in that she owns a lot of pets. She has a chimpanzee named Mister, who likes to play tag, there is a crocodile called Moses and there are two bears named Lulu and Logo. All except Mister do not play a role within the plot but are more in the background. Mister’s actions arguably both precipitate and help solve a murder ironically. Once Bess has died and there are some concerns that foul play has occurred, I don’t think the human suspects are well realised. We don’t spend enough time with them and when it came to Bess’ secretary and her assistant, the two women rather blurred in my mind. I could never remember who was who.
Even at this stage, when murder seems more evident, Nero is not bothered about getting involved. He is just annoyed that he missed out on his fee for the poison pen case. This selfish attitude towards sleuthing, which we see in Black Orchids, remained a turn off for me. Consequently, Archie does some sleuthing off his own bat, although a suspect does beat him to the punch in collecting a piece of evidence. Archie makes a big deal of tailing the suspect, only to find them heading into Nero’s home. This was another “technically” funny moment whose comedy is subdued.
Nero’s continual resistance to getting involved is frustrating. Only once his pride is injured is he goaded into action. A near repeat performance by the killer, makes the second half of the plot more interesting, and it also means Nero and Archie find their culprit. There is more overt detection in this novella, but [Spoiler in ROT13 Code) jnf gur urkntbany gevz bs gur cubgb jvguuryq sebz gur ernqre? V pna’g erzrzore, ohg vs vg vfa’g gura gurer vf naablvat pyhr gb pbaprny sebz gur ernqre, nf vg vf n xrl pyhr va fbyivat gur pnfr.
Others might disagree, but I am not sure how well clued this mystery was, and Nero does have to provoke the killer into confessing. I also think the solution requires a large leap of a guess to assume the killer would do “X” [not mentioned due to spoilers] and I would opine that this is a trope better used by Agatha Christie. I am a bit puzzled as to why Archie gets so annoyed at the end, but then Stout’s characterisation has never really won me over. The novella also concludes on an odd note, with an air of mystery which doesn’t come really come off for me, as it just turns up out of the blue.
Rating: 3.75/5 (The second novella brought the rating up, as by itself Black Orchids would have received a lower score from me)