The Golden Spiders

A young boy who washes car windows at a busy intersection turns to Nero Wolfe for help after he encounters a woman in danger. All he has for Wolfe to go on is a description of the car and the woman’s unusual spider-shaped gold earrings.

The common thread between the victim and suspects is the Association for the Aid of Displaced Persons (“Assadip”), a charitable organization that assists persons who entered the country illegally and fear deportation. Given this subject matter, the book has a timely feel. I enjoyed seeing more than is usual of Saul Panzer, Orrie Cather, and Fred Durkin, the three private detectives that Wolfe often calls in to assist Archie when there are multiple lines of inquiry to follow in a short period of time.

Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books are told in the distinctive voice of Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe's leg-man. Nero Wolfe is a rotund genius private investigator who doesn't leave his house unless absolutely necessary. He insists on good meals (with no discussion of work), uninterrupted time with his orchids (four hours a day), and a good night's rest. In contrast, Archie is a good sport with a wonderfully sarcastic sense of humor and is game for most anything.

In this story, a young boy comes to Wolfe's home with a business proposition. The boy works a street corner, earning money by cleaning windshields of cars stopped at a traffic light. That evening, the boy had started working on a car when the woman driving the car turns to him and show more expressly mouths "help, call the police." The man sitting beside the woman notices the boy's expression, and the car quickly drives off. The boy remembers the license plate number and a description of the woman driver who wore gold spider earrings. The next day, before Wolfe can identify the car, the boy is intentionally run over by the same car. Because Wolfe feels an obligation to the boy, he makes a quick stab at identifying the mystery woman. The woman he locates hints at a problem she has, pays Wolfe a retainer, and promises to come back the next day to go into details. The next morning, she is found dead--run over by a car. For Wolfe, the situation is insufferable: he has a reputation to maintain and can't have people hiring him and then getting killed. Plus he has the money the woman paid him for a retainer that he has to feel he has earned. He is committed to investigate.

Stout's books are a joy to read. Archie's playful, positive tone keeps the whole narrative at a jovial ramble. Also, each book is short enough to be swallowed in one gulp. The mysteries aren't very complex, and the format is very formulaic, with the case being resolved in Wolfe's recitation in his study in front of all the suspects and the police. The joy is in the characters, and the mystery is just enough to keep the plot going. When I'm finished reading, I don't feel as if I've engaged my mind in solving a mystery like in some mystery books, but I do feel like I've just finished a light-hearted banter with a friend. show less

This might have been the first time Stout let a child into the story, and while Stout is no great character developer, he still manages to instil some sympathy towards the child in the reader. It is hard to write much about Stout's Nero Wolfe books without adding spoilers, however small, but I do think this is my favourite so far. A bit unexpected since I am otherwise more fond of the earlier ones, with a milk drinking Goodwin. Why doesn't he drink milk anymore?

The Golden Spiders (1953) (Nero Wolfe #22) by Rex Stout. Is it a kidnapping or the fevered dream of a kid? Little Pete Drossos was washing car windows for spare change when he saw a woman being threatened by her passenger while stopped at a red light. He noticed the golden spider earrings she was wearing as she silently asked for help. He gets Archie to let him see Wolfe, which Archie does as a joke on Wolfe. But when Pete is hit and killed by the same car the next day, things don’t look so funny.
An Immigration agent is killed by the same car, but a day before Pete. After Archie puts a notice in the papers, Laura Fromm, rich woman, wearing the earrings, come to see Wolfe. They determine she wasn’t driving the car. She is killed show more shortly after leaving Wolfe’s office.
All leads point to a local charity for displaced persons.
Further investigation leads to a nest of lies and immoral activity among the directors of the charity, but the secret of the killer’s identity is known only to Wolfe and the killer. Everyone is gathered at the brownstone for the final reveal.
This is one of the more well know of the Wolfe novels and it is darn good. It is fun to see the great detective working for lest than $5, but when his ego is bruised there will be no stopping the man. show less

Nero Wolfe is known for his gourmet taste and appetite, appreciation bordering on fanaticism of orchids and for his high priced fees for his detection work. When he takes a case for the paltry sum of $4.30 from a 12 year old kid, named Pete, who gets killed by a hit-and-run driver, it makes little sense to most who know him...except Archie and Wolfe, himself.

Wolfe runs an ad looking for the lady wearing the golden spider earrings. Surprisingly she answers the ad, but becomes upset when she finds out about Pete's death. Scared she will need Wolfe's help, retains his services with a $10,000 check. Before Wolfe can even start on her case, she turns up dead. Being that the bank balance is on the low side, and the death of the lady, Wolfe show more becomes intent on solving both murders.

Along the way more bodies turn up, along with a blackmail scheme and a scam against immigrants. Archie dresses as a mortician, in one instance, to obtain more information on someone. Saul Panzer takes on the role of an immigrant to gain information on the scam/blackmail racket that is going on.

This is not one of the simpler of Wolfe's cases, and at times I wondered how things were all going to tie up. Definitely not a fast read mystery! show less

Another one of my favorites, I like the idea of hunting down a lady with golden spider earrings and avenging a young boy. This book is a great picture of what motivates Nero Wolfe. Not the idea of justice, but the fact that people are being murdered just for consulting with him. "My office is not to be used as a waiting room for the morgue." The key detectives are called into this case and Archie sums them up with his usual vinegar and praise. There is even a bit of rough and tumble, but of course it happens far away from the Brownstone and Wolfe.

I recall reading this when I must have been about as young as Pete, the boy who is wiping a car windshield when a woman in the car mouths "Help, get a cop" --he gets Archie Goodwin instead, but then gets killed himself. Archie and Nero Wolfe investigate a complex case involving two different women wearing the gold earrings.