The Second Confession

In the belief that his youngest daughter’s boyfriend is a member of the Communist Party, a wealthy businessman hires Nero Wolfe to find proof of this affiliation before his daughter does something rash like marrying him. Before long, the boyfriend is dead, and Wolfe is looking for a murderer. This case once again brings Wolfe into contact with a mysterious mob boss that Wolfe refers to as X, and also as the only person he is afraid of.

This book would have been timely in its day since it was published just as the “red scare” was getting underway. It hasn’t aged well, and it has more the air of sensation than the sophisticated wit I’ve come to expect from Stout.

It all starts when a father wants to hire Nero Wolfe to confirm or deny his daughter's fiancé is not a Communist. James Sperling believes his daughter's suitor needs to be investigated before they marry. At first Nero is reluctant to take the case for he knows Sperling has connections to the mafia. That is the least of his troubles when the man in question is found murdered and all evidence points to Nero. [Stout likes vehicular homicide and it is Wolfe's vehicle with the blood evidence.]
It is rare that Nero Wolfe leaves his brownstone in New York City as the country makes him nervous, yet, in Second Confession Wolfe finds himself in Chappaqua, just above White Plains, New York. Another variance of this Nero Wolfe mystery is a show more different set of law enforcement running interference. Despite these differences, fear not! Archie is his old sarcastic witty self. show less

I was introduced to Nero Wolfe through the amazing Nero Wolfe A&E series, so I see Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin, et al. So, after a hiatus of several years, I got a hold of And Be a Villain and liked it, so I decided to get them all so I could read them in order (from 1934 to 1975).

This one is number 15: The Second Confession. Here we see the beginning of the Cold War (this book is from 1949) and people worried about communists in their midst. A mystery well-told, with good characters, and a good story. Once more the supposedly-never-leaves-the-house-Wolfe leaves the house. Good fun and a good mystery, I didn't guess it, but I was close. Archie is always a hoot.

Fantastic.... Archie gets the girl, but not the one he's supposed to. Nero Wolfe leaves the house! And his nemesis has the plant rooms shot to pieces to get Wolfe to drop his investigation, but nothing doing. Probably my favorite of all the Zeck books (at least the ones I've read).

Wolfe is hired to discover if a man is a member of the Communist Party to break up a romance with a rich man's daughter. Archie is sent undercover to the family's estate to get in good with the young woman. It's discovered that the man is involved with a syndicate then he turns up dead. The father wants Wolfe to find the murderer than when it looks like he has, the father no longer wants Wolfe to investigate but Wolfe won't be called off especially when it looks like Archie may be the murderer.

I love Nero Wolfe stories. He is pompous but I like Archie. Wolfe will not allow his pride in his abilities to be compromised so he continues his investigation. Even when Wolfe is threatened and his orchids injured, he keeps on investigating. I show more did not figure it out. I was surprised by how Wolfe found the murderer and who it was.

I look forward to more Nero Wolfe stories. show less

Published in 1949, The Second Confession, by Rex Stout, once again finds our intrepid hero and his sidekick, Archie Goodwin, wending their way through the wiles and deceptions of a wealthy family (and hangers-on) to ferret out the identity of a murderer. Interestingly enough, this book includes a mysterious Mr. X, who turns out to be Wolfe's Moriarty, and a more menacing character I haven't seen in this series - and the character only shows up in the form of a few telephone calls in this book! Also interesting is the fact that the plot and its resolution hinges on uncovering a card-carrying member of the American Communist Party - at that time, the Cold War was in full swing, and the American public had a massive fear of Communists show more hidden in their midst, determined to undermine the American Way of Life. That Archie has a complete contempt for Communists doesn't surprise me; that Wolfe does as well, does. Another good entry into this long-running series, and as always, recommended! show less

Mystery writers who create a genius detective/protagonist face the problem of how to keep things interesting as their series extend over time. The first few mysteries are not a problem since the writer still has a full chest of ideas to work with and the reader is still learning about the detective. As the series continue, however, the writer is not only faced with the problem of devising new mysteries to be solve she/he is also faced with a larger problem. Given that most (real life) crimes are not intricately plotted and that most crimes are solved due to routine police procedures how does the writer continue to maintain the continued interest of the reader. Even in a city as large as New York or London how many crimes a year can one show more expect that baffle the police and are not immediately, or at least very quickly, unraveled by the genius detective?
Different writers deal with this problem in different ways. Some, like P.D. James, focus on painting a detailed portrait of the places and people the crime involves. Others focus on developing crimes so complicated that, for the reader, the mystery becomes not who committed the crime rather who would take this much time and effort to commit a crime? The drawback of this approach isn’t just that the crimes become almost tediously involved but also that it is the elaborate details of such crimes which are almost always the source of the downfall of the criminals. Some authors turn to decade long story arcs in which the crimes only serve as a reason to check in on the lives of the series regulars. And some, taking their cue from Conan Doyle, attempt the Moriarty Gambit.
The Moriarty Gambit is basically an attempt to validate the brilliance of the genius detective by pitting him (and it is usually him) against a genius criminal. The genius criminal can succeed in eluding the genius detective because the criminal is not limited by the hindrance of having to stick to legal means of tracking and landing criminal prey. At the same time even mundane crimes are elevated in their importance because they are part of a larger criminal enterprise. In Conan Doyle’s case, as is true of many other writers who attempt the Moriarty Gambit, there is little to suggest in early works that this criminal mastermind exists.
SPOILER WARNING
is not the first Wolfe book in which we find out that there is a criminal mastermind functioning in the environs of New York. Stout, unlike many authors, first has this figure appear in shadows of other stories. Instead of being told that this master criminal is deeply involved in numerous apparently mundane crimes we are shown some of those crimes. The reason why the police are generally unaware of the existence of this New York Moriarty are convincing as are the reasons why Wolfe does not immediately move against him. As a result when (in a later book) this figure finally comes into direct conflict with Wolfe it seems like an inevitable drama rather than an authorial ruse.
As for this book itself, it has none of the uncharacteristic behaviours that were so evident of Stout’s writing during WWII. Though Wolfe leaves his home/office his actions seem to arise out of the plot rather than the plot arising out of Stout’s desire to get Wolfe in a different environment. The murder itself is simple and believable. What is unbelievable is is Wolfe’s mysterious person inside the Communist party. When an author makes such an effort to make their genius an armchair detective the reader has to wonder just how the detective managed to make all these contacts without the knowledge of his leg man.

A few closing observations. First, the question of Archie’s age becomes more and more difficult to ignore as the decades pass and the birthdays don’t. Second, it is fortunate for Wolfe and Stout that Wolfe is functioning at a time when most businesses were controlled by men. We are told repeatedly in this book and others that Wolfe does not understand women. One wonders how long any detective who was incapable of understanding over half of the human race would be able to function. show less