Please Pass the Guilt. By Rex Stout

Please Pass the Guilt

Rex Stout

Wings Books. First published 1973.

Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin solve the case of who planted a bomb in the drawer of an executive in offices of a television network, and for whom. The bomb goes off killing someone whose office it is not, but, who, for a reason initially unknown, happens to be in that room, and opens a drawer that explodes. Was the bomb meant for him, or was it meant for his rival, the man whose office it is? Or was it for someone else? Nero Wolfe is the super detective, whose character is fleshed out by descriptions of his bulk (he is very fat), his fetishes (such as the thing he has about chairs), and his hobbies - food, language, literature, orchids, and he is superlatively good at all of them. None of these characteristics are of course germane to the story or his detective skills, but I suppose they are meant to add depth to the narration. He never (or only very very rarely) moves out of his apartment, and all his legwork is carried out by Goodwin, a young, pleasant, smart-alecky thug, who is also very good at various things, especially in charming young ladies into spilling the information he needs. A reasonable read. This story is part of an omnibus collection of seven Nero Wolfe stories. I have read all of them much earlier. Perhaps I'll write about the others in due course, if and when I read them again.