"Eeny Meeny Murder Mo" is a
Nero Wolfe
Nero Wolfe is a brilliant, obese and eccentric fictional armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe was born in Montenegro and keeps his past murky. He lives in a luxurious brownstone on West 35th Street in Ne ...
mystery
Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
*Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange''
Films
* ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film
* ''Mystery'' ( ...
novella
A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...
by
Rex Stout
Rex Todhunter Stout (; December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and ...
, first published in the March 1962 issue of ''
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fict ...
'' (#220). It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection ''
Homicide Trinity'', published by the
Viking Press
Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...
in 1962.
Plot summary
Bertha Aaron, a secretary at a law firm, comes to the brownstone to hire Wolfe to investigate a possibly serious ethical lapse by a member of the firm. She has no appointment and arrives during Wolfe's afternoon orchid session, so Archie gets the particulars from her.
The firm she works for is representing Morton Sorell in a messy, highly publicized divorce. A few evenings ago, Aaron noticed a junior member of the law firm – she won't say which one – in a cheap eatery, tête-à-tête with Mrs. Rita Sorell, the firm's opponent in the divorce action. That sort of ex parte communication is highly improper. Later, she asked the lawyer about it, and he wouldn't discuss the matter. She won't take the problem to the firm's senior member, Lamont Otis, because she fears that the news, coupled with Otis's advanced age and heart condition, will kill him. But it has to be investigated.
It's a novel problem, and Archie takes the unusual step of consulting Wolfe in the plant rooms. Because the case concerns a divorce, it's one that Wolfe normally would not touch. But because legal ethics, not the divorce itself, is the central issue, Archie thinks there's a chance Wolfe will take it. Even so, Wolfe tells Archie he won't do it, and Archie returns to the office to give Aaron the bad news.
Back in the office, Archie finds he can't give the news to her because she's dead, hit on the head with a heavy paperweight and then strangled with a necktie. It's Wolfe's paperweight. Even worse, it's Wolfe's necktie. He had spilled some sauce on it at lunch, removed it, and left it on his desk where someone could find it and use it to strangle Bertha Aaron.
Late that night, after Inspector Cramer and other police investigators have left, Otis arrives, along with one of the law firm's associates, Ann Paige. The death of his valued secretary has upset Otis, and he wants to know what happened.
Wolfe allows Otis to read a copy of the statement Archie gave the police, and Otis is clearly shaken by the report of the ex parte communication. Otis asks Paige to leave Wolfe's office – he wants to discuss things privately – and Archie escorts her to the front room. Wolfe and Otis discuss the situation at length, and Wolfe gets Otis's take on the three junior members of the firm, one of whom Aaron saw talking with Mrs. Sorell. During their discussion, Archie checks on Paige, and finds that she has opened the window in the front room and, apparently, jumped down to the sidewalk. She is nowhere to be found.
The next morning, Archie calls on Rita Sorell, using as entrée a note he's written, informing her that she and the unidentified junior member were seen together in the restaurant. He wants to bring her to talk with Wolfe, but she plays dumb, and the best Archie can get from her is a promise to phone later in the day.
On returning to the brownstone, Archie finds the office occupied only by a man he doesn't recognize. He finds Wolfe at the peephole, and learns that the man's name is Gregory Jett, one of the law firm's junior members. Jett is there to complain that Wolfe's behavior caused Otis undue stress. Brushing aside Jett's complaint, Wolfe learns that Jett is engaged to marry Ann Paige, and also that he had a brief fling with Rita Sorell a year earlier.
Then the two other junior members, Frank Edey and Miles Heydecker, arrive looking for information and acting like lawyers. Mrs. Sorell's promised phone call comes, and she tells Archie that Bertha Aaron must have seen her talking with Gregory Jett. Wolfe and Archie regard this information with skepticism: she seems to them devious.
Now Wolfe tells them what Aaron had to say before she was murdered – as yet, that's been disclosed only to the police and to Lamont Otis. Wolfe also states his assumption that the guilty lawyer followed Aaron to Wolfe's office, convinced her to admit him while Archie was in the plant rooms with Wolfe, and then took the opportunity to kill her.
The problem is that the three lawyers share a mutual alibi for the date and time that Aaron was murdered: they were in conference together at their office, fully a mile from the brownstone. The lawyers leave, suspicious of one another, and not happy.
When Wolfe then learns from Inspector Cramer that the timing apodictically exonerates Edey, Heydecker and Jett, he arranges for all involved to be brought to the brownstone for the traditional climax. This time, though, all but one are in the front room, listening via hidden microphone to Wolfe talk things over with the murderer.
Cast of characters
*Nero Wolfe — The private investigator
*Archie Goodwin — Wolfe's assistant (and the narrator of all Wolfe stories)
*Bertha Aaron — Private secretary to the senior partner in a law firm, and murder victim
*Rita Sorell — Retired stage actress, suing her husband for divorce
*Lamont Otis — Senior member of the law firm representing Mrs. Sorell
*Frank Edey, Miles Heydecker and Gregory Jett — Other members of the firm
*Ann Paige — Associate in the firm
*Inspector Cramer and Sgt. Purley Stebbins — Representing Manhattan Homicide
Publication history
"Eeny Meeny Murder Mo"
*1962, ''
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fict ...
'', March 1962
[Townsend, Guy M., ''Rex Stout: An Annotated Primary and Secondary Bibliography''. New York: Garland Publishing, 1980. John McAleer, Judson Sapp and Arriean Schemer are associate editors of this definitive publication history. ]
*1962, ''
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fict ...
'', British edition, July 1962
''Homicide Trinity''
*1962, New York: The
Viking Press
Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...
, April 26, 1962, hardcover
:Contents include "Eeny Meeny Murder Mo", "
Death of a Demon
"Death of a Demon" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first serialized in three issues of ''The Saturday Evening Post'' (June 10, 17 and 24, 1961). It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection '' Homicide Trinity'', publ ...
" and "
Counterfeit for Murder
"Counterfeit for Murder" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first serialized as "The Counterfeiter's Knife" in three issues of ''The Saturday Evening Post'' (January 14, 21 and 28, 1961). It first appeared in book form in the short-stor ...
".
:In his limited-edition pamphlet, ''Collecting Mystery Fiction #10, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part II'',
Otto Penzler
Otto Penzler (born July 8, 1942) is a German-born American editor of mystery fiction, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City.
Biography
Born in Germany to a German-American mother and a German father, Penzler moved to The B ...
describes the
first edition
The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants.
First edition
According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...
of ''Homicide Trinity'': "Blue cloth, front cover stamped in blind; spine printed with deep pink; rear cover blank. Issued in a mainly blue dust wrapper."
[Penzler, Otto, ''Collecting Mystery Fiction #10, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part II''. New York: The Mysterious Bookshop, 2001. Limited edition of 250 copies.]
:In April 2006, ''Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine'' estimated that the first edition of ''Homicide Trinity'' had a value of between $150 and $350. The estimate is for a copy in very good to fine condition in a like dustjacket.
*1962, Toronto: Macmillan, 1962, hardcover
*1962, New York: Viking (
Mystery Guild
Bookspan LLC is a New York–based online bookseller, founded in 2000.
Bookspan began as a joint endeavor by Bertelsmann and Time Warner. Bertelsmann took over control in 2007, and a year later, sold its interest to Najafi Companies, an Arizon ...
), August 1962, hardcover
:The far less valuable Viking book club edition may be distinguished from the first edition in three ways:
::* The dust jacket has "Book Club Edition" printed on the inside front flap, and the price is absent (first editions may be price clipped if they were given as gifts).
::* Book club editions are sometimes thinner and always taller (usually a quarter of an inch) than first editions.
::* Book club editions are bound in cardboard, and first editions are bound in cloth (or have at least a cloth spine).
[Penzler, Otto, ''Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I''. New York: The Mysterious Bookshop, 2001. Limited edition of 250 copies.]
*1963, London:
Collins Crime Club
Collins Crime Club was an imprint of British book publishers William Collins, Sons and ran from 6 May 1930 to April 1994. Throughout its 64 years the club issued a total of 2,012in "The Hooded Gunman -- An Illustrated History of Collins Crime ...
, February 18, 1963, hardcover
*1966, New York: Bantam #F-3118, February 1966, paperback
*1993, New York: Bantam Crime Line August 1993, paperback, Rex Stout Library edition with introduction by Stephen Greenleaf
*1997, Newport Beach, California: Books on Tape, Inc. October 31, 1997, audio cassette (unabridged, read by Michael Prichard)
*2010, New York: Bantam Crimeline July 7, 2010,
e-book
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
Adaptations
''A Nero Wolfe Mystery'' (A&E Network)
"Eeny Meeny Murder Mo" was adapted for the first season of the
A&E TV series ''
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
''Nero Wolfe'' is a television series adapted from Rex Stout's Rex Stout bibliography#Nero Wolfe corpus, series of detective stories that aired for two seasons (2001–2002) on A&E (TV channel), A&E. Set in New York City sometime in the 1940s– ...
'' (2001–2002). Directed by
John L'Ecuyer
John L'Ecuyer (born November 15, 1964) is a Canadian film and television director.
Biography
John L'Ecuyer's first feature, '' Curtis's Charm'' (1995), was an adaptation of a Jim Carroll story. The film received a Special Jury Citation as Best Can ...
from a teleplay by Sharon Elizabeth Doyle, the episode made its debut June 17, 2001, on A&E.
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton (born August 16, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is the youngest recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at age 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in ''Ordinary People ...
is Archie Goodwin;
Maury Chaykin
Maury Alan Chaykin (July 27, 1949 – July 27, 2010) was an American–Canadian actor, best known for his portrayal of detective Nero Wolfe, as well as for his work as a character actor in many films and television programs.
Personal lif ...
is Nero Wolfe. Other members of the cast (in credits order) are
Bill Smitrovich
William Stanley Zmitrowicz Jr. (born May 16, 1947), known professionally as Bill Smitrovich ( ), is an American actor.
Personal life
Smitrovich was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Anna (née Wojna) and Stanley William Zmitrowicz, a t ...
(
Inspector Cramer
The Nero Wolfe stories are populated by a cast of supporting characters who help sustain the sense that each story takes place in familiar surroundings.
Household
Fritz Brenner
Fritz Brenner is an exceptionally talented Swiss cook who prepares ...
),
Saul Rubinek
Saul Hersh Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a German-born Canadian actor, director, producer, and playwright.
He is widely known for his television roles, notably Artie Nielsen on '' Warehouse 13,'' Donny Douglas on ''Frasier'', Lon Cohen on ''A N ...
(
Lon Cohen),
Colin Fox (Fritz Brenner),
George Plimpton
George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 – September 25, 2003) was an American writer. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found ''The Paris Review'', as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. He was also known for " ...
(Lamont Otis),
Kari Matchett
Kari Matchett is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles as Colleen Blessed on ''Power Play (1998 TV series), Power Play'', as Joan Campbell on ''Covert Affairs'' and as Kate Filmore in the science fiction movie ''Cube 2: Hypercube''. Sh ...
(Rita Sorell),
Trent McMullen
Trent may refer to:
Places Italy
* Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom
* Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany
* Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States
* Trent, California, ...
(Orrie Cather),
Conrad Dunn
Conrad Dunn is an American actor. He began his screen career with the role of Francis "Psycho" Soyer in ''Stripes'' (1981). Working for some ten years under the name George Jenesky, he achieved soap-opera stardom in ''Days of Our Lives'' as Nick Co ...
(Saul Panzer), Robert Bockstael (Gregory Jett),
R.D. Reid
R. D. Reid (September 22, 1944 - June 20, 2017) was a Canadian character actor known for his portrayal of Sergeant Purley Stebbins in the A&E TV original series, ''A Nero Wolfe Mystery'' (2001–2002), and the series pilot, '' The Golden Spiders: ...
(Sergeant Purley Stebbins),
Christine Brubaker
Christine Brubaker is a Canadians, Canadian actor and director. As a theatre actor, she has worked across Canada and is well known for her work in the ensemble cast of the A&E TV original series, ''A Nero Wolfe Mystery'' (2001–2002). As a theatr ...
(Bertha Aaron),
Janine Theriault
Janine Theriault (born 1975) is a Canadian actress known for her work in the films '' Bleeders'' (1997), ''Owning Mahowny'' (2003), and '' Relax, I'm from the Future'' (2022), as well as the TV series ''A Nero Wolfe Mystery'' (2001–2002), ''MVP ...
(Angela Paige), David Schurmann (Miles Heydecker) and Wayne Best (Frank Edey).
In addition to original music by ''Nero Wolfe'' composer
Michael Small
Michael Small (May 30, 1939 – November 24, 2003) was an American film score composer known for his scores to the movies ''Klute'', ''The Parallax View'', '' Marathon Man'', and ''The Star Chamber''.
Personal life
Small was born in New York Ci ...
, the soundtrack includes music by
Ib Glindemann
Ib Niels Carl Glindemann Nielsen (September 27, 1934 – April 5, 2019) was a Danish jazz musician and the leader of the Ib Glindemann Orchestra (a big band modeled after the Stan Kenton Orchestra). Saxophonist Stan Getz frequently appeared with ...
(titles), David Cabrera and Phil McArthur (opening sequence),
Luigi Boccherini
Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and ''galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major European ...
,
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...
and Jeff Taylor.
In international broadcasts, the episodes "Eeny Meeny Murder Mo" and "
Disguise for Murder "Disguise for Murder" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by American writer Rex Stout, first published as "The Twisted Scarf" in the September 1950 issue of ''The American Magazine''. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection ''Curta ...
" are linked and expanded into a 90-minute widescreen telefilm titled "Wolfe Stays In." The two episodes are connected by scenes of Archie playing poker with Saul, Orrie and Lon — extensions of the Stout originals written by head writer and consulting producer Sharon Doyle.
"These poker scenes were put in for marketing reasons," executive producer
Michael Jaffe
Michael Muir Jaffe (born January 9, 1945) is an American TV and film producer. He started out in the business with his father, producer and former AFTRA lawyer Henry Jaffe (1907–1992). His mother was actress Jean Muir. He has more than 120 ...
told ''
Scarlet Street
''Scarlet Street'' is a 1945 American film noir directed by Fritz Lang. The screenplay concerns two criminals who take advantage of a middle-aged painter in order to steal his artwork. The film is based on the French novel ''La Chienne'' (literal ...
'' magazine. "''Nero Wolfe'' airs as a two-hour show overseas and the two episodes had to be tied together. So we looked for ways to do that. We've heard Archie talk about poker a million times. So there was nothing abnormal about seeing them play poker, except that we don't see them do it in the book."
''A Nero Wolfe Mystery'' began to be released on Region 2 DVD in December 2009, marketed in the Netherlands by Just Entertainment. The
third collection released in April 2010 made the 90-minute features "Wolfe Goes Out" and "Wolfe Stays In" available on home video for the first time; until then, the linked episodes "
Door to Death
"Door to Death" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the June 1949 issue of ''The American Magazine''. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection '' Three Doors to Death'', published by the Viking Pres ...
"/"
Christmas Party" and "Eeny Meeny Murder Moe"/"
Disguise for Murder "Disguise for Murder" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by American writer Rex Stout, first published as "The Twisted Scarf" in the September 1950 issue of ''The American Magazine''. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection ''Curta ...
" were available only in the abbreviated form sold in North America by A&E Home Video (). The A&E and Just Entertainment DVD releases present the episodes in 4:3
pan and scan
Pan and scan is a method of adjusting widescreen film images so that they can be shown in fullscreen proportions of a standard-definition 4:3 aspect ratio television screen, often cropping off the sides of the original widescreen image to focus ...
rather than their
16:9 aspect ratio for
widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
viewing, and neither is offered in
high-definition video
High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines (No ...
.
''Nero Wolfe'' (CBC Radio)
"Eeny Meeny Murder Mo" was adapted as the ninth episode of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's 13-part radio series ''
Nero Wolfe
Nero Wolfe is a brilliant, obese and eccentric fictional armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe was born in Montenegro and keeps his past murky. He lives in a luxurious brownstone on West 35th Street in Ne ...
'' (1982), starring
Mavor Moore
James Mavor Moore (March 8, 1919 – December 18, 2006) was a Canadian writer, producer, actor, public servant, critic, and educator. He notably appeared as Nero Wolfe in the CBC radio production in 1982.
Life and work
Moore was born in Tor ...
as Nero Wolfe,
Don Francks
Don Harvey Francks (February 28, 1932 – April 3, 2016), also known by his stage name Iron Buffalo, was a Canadian actor, musician and singer.
Career
Don Harvey Francks was born on February 28, 1932, and was adopted shortly after his birth. H ...
as Archie Goodwin, and
Cec Linder
Cecil Yekuthial Linder (March 10, 1921 – April 10, 1992) was a Polish-born Canadian film and television actor. He was Jewish and managed to escape Poland before the Holocaust. In the 1950s and 1960s, he worked extensively in the United Kingdom, ...
as Inspector Cramer. Written and directed by Toronto actor and producer Ron Hartmann, the hour-long adaptation aired on CBC Stereo March 13, 1982.
"Before the 2001 A&E television series, the best non-book Wolfe came via this 1982 CBC radio series, which hewed closely in style and content to Stout’s actual stories and was far superior, for instance, to the long-running American radio series from the 1940s and ’50s.," wrote Tom Nolan in ''
Mystery Scene
''Mystery Scene'' is an American magazine, first published in 1985, that covers the crime and mystery genre with a mix of articles, profiles, criticism, and extensive reviews of books, films, TV, short stories, audiobooks, and reference works.
E ...
'' magazine. Of "Eeny Meeny Murder Mo", Nolan wrote, "It’s a typical Stout story: at once breezy and thoughtful, serious and semi-comic—with a full cast of plausible suspects, drawn just sharply enough to hold one’s interest for the length of the tale. Moore’s Wolfe exudes the perfect mix of ire and insight; and Franck’s Archie is both street-smart and suave. The rest of the Canadian players are equally good, and Don Gillis’s original score also strikes just the right note."
References
External links
*
''A Nero Wolfe Mystery'' — "Eeny Meeny Murder Mo"at The Wolfe Pack, official site of the Nero Wolfe Society
{{Nero Wolfe
1962 short stories
Nero Wolfe short stories
Works originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine