The tenth collection of Nero Wolfe novellas by Rex Stout, published in 1958, and the only collection to include four stories.
"Christmas Party" opens the collection with a shock to Wolfe: Archie reveals that he is engaged to marry Margot Dickey, who works for designer Kurt Bottweill, one of Wolfe's former clients, and will be attending Bottweill's Christmas party to announce the news. At the party, the reader learns that their engagement is a subterfuge: Archie forged the marriage license as part of Margot's plan to convince Bottweill to marry her, a plan she reports as successful. But at the party, Bottweill drops dead of cyanide poisoning during a toast, and Santa Claus disappears from behind the bar, bringing the police's focus on the unknown bartender. When Archie returns home, Wolfe drops a revelation with a pair of white gloves, forcing Wolfe to work to identify the murderer to avoid having one of his most desperate actions splashed across the front page.
"Easter Parade" sees Wolfe's desperation taken even further; determined to obtain a sample of a pure pink orchid hybridized by Millard Bynoe, he hires a small-time crook nicknamed Tabby to swipe a spray from Mrs. Bynoe's shoulder during the Easter parade. But Tabby's only opportunity to snatch the blooms comes after Mrs. Bynoe collapses dead from strychnine poisoning, and the police find a needle in her abdomen. Threatened with Tabby's exposure, which would lead the police to Wolfe, the detective is once again forced to work to capture the murderer, aided by photos taken during Tabby's first failed attempt to grab the precious flowers.
In "Fourth of July Picnic," Wolfe has agreed to give a speech at a restaurant workers' union picnic on Independence Day. However, one of the picnic organizers, Phil Holt, has been holed up in bed in a tent due to illness; when Wolfe goes to check on him, he finds Holt dead from a stab in the back. Archie finds a witness, Anna Banau, who tells him that no one entered the tent from behind, meaning the murderer is one of those who went to check in on Holt; when Anna's husband Alex tells Wolfe the next day that he must inform the police, Wolfe, with no clues as to who the murderer is, must pull a bluff that tricks the killer into self-identification.
Lastly, "Murder Is No Joke" begins with Flora Gallant asking Wolfe's assistance; her brother Alec is allowing a woman named Bianca Voss to destroy his fashion business, and Flora wishes to know why. When Flora calls the office and puts Voss on the line, Archie hears her struck down with a thump; Voss is shortly afterwards found dead, knocked out and strangled. An investigation of the office reveals Gallant's employees have a strong alibi for the time of the call, but Wolfe's use of a phone book connects Voss's murder to that of has-been actress Sarah Yare and exposes the killer.
A Nero Wolfe Mystery adapted "Christmas Party" as a first-season episode.
Tropes in this work: (Tropes relating to the series as a whole, or to the characters in general can be found on Nero Wolfe and its subpages.)
- Ambiguous Situation: In "Easter Parade," Wolfe speculates on two possible motives for the killer: that he made unwelcome sexual advances towards the victim -his bosses wife- and he was afraid she'd tell his boss, or that she caught him Stealing from the Till. The culprit is apparently guilty of both misdeeds, but it isn't revealed which one was the primary cause of the murder.
- Clueless Mystery: In "Fourth of July Picnic," some of the key facts of the case are never revealed until after the murderer is exposed, as Archie narrates what happened afterwards. This is Lampshaded by Archie both before and after The Reveal:After they were all there and Wolfe started in, it took him less than fifteen minutes to learn which one was it. I might have managed it in fifteen days, with luck. If you like games you might lean back now, close your eyes and start pushing your lips out and in, and see how long it takes you to decide how you would do it. Fair enough, since you know everything that Wolfe and I knew. But get it straight; don't try to name him or come up with evidence that would nail him; the idea is, how do you use what you know now to put the finger on him? That was what Wolfe did, and I wouldn't expect more of you than of him.
- Inscrutable Oriental: Played with/lampshaded by Cherry Quon, who is actually called an "inscrutable Oriental" by Archie, and manages to live up to it while noting how silly it is that Americans see Asians this way.
- Woman Scorned: Margot Dickey killed Kurt Bottweill after he spurned her to marry Cherry Quon.
