The thirtieth Nero Wolfe novel by Rex Stout, published in 1968.
Lily Rowan has hired Smith graduate Amy Denovo to collect material for a book about her father; Amy, in turn, hires Wolfe and Archie to find her father. Her mother Elinor is dead, killed in a hit-and-run accident three months prior, and Amy has received $264,000 through Elinor, funds from which she retains Wolfe. By tracing the checks paid by Amy's father, Archie begins a delve into Elinor's past that uncovers her true identity, but no leads on the father. The investigation stalls until Wolfe decides to treat the case as a homicide, at which point Amy's father can only be found by discovering Elinor's killer.
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.)
- Bastard Bastard: Abusive boyfriend and murderer Floyd Vance is the illegitimate son of Jarrett.
- Chekhov's Gun: The cigar case left in the car that killed Elinor bore fingerprints, but the police were unable to match them to any on record. After Floyd Vance's meeting in the office, Archie gives his fingerprints to Cramer, who matches them to the case.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Floyd Vance initially appears as an annoying guest at Lily's place in the country. He's Amy's father and Elinor's murderer.
- Noodle Incident: Saul steals a big wastebasket from a suspect's apartment in the middle of the night to get fingerprint samples. Archie doesn't reveal how Saul did this, merely saying it was "instructive" but would take a whole page to describe.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: It's clear how desperate Wolfe is becoming when he exceeds his quota of beer.
- Photographic Memory: Raymond Thorne is so detailed in recounting the events during the days before Elinor's death (which happened several months ago) that Archie begins to wonder if he's making it all up on the spot, before Thorne reveals a very accurate and very important piece of information.
