Rex Stout's sixteenth Nero Wolfe novel, published in 1953.
After a childish display of petulance by Wolfe at the dinner table, Archie invites Pete Drossos, a 12-year old boy from the neighborhood claiming he has a case, into the brownstone. What appears to be tenuous information regarding a threat in a car quickly turns deadly, as Drossos is hit by a car and killed the next day. Soon after, a woman responding to Wolfe's request for information is found murdered, also run over with a car. Enraged, and with the knowledge of the recent vehicular homicide of an Immigration and Naturalization Services agent connecting the other two murders, Wolfe sends Archie, Saul, Fred, and Orrie headlong into the case. Their lines of investigation lead to a crime ring far greater than three hit-and-runs, something for which one person thought was worth committing three murders.
The Golden Spiders was adapted as a made-for-TV film by A&E in 2000, starring Maury Chaykin as Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie. Intended to be the first in a series of two-hour Wolfe films, the film's success instead begat A Nero Wolfe Mystery.
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.)
- Almost Dead Guy: After being run over by the killer, Pete Drossos lives just long enough to tell his mother about his deal with Wolfe.
- Amoral Attorney: Dennis Horan generally comes off as a bit sketchy and weaselly throughout the novel. Not surprisingly, given that he's involved in a blackmail ring targeting innocent, if illegal, refugees.
- Asshole Victim: Matthew Birch. His significant role in the blackmailing ring aside, he held one of his associates at gunpoint, and is generally described as a rather sleazy and corrupt individual.
- Death of a Child: 12-year-old Pete Drossos is the first victim (that we know of) in the novel.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Dennis Horan is an unrepentant member of the blackmail scheme who tries to throw his partners under the bus. He also cares about his wife and is furious at the murderer's attempt to make her a Fall Guy.
- Know When to Fold Them: Played with: Dennis Horan clearly doesn't, and keeps bloviating about how very innocent they are and how very much Wolfe is going to regret tangling with them despite the fact that it's increasingly obvious that they're up to their neck in dirty dealings. Horan is, however, innocent of murder, and eventually reaches his breaking point when Jean Estey tries to frame his wife.
- Morton's Fork: Wolfe and Archie quite cleverly manipulate a suspect into such a situation on very short notice. To wit: while interrogating Lips Egan and his accomplice, Archie and the others are surprised when Dennis Horan unexpectedly shows up at their location. The fact that he's shown up at the same location as two blackmailers is obviously very suspicious, but equally they don't actually have any valid grounds for detaining him, unlike Egan — and Horan, a lawyer, knows this and will use it against them if they try. So Archie, after conferring by phone with Wolfe, offers Horan their sincerest apologies for entangling him in this unpleasantness and allows him to leave unmolested... but before he can do so, happens to have a "brainwave" and mentions to Egan that Horan is a lawyer, and that as Egan is in a situation where a lawyer's counsel might be useful, perhaps Egan might like to make use of Horan's services? Horan is instantly in a bind: if he refuses and walks out, then Egan — clearly one of his confederates — will immediately know he's been hung out to dry and start revealing all. But equally, if Horan accepts, then he ties himself even closer to a sketchy individual involved in a sketchy situation that he's already raised suspicions about himself by wandering into, without being able to remove himself and start covering his tracks.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: As Wolfe reveals during The Summation, one hint that pointed him to the murderer's identity came this way: Jean Estey told Archie at one point that it had been 59 hours since Laura Fromm was killed, too exact given that the police hadn't narrowed down the time of the murder to an hour's precision.
- Sacred Hospitality: Sort of. The murders don't occur inside Wolfe's house, but part of what motivates him to eventually get involved is that he's increasingly incensed that someone is going around murdering people after they've come to him seeking assistance. As lampshaded when Lon Cohen suggests that Wolfe give a statement to the press about the affair to strengthen his reputation, and gets this fiery response:His fist hit the desk, which for him was a convulsion. "No!" he roared. "Reputation? Am I to invite the comment that it is a mortal hazard to solicit my help? On Tuesday, that boy. On Friday, that woman. They are both dead. I will not have my office converted into an anteroom for the morgue!"
- Sexy Secretary: Jean Estey, Laura Fromm's secretary, is no slouch to look at.
- Torture Always Works: Averted and played straight. Lips Egan uses a pair of pliers on Fred Durkin after catching him asking around about Birch, but Fred keeps mum. After Archie and Saul disarm Egan, the trio use "the crisscross" on Egan to get him to spill information regarding Birch and the blackmailing ring, and it works.
