 | |
| Author | Rex Stout |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Bill English |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Nero Wolfe |
| Genre | Detective fiction |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
Publication date | October 13, 1961 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 182 pp. (first edition) |
| OCLC | 1156649 |
| Preceded by | Too Many Clients |
| Followed by | Homicide Trinity |
The Final Deduction is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1961 and collected in the omnibus volume Three Aces (Viking 1971).
Mrs. Althea Vail tells Wolfe she intends to pay the half-a-million-dollar ransom to the kidnappers, but she wants him to be certain she gets her husband Jimmy back alive and in one piece.
Former actress Althea Vail hires Nero Wolfe to ensure her kidnapped husband Jimmy is returned home alive and well, saying that she received a ransom note and phone call from a "Mr. Knapp" demanding a $500,000 ransom, which she intends to pay. Over the client's objections of secrecy, Wolfe demands to see Mrs. Vail's secretary Dinah Utley, who read the note and heard the phone call, and places an advertisement in the newspapers threatening to uncover Mr. Knapp's identity if Jimmy Vail is not returned safely. From the interview with Utley and comparing her typing style with the ransom note, Wolfe and Archie conclude that she wrote the note and is therefore implicated in the kidnapping.
Two days later, Althea reports that Jimmy has returned home safely and tells Wolfe and Archie to keep quiet about the kidnapping for 48 hours, as Jimmy promised his abductors he would. Jimmy comes to the brownstone to speak with Wolfe, but during the visit, Althea phones for her husband, having been told by a policeman that Dinah Utley has been found murdered. After traveling to White Plains to identify the body, Archie drives to the client's home, where he informs the household - Althea; Jimmy; Noel and Margot Tedder, Althea's children from a previous marriage; Ralph Purcell, Althea's brother; and Andrew Frost, Althea's attorney - that the report has been confirmed: Utley was knocked out on Iron Mine Road and run over by her own car. In shock, Althea claims that the kidnappers must have killed her, as she was instructed to deliver the money through a series of phone calls and notes that led her to Iron Mine Road for the ransom drop. Archie also discovers that Utley's typewriter has disappeared.
Archie concludes that Jimmy Vail was also in on the kidnapping, but learns the next morning that Jimmy has died, his chest crushed by a statue of Benjamin Franklin in his home library. Archie calls Lon Cohen and gives him all the information about the kidnapping to be published after the 48-hour deadline has passed, then reports his conclusions to Wolfe. Knowing that the police could come at any minute, Wolfe and Archie hide out in Dr. Edwin Vollmer's house until the deadline imposed by Jimmy has passed.
From the Gazette's article and a conversation with Inspector Cramer, Wolfe and Archie learn that the case is open, the police undecided as to whether Jimmy was murdered or, in a slumber, accidentally pulled the statue onto himself. Their job for Althea Vail complete, Wolfe and Archie are pulled back into the case by Noel Tedder, who wants to hire them to find the ransom money, as Althea told him that he could have it if he found it. Wolfe accepts, Noel promising a fifth of the money as a fee, minutes ahead of a call from Margot Tedder asking to hire Wolfe for the same job but for far less a fee. Wolfe tells Noel - and in a later meeting, Ralph Purcell - that Jimmy was murdered, as he was not drunk enough to make such a fatal error as pulling a statue on him, and even a sleepy man should be able to avoid a falling statue; therefore, Jimmy Vail was drugged, and someone else pushed the statue onto his chest.
Returning to the Vail-Tedder home, Archie speaks with Althea, who dismisses Wolfe's theory of murder and says that she is taking back what she said about Noel keeping the ransom money. Archie dines with Noel and, using a fabricated story about his own dominating mother, encourages him to stand up to her. After Noel delivers a paper to his mother standing by the initial agreement, Andrew Frost visits Wolfe, disputing the agreement and the claim of murder. Once Frost has left, Wolfe summons Noel along with Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin, and Orrie Cather, and sends them to the Vail-Tedder country house, where he has concluded the money is hidden. Archie finds the money in a trunk of bird's eggs, again only minutes ahead of Margot. After Noel has claimed the money and paid each of the detectives, Ben Dykes and Cramer arrive with a warrant for Archie and a legal summons for Wolfe, filed by Althea on an accusation of grand larceny. Wolfe convinces the police to postpone issuing the warrants until the next day, then calls Althea to the brownstone.
With Althea Vail in the red leather chair, Wolfe details his conclusions: having observed the other members of the household, he has dismissed any of them as being party in the kidnapping, therefore Althea Vail herself was the final party in the kidnapping and the murderer of Dinah Utley and Jimmy Vail. The Vails contrived the kidnapping so the ransom money could be written off as a casualty, allowing them to keep the $500,000 without paying tax on it. They convinced Utley to participate - she wrote the ransom notes and transcribed the phone call that was never made - but after her meeting with Wolfe, Utley became frightened of exposure, disposing of the typewriter on her way to Iron Mine Road. Her fear convinced Althea that she would expose the plan, so Althea killed her. When Jimmy Vail learned, he realized his wife had killed Utley, so he had to die too. Wolfe claims that Jimmy had demanded the entire share of the ransom for his silence, but Althea blurts out that Jimmy had actually said he would leave her because she killed Dinah Utley.
After Althea leaves, Wolfe has Archie deliver a recording of their conversation to Cramer, speculating that Althea may commit suicide rather than face a trial. In an epilogue, Archie reveals that Althea is still alive, her first trial having ended in a hung jury, and that he will only publish the report of the case if the second jury convicts her.
"I work for Nero Wolfe," Archie Goodwin says in Please Pass the Guilt (chapter 10). "He knows more words than Shakespeare knew."
In most Nero Wolfe novels and novellas, there is at least one unfamiliar word, usually spoken by Wolfe. The word "subdolous" appears in chapter 5, when Archie informs Wolfe that Ben Dykes, head of the Westchester County detectives, is at the door. Wolfe speaks to Archie:
Might as Well Be Dead is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1956. The story was also collected in the omnibus volume Three Aces.
Champagne for One is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1958. The back matter of the 1995 Bantam edition of this book includes an exchange of correspondence between Stout and his editor at Viking Press, Marshall Best. A letter from Stout to Best, dated July 1958, shows that Stout suggested as a title both "Champagne for One" and also "Champagne for Faith Usher." Best's reply states that Viking was quite satisfied with "Champagne for One."
If Death Ever Slept is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1957 and collected in the omnibus volume Three Trumps.
Too Many Clients is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1960, and later collected in the omnibus volume Three Aces.
The Father Hunt is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1968. "This is the first Nero Wolfe novel in nearly two years," the front flap of the dust jacket reads, "an unusual interval for the productive Rex Stout, who celebrated his eightieth birthday in December 1966."
Please Pass the Guilt is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1973. Unusually for a Nero Wolfe story, which mostly take place very near the time of publication, this novel is set in 1969, though it was originally published in 1973.
"The Gun with Wings" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the December 1949 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Curtains for Three, published by the Viking Press in 1951.
"Bullet for One" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the July 1948 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Curtains for Three, published by the Viking Press in 1951.
"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 Curtains for Three, published by the Viking Press in 1951.
"Instead of Evidence" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the May 1946 issue of The American Magazine under the title "Murder on Tuesday". It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Trouble in Triplicate, published by the Viking Press in 1949.
"Death of a Demon" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first serialized in three issues of The Saturday Evening Post. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Homicide Trinity, published by the Viking Press in 1962.
"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. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Homicide Trinity, published by the Viking Press in 1962.
"Murder Is Corny" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in April 1964 in the short-story collection Trio for Blunt Instruments. It was the last Nero Wolfe novella to be written, and the last published in Stout's lifetime.
"Fourth of July Picnic" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published as "The Labor Union Murder" in the July 9, 1957, issue of Look magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection And Four to Go, published by the Viking Press in 1958.
"Murder Is No Joke" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the 1958 short-story collection And Four to Go.
"The Next Witness" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published as "The Last Witness" in the May 1955 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Three Witnesses, published by the Viking Press in 1956.
"When a Man Murders" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the May 1954 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Three Witnesses, published by the Viking Press in 1956.
"Die Like a Dog" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella written by American writer Rex Stout, first published as "The Body in the Hall" in the December 1954 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Three Witnesses, published by the Viking Press in 1956.
"Blood Will Tell" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the December 1963 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Trio for Blunt Instruments, published by the Viking Press in 1964.
"The Squirt and the Monkey" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published as "See No Evil" in the August 1951 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Triple Jeopardy, published by the Viking Press in 1952.
Quotations related to The Final Deduction at Wikiquote