Faith Usher had a decidedly morbid personality. She talked about taking her life, and kept cyanide in her purse. So when she collapses and dies from a lethal champagne cocktail in the middle of a high society dinner party, everyone calls it suicide - including the police. But Archie was watching it all, and suspects it was murder....

Nero Wolfe was almost as famous for his wealthy clients and extravagant fees as for his genius at detection. So why has he accepted a case for $4.30? And why have the last two people to hire him been ruthlessly murdered?...

It has been years since the orchid-growing eccentric Nero Wolfe has been outside his beloved home. This novel finds him in upstate New York with Archie Goodwin where he must endure poor food, uncomfortable chairs, warm beer, and three dead bodies....

When a Balkan beauty gets in trouble over some missing diamonds, whom else can she turn to but the world-famous Nero Wolfe? Especially since she claims to be Wolfe\'s long-lost daughter! The stakes are suddenly raised when a student at this woman\'s fencing school ends up dead after a pointed lesson....