Nero Wolfe and Archie are confronted by
a set of glittering, sophisticated characters,
with plenty of money and too much free time — time enough for murder!
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. So does Nero Wolfe, especially after he's warned by four men against taking the case. For the world's most formidable detective it is a tantalizing puzzle involving an unlikely combination of philanthropy, deception, blackmail, and an unrepentant killer who just may have committed the perfect crime.
Quotation:
"...Mr. Goodwin's professional reputation and competence have been challenged, and by
extension my own. You invoked respondeat superior; I will not only answer, I will act."
(p. 123)