Over My Dead Body (novel)
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| Author | Rex Stout |
|---|---|
| Country | United states |
| Language | English |
| Series | Nero Wolfe |
| Genre(s) | Detective fiction |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
| Released | 1939 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 192 p. (first edition hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0553231162 |
| Preceded by | Some Buried Caesar |
| Followed by | Where There's a Will |
Over My Dead Body is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1939.
In Over My Dead Body Rex Stout begins to explore Wolfe's Montenegrin background. By 1939, of course, the Wolfe/Goodwin books had become an established series (Over My Dead Body is the seventh Wolfe novel) and Wolfe's youth had to be clarified. Stout starts to do so in this book by ringing in a number of European visitors, including some from Montenegro; the backdrop is the maneuvers of the Axis and Allied powers to dominate Yugoslavia. Although later books [1] state that Wolfe was born in Montenegro, in Over My Dead Body Wolfe says that he was born in the United States [2].
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Carla Lovchen and Neya Tormic, two young women from Montenegro, come to Wolfe's office asking his assistance. Miss Tormic has been accused, falsely she says, of the theft of diamonds from the locker room of a fencing studio where she works. She cannot afford Wolfe's large fees, but Miss Tormic has a document showing that Wolfe adopted her when she was an infant, at the time of World War I. Wolfe has not seen her since.
Wolfe undertakes to investigate Miss Tormic's predicament, and sends Archie to the fencing studio. At the studio, Archie is gathering information when a body is discovered: that of a British citizen who has just provided Miss Tormic with an alibi for the diamond theft. The body has been pierced by an épée – but because of the rapier's blunt point, this is thought at first to be an impossibility.
After the police arrive, Archie notices that an object has been stashed in the pocket of his topcoat. Concerned that he's being set up, Archie escapes the premises without examining the object. Back at Wolfe's house, the object is found to be a bloodstained fencing glove, in which a col de mort has been wrapped. A col de mort, it turns out, is a sharp metal fitting that can be attached to the end of an épée, so as to turn a relatively safe weapon into a deadly one.
Wolfe and Archie conceal the glove and the fitting in a loaf of Italian round, which Fritz covers with chocolate icing and keeps in the refrigerator. Subsequently, the evidence is turned over to Inspector Cramer, who decides that his best chance to solve the murder is to camp out with Wolfe and keep an eye on him. Uncharacteristically, Wolfe makes no objection.
A patron of the studio, Madame Zorka, phones Wolfe to tell him that she saw someone conceal the glove in Archie's coat and threatens to inform the police. Archie arranges to pick her up for a conversation with Wolfe, but Zorka's gone missing.
Yet another murder ensues, this time of a thinly-disguised Nazi who contributes to Miss Tormic's alibi. After a considerable amount of flailing about, Wolfe manages to get the dramatis personae together in his office where, in the manner that became standard in the series, he exposes the murderer and motive.
[edit] The Unfamiliar Word
In most Nero Wolfe novels and novellas, there is an unfamiliar word, usually spoken by Wolfe. Over My Dead Body contains at least three examples, including the following (the page references are to the Bantam edition):
- Obloquy. Page 26, near the end of Chapter 2.
- Consilience. Page 75, near the end of Chapter 5.
- Supposititious. Page 108, near the end of Chapter 7.
[edit] Characters in "Over My Dead Body"
- Nero Wolfe – the detective
- Archie Goodwin – Wolfe's assistant (and the narrator of all Wolfe stories)
- Neya Tormic – Wolfe's adopted daughter and client; a Montenegrin
- Carla Lovchen – Neya's friend, also from Montenegro
- Donald Barrett – Son of an international banker, deeply involved with intrigues and secret transactions involving royal holdings in Bosnia
- Nikola Miltan – A Macedonian épée champion, owner of a fencing and dancing studio in Manhattan where Tormic and Lovchen work
- Madame Zorka – A couturière, a client of Miltan's studio, and business associate of Barrett's
- Inspector Cramer – Head of the New York Police Department's homicide squad [3]
- Nathaniel Driscoll – A broker, a client of Miltan's studio, and object of ridicule
[edit] Times change
Some material in Over My Dead Body would in later decades be thought inappropriate at the very least. There is a minor character who is described in a way that brings Steppin Fetchit to mind. And Stout puts seven consecutive ethnic epithets in Cramer's mouth, at least five of which would be considered offensive[4].
[edit] Fair use
The following excerpt from Over My Dead Body was used as the quotation in a New York Times[5] Sunday acrostic: "When an international financier is confronted by a holdup man [with a gun], he automatically hands over not only his money and jewelry but also his shirt and pants, [because] it doesn't occur to him that a robber might draw the line somewhere."[6] (The bracketed words did not appear in the acrostic.)
[edit] Notes
- ^ For example, a scene in The Black Mountain involves the house in Montenegro in which Wolfe was born.
- ^ Page 10 of the Bantam edition, near the end of Chapter 1.
- ^ Page 74, halfway through Chapter 5.
- ^ Page 83, near the beginning of Chapter 6.
- ^ June 17 2001 edition.
- ^ Page 138, halfway through Chapter 10.
