The Golden Spiders

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Title The Golden Spiders
Author Rex Stout
Country United States
Language English
Series Nero Wolfe
Genre(s) Detective fiction
Publisher Viking Press
Released October 26, 1953
Media type Hardcover
Pages 186 pp.
ISBN ISBN 0-553-27780-4
Preceded by Prisoner's Base
Followed by Three Men Out

The Golden Spiders is a Nero Wolfe mystery novel by Rex Stout. It was first published in 1953 by Viking Press and later in assorted paperback editions by Bantam Books.

Contents

[edit] Plot introduction

The time and place of the plot are 1953 Manhattan, with the War, particularly resettlement of war refugees,[1] an important subtext.

[edit] Genesis of the novel's title

Early in the book, before Wolfe takes an interest in the matter, Pete Drossos, neighborhood kid, has noticed the female driver of a car, stopped like many others for a red light, and to get its windshield cleaned by Pete with his rag[2]. apparently being threatened at gunpoint by a man. The woman is wearing extremely distinctive earrings. The earrings are provocatively worn to Wolfe's office on a subsequent occasion, but Wolfe soon determines that the wearer is different on this later occasion.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Plot summary

[edit] Characters

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  • Fritz Brenner — As gourmand in the heart of a great metropolis, Wolfe unable to readily comply with that most basic of gourmet requirements: secure your food supply. Therefore, it not surprising that in this story, Wolfe was secured a supply of 18 to 20 freshly-killed starlings from Brewster, New York, an expensive meal if only for its food supply. Friz has had the (presumed) affrontary to introduce the spices tarragon (agreed) and saffron (Fritz's own initiative). Wolfe declares "It may possibly be edible, but I am in no humor to risk it. Please dispose of it and bring me four coddled eggs and piece of toast." This sets the stage for tension between the two as the novel opens.
  • Pete Drossos — neighbourhood youngster who washes car windows for hire when cars are stopped at intersections.
  • Archie Goodwin — Wolfe's employee, Archie is also the narrator, including frictions contributing to the situation. Normally Fritz answers the door for neighborhood kids, but in view of the situation, Archie does this, and in the present situation, since Pete announces he "has a case", decides to rattle Wolfe's cage about it, with built-in risk that Wolfe may decide to turn the tables, as happens here.
  • Nero Wolfe — This brilliant, agoraphobic detective gets what he calls the romantic notion to help Pete Drossos, who has seen a serious crime (woman held up at gunpoint in a car wearing spider-shaped earrings [ugly but distinctive]) and had the presence of mind to write down the car model and license tag number. The brilliant Wolfe doesn't quite know that a "Caddy" is a "Cadillac", but Archie is here to help.
  • Sergeant Stebbins — Pays a visit the next day wondering what Wolfe cared about the floater tag[3] since it turns out a car with that floater tag has just killed a Pete Drossos. Just as the conference with Stebbens is getting underway, Althea Drossos arrives unexpectedly
  • Althea Drossos — After apparently paying respects to Mrs. Drossos, Stebbens "leaves" Wolfe's office, but turns left, instead of fight, and heads to an eavesdropping vantage point. Wolfe and Archie are well aware of this. Althea Dossos, Peter's mother, hires Wolfe, on the basis of the meagre $4.35 that Pete has collected for his little windshield-cleaning enterprise. Archie suggests spending the money, plus a little of his own if necessary, on an ad in the Times looking for the woman whom Pete saw at gunpoint yesterday.
  • Inspector Cramer — Stebbins' superior, soon arrives to question Wolfe because the car that killed Pete Drossos also killed an INS agent named Matthew Birch.
  • Mrs Damon (Laura) Fromm — In the middle of Wolfe's chat with Cramer, Archie gets a call who claims to have been the woman threatened at gunpoint yesterday. Archie disguises the nature of this conversation until Wolfe has left. Although Mrs Fromme is wearing the distinctive earrings and has a scratch on her cheek similar to that described in Pete's account, it's too recent to be same scratch, and therefore, Mrs. Fromme is lying about something. She does do something very important however: she raises the retainer to $10,000. It isn't immediately clear what there is to investigate, but that is clarified the next day when she herself turns up dead (after, it will be noted, her cheque had been certified).
  • ASSADIP — Although not a living person, the presence of this displaced persons' aid organization in the affair becomes clear. Matthew Birch was an INS agent. Laura Fromm was the head of ASSADIP.
  • Miss Angela Wright — Executive Secretary of ASSADIP
  • Miss Jean Estey — Mrs. Fromm's personal secretary
  • Dennis Horan — General counsel for ASSADIP; also not averse to making money on the side by "helping" (blackmailing) illegal immigrants
  • James Maddox — personal counsel for Damon Fromm, executor of his estate, and now of Mrs. Fromm's estate. Maddox and Horan jointly visit Wolfe to demand first politely the return of the $10,000 retainer and then threaten replevin.
  • Lawrence (Lips) Egan — Organized crime hachetman who helps Matthew Birch (INS until his recent death) and others put the squeeze on various INS "clients" in a wide-ranging blackmail scheme.

[edit] Major themes

[edit] Murder vs. immigration violations

Wolfe is assiduous as always in making sure murderers get punished. However, events of the story also bring the master list of displaced persons (DP's) being blackmailed into Wolfe's hands, and he does not allow that to do any more harm than Lips Egan has already caused it to have. The death of innocent Pete Drossos is more important than the corrupt INS agent.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Adaptations

[edit] Nero Wolfe (Paramount Television)

The Golden Spiders was adapted as the premiere episode of Nero Wolfe (1981), the short-lived NBC TV series that starred William Conrad as Nero Wolfe and Lee Horsley as Archie Goodwin. "The Golden Spiders" aired January 16, 1981.

[edit] The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery (A&E Network)

The original telefilm The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery aired on the A&E Network March 5, 2000. The Jaffe/Braunstein Films production starred Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe, and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin. Veteran screenwriter Paul Monash adapted the novel, and Bill Duke directed.

After the high ratings (3.2 million households) garnered by The Golden Spiders, A&E considered a series of films before ordering the weekly one-hour drama series, A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001–2002), into production.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Known at the time as displaced persons
  2. ^ No squeegees in this time period: only rags
  3. ^ A floater tag is a license plate stolen from one car and transferred to another.
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