Three Trumps: A Nero Wolfe Omnibus

Rating:
Summary: Covers 3 unrelated cases
Review: This omnibus edition of _The Black Mountain_, _Before Midnight_, and _If Death Ever Slept_ is titled _Three Trumps_ only because three cases are covered, and because somewhere along the line Stout and his publishers got into the habit of naming his omnibuses (omnibi?) in a card-playing style, even though few if any of the stories therein had any significant connection with cards.

_The Black Mountain_ (1954) was the 24th Wolfe book, and is one of the few cases Wolfe concerned himself with solely for personal reasons: the story opens with Archie answering the office telephone, then breaking the news to Wolfe that Marko Vukcic - Wolfe's oldest, closest friend - has been found murdered. Marko, it turns out, had been supporting the resistance movement against the Communist regime back in Montenegro. Wolfe had warned Marko of the risks he was running with his high-profile activities, and the dangers appear to have come home to roost. Even Wolfe's adopted daughter (introduced and last seen in _Over My Dead Body_, so if you haven't read that book, her appearance here may be a bit of a shock) turns up to berate Wolfe a little for not helping the resistance more, and soon she, too, is found dead. By the time Wolfe identifies the murderer, the killer has already fled the country for Montenegro - Wolfe receives a cryptic message to that effect, stating that the killer is within sight of 'the Black Mountain' from which the country takes its name.

Wolfe very nearly refuses to take Archie along, because for once *Archie* will be a fish out of water; his street smarts and better physical condition notwithstanding, Archie only speaks English, and Montenegro is completely alien to him. Archie, however, isn't about to let Wolfe traipse off into Montenegro alone, of course.

_Before Midnight_ (1955) was the 25th Wolfe book, with no mention of the Montenegrin adventures of the previous book or the fallout from Marko's death, although other stories set in the 1950s mention Wolfe's duties as an executor, and his insistence that Marko's restaurant, Rusterman's, be kept up to standard while he acted as trustee. By contrast, Wolfe is in _Before Midnight_ solely for the money. His client is the advertising firm LBA (Lippert, Buff, and Assa); the rising star running their biggest advertising campaign - a gigantic cosmetic historical trivia contest launching Pour Amour perfume - has just been murdered. (Some of the contest questions are sprinkled through the book, including the corresponding answers, although not usually together; the later ones should give the reader a run for his/her money.)

Not, you understand, that the partners really *care* who killed Louis Dahlmann; the real problem is that a few hours before he was murdered, he passed out the tie-breaking contest questions to the 5 finalists, then brandished a piece of paper from his wallet, saying it held the answers. When Dahlmann's corpse was found, the paper was missing, and LBA wants to be able to point to the thief, disavow that set of questions, and keep the contest from turning into a nightmare. Of course, as Inspector Cramer points out, it'll be tough for Wolfe to find the thief without fingering the murderer. :)

_If Death Ever Slept_ (1957) was the 28th Wolfe book, and like _Too Many Women_ before it, begins with a cold war in the brownstone, which results in Wolfe accepting a job that involves Archie taking an undercover assignment - in this case, one that involves having Archie move out for the duration to take a job as Otis Jarrell's private secretary, as a cover for finding out how his daughter-in-law has been sabotaging his business interests. (Jarrell doesn't like Susan for various personal reasons, and would really like Wolfe and Archie to break up his son's marriage, but Wolfe draws the line at that sort of thing.) The puzzle is more fair to the reader than that in _Too Many Women_, although there's a large lump (fortunately just one lump) of timetable information that makes unexciting reading. On the plus side, the stormy atmosphere in the brownstone has more interesting causes and side effects than that in _Too Many Women_. :)

For more detailed discussion of the individual works herein, see reviews of the 3 separate books; no changes were made to include them here. They have few points in common, not even being 3 back-to-back books in publication order. While they're no worse here than taken separately, this omnibus edition provides no added value.