- Title: Black Orchids
- wiki: link
Throwback Thursday takes us back to a New York City, a famous detective, and murder. Sent day after day to New York’s flower show to report back to Nero Wolfe on Lewis Hewitt’s famous orchids which have Wolfe obsessed, Archie Goodwin takes notice of a couple in one of the other exhibits who perform the same scene of a summer picnic every day. On the day Wolfe himself arrives to get a look at the orchids, Archie notices something odd about scene, discovering murder has been committed in public and that he, without realizing it, was the method used for the performer’s death.
Originally published as “Death Wears an Orchid,” “Black Orchids” was later expanded and paired with “Cordially Invited to Meet Death” in the two-story collection also titled Black Orchids. Tied directly to his love of orchids, the story is gets Nero Wolfe out of the brownstone and with the detective shrewdly finding a way to use murder to acquire three hybridized black orchid plants to his collection by blackmailing the lead suspect into hiring him.
Discovering the method of murder before leaving the show with his new plants, the majority of the mystery involves Wolfe narrowing down the identity of the killer which leads to uncovering plenty of motives. With two suspects being young women, who Wolfe needs to keep from the police while working out what really occurred, the story is also unusual for Wolfe allowing not one but two women under his roof overnight which gets a bit confusing when Kramer shows up in the morning demanding Wolfe and Goodwin produce “her.” Tied with Wolfe leaving the brownstone and Archie unintentionally picking up the discarded cane tied to the gun that killed the performer triggering the murder, there plenty of noteworthy moments in the case.
In a bit of a twist, neither the actress who Archie grew fond of at the plant show nor the woman who is the dead performer’s mistress, who lies and flees from the police, turns out to be the killer with the true motive tied to the plant world which the famous detective knows so well. Wolfe reveals the identity of the killer with a bit of a flourish, getting him to attempt to murder Wolfe, Goodwin, the others suspects, and the police in Wolfe’s own plant rooms which backfires bringing an end to the sordid affair and allowing Wolfe to successfully keep the prize of the black orchids as payment. Even if Kramer is less than pleased with Wolfe’s methods in setting up the killer to cause his own demise, he can’t argue with Wolfe successfully closing another case.