Some Buried Caesar

  • Title: Some Buried Caesar
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Some Buried Caesar

Throwback Thursday takes us back to another mystery with New York’s famous detective Nero Wolfe. The sixth Nero Wolfe novel is unusual in that no part of the novel takes place within the homey confines of the New York brownstone. In fact, none of it takes place within New York City. Instead we start on the road with Archie Goodwin and Wolfe on the way to an agricultural event in the rural areas of upstate New York involving the investigator’s prized orchids where a car accident leaves the pair stranded, wandering into a pasture where they are intimidated by a bull, stuck in the middle of a commotion concerning the bull’s fate, and eventually hired to solve a murder.

The novel, originally published in 1939, is also responsible for introducing the recurring character of socialite Lily Rowan starting her continuing flirtations with Archie over several stories and, at times, lending some assistance to the investigation as well. In this instance she helps Wolfe, who solved  the first murder, which was later followed by the killings of another individual and the prize bull, very quickly, but has to rely on a bit of gamble without the firm evidence at his disposal to catch the killer.

Highlights of the novel include the Archie and Lily interactions (less positive are Archie’s internal monologue about not wanting women to be too athletic which haven’t aged  well), Wolfe being caught off-guard (much to Archie’s delight) by Thomas Pratt, their original host and client, in his revelation of plans to cook and serve the prize bull in a publicity stunt, the fiery Frederick Osgood, Wolfe’s second client, showing respect to the detective after Wolfe reasons how the man’s son was murdered and not killed by the bull, and the bit of trouble Archie gets into taking blackmail material off the man who would turn into the second victim of the killer.

Despite the hardships of being removed from his home, the trip is a success for Wolfe who not only solves the case (despite having to fight the local sheriff to do so) but also take home a ribbon for his prized orchids as well. As for Archie, while he’s a bit sore with the locals attempting to sweat the truth out of him with a night in prison, he does make the most of it (including attempting to start a prison union amongst the prisoners and enlisting the help of Lily to rile up Nero later that night) and is none the worse for wear when he and his boss return back home at the end of the novel.