- Title: A Nero Wolfe Mystery – Eeny, Meeny, Murder, Moe
- IMDb: link
Today’s Throwback Tuesday post takes us back to the mid 20th Century New York and the private detective offices located at 454 W. 35th Street. Murder under Nero Wolfe (Maury Chaykin)’s roof drags the detective into a high profile divorce case which otherwise Wolfe would never have undertaken. When a legal secretary (Christine Brubaker) is strangled in Wolfe’s study, with Wolfe’s own tie, while Archie (Timothy Hutton) attempts futilely to get his boss to leave the plant room to see the woman, Wolfe has no choice but to begin an investigation. Wolfe is then forced to explain to victim’s boss (George Plimpton) that she witnessed a member of the firm meeting with the opposing client Mrs. Rita Ramsey Sorrell (Kari Matchett) in public, a fact which led to her demise under Wolfe’s roof (something he cannot ignore).
“Eeny, Meeny, Murder, Moe” differs from other episodes as the entire episode is framed as a flashback, with Archie explaining the case to Lon Cohen (Saul Rubinek) over a game of poker. There’s also the amusing scene in which Wolfe explains what the victim had seen to a potential client with a heart condition whose agitation nearly causes Wolfe his own heart attack. With only three partners (Robert Bockstael, David Schurmann, Wayne Best) the suspect list is short. However, each have strong alibis, which confounds Inspector Cramer (Bill Smitrovich). However, Wolfe sees the obvious that the police have completely ignored, exposing a conspiracy and nabbing a killer (thus soothing his bruised ego).
