The dead man had one too many lovers. Nero Wolfe's resourceful assistant Archie Goodwin finds that out when he stumbles into the room where the businessman has been murdered: a love nest lined with red satin and fleshy paintings. Besides the decor'and the trove of women's slippers'another notable feature of the room is the absence of police. So Nero Wolfe has a healthy head start on solving the crime. Then comes a snag: a bidding war erupts for the reclusive sleuth's services. Suddenly Wolfe has too many clients, including one who's party to murder. . . .

Introduction by Malcolm Forbes, Jr.

'It is always a treat to read a Nero Wolfe mystery. The man has entered our folklore.''The New York Times Book Review
 
A grand master of the form, Rex Stout is one of America's greatest mystery writers, and his literary creation Nero Wolfe is one of the greatest fictional detectives of all time. Together, Stout and Wolfe have entertained'and puzzled'millions of mystery fans around the world. Now, with his perambulatory man-about-town, Archie Goodwin, the arrogant, gourmandizing, sedentary sleuth is back in the original seventy-three cases of crime and detection written by the inimitable master himself, Rex Stout.