will conceal any involvement on the part of the FBI. Wragg and Cramer reluctantly agree to Wolfe’s deal. The novel ends with Wolfe and Archie receiving an unidentified but important visitor, implied to be J. Edgar Hoover. Speculating that he has come in person to collect the FBI credentials, Wolfe refuses to let him into the house, leaving the visitor to keep ringing the doorbell. Cast of characters Nero Wolfe, private detective Archie Goodwin, Wolfe's assistant, narrator of all the Wolfe stories Rachel Bruner, Wolfe's client, a wealthy business owner who, along with her family and employees, is being harassed by the FBI Sarah Dacos, Mrs. Bruner's secretary Morris Althaus, a writer whose murder is somehow connected to the FBI's activities in Manhattan Ivana Althaus, Morris's mother, who quotes both Leviticus and Aristotle on the subject of vengeance Richard Wragg, special agent in charge of the FBI's New York office Ashley Jarvis and Dale Kirby, actors hired to stand in for Wolfe and Goodwin, respectively Inspector Cramer, head of West Manhattan Homicide Reviews and commentary Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor, A Catalogue of Crime – "The plot is transparent and the detection is fairly simple, but one or two of the dodges practiced here by Wolfe are new (for him). The scene in which the New York head of the FBI is 'rated' in Wolfe's office and told he can't have a set of credentials belonging to one of his own men is rich. The anti-'bugging' scheme is also amusing." Harper's, Books in Brief (December 1965) – "One always feels that Mr. Stout is having fun with his Nero Wolfe and Archie, but never has it been more apparent than in this complicated but easily followed tale. It's a story of sleuthing, harassment, murder, the FBI – very especially the FBI – and the police, with the usual delicious decor of orchids, fine foods, and happily unconventional and pungent dialogue. Almost everybody's role is unexpectedly askew and you don't see how they can all possibly get their deserts, but they do, convincingly and rather hilariously." The Nation – "No doubt about it – the best civil liberties mystery of all time." Nancy Pearl, Book Lust – "When Stout is on top of his game, which is most of the time, his diabolically clever plotting and his storytelling ability exceed that of any other mystery writer you can name, including