In the Best Families
Encyclopedia
In the Best Families is a Nero Wolfe
detective novel by Rex Stout
, first published by the Viking Press
in 1950. The story was collected in the omnibus volumes Five of a Kind (Viking 1961) and Triple Zeck (Viking 1974).
This is the third of three Nero Wolfe books that involve crime boss Arnold Zeck and his widespread operations (the others are And Be a Villain
and The Second Confession
). In each book, Zeck – Wolfe's Moriarty – attempts to warn Wolfe off an investigation that Zeck believes will interfere with his criminal machinations. Each time, Wolfe refuses to cooperate, and there are consequences.
Reluctantly, Wolfe takes the case. The next day a carton, delivered to his brownstone and thought to contain sausage, turns out to contain a canister of tear gas, which discharges when the carton is opened. Shortly thereafter, Arnold Zeck phones. Zeck heads an organized crime syndicate, insulates himself from publicity by means of several layers of subordinates, and has figured in two of Wolfe's recent cases.
Now he calls Wolfe to stress that the carton of tear gas could have contained an explosive, and that Wolfe should withdraw from the work he is performing for Mrs. Rackham. Wolfe hangs up on Zeck. It now seems likely that Zeck is the source of Barry Rackham's income.
As arranged with Mrs. Rackham, Archie visits her country home in Westchester, ostensibly to investigate a dog poisoning for Leeds, who breeds Dobermans. His actual purpose is to develop an acquaintance with Mr. Rackham.
Over dinner that night, Archie picks up information on several guests, family members and staff. Leeds is to some degree dependent on his cousin for his livelihood: Mrs. Rackham has allowed him to set up a kennels on a corner of her property. Mrs. Rackham's secretary, Lina Darrow, amuses herself by flirting with some of the men present, including Oliver Pierce, a state assemblyman. Dana Hammond, a banker, is trying to establish a closer relationship with Mrs. Rackham's widowed daughter-in-law, Annabel Frey.
Archie also has an opportunity to size up Barry Rackham. Although Archie initially expected that Rackham would turn out to be a gigolo who got lucky, he is actually a very clever man, whose interactions with his wife show real character. After dinner and television, Rackham pointedly implies that he knows what Archie's doing there, and just as pointedly urges him to leave early the next morning.
Later that night, Mrs. Rackham and her pet Doberman are found stabbed to death in the woods near her house. Archie phones Wolfe to report and, after dealing with the local officials, returns to Manhattan to confer further with Wolfe. When he arrives at the brownstone, Archie finds the front door ajar, Fritz and Theodore in confusion, and Wolfe gone. A brief note, inarguably from Wolfe, instructs Archie not to look for him.
Wolfe's disappearance touches off other events. First, a Gazette employee wants to authenticate an order for an advertisement, which announces Wolfe's retirement from the detective business.
Then Marko Vukcic, Wolfe's oldest friend, tells Archie that Wolfe came to see him at 2:00 a.m. that morning. Marko spoke with Wolfe for an hour, and has information for Archie. The orchids are to be moved to Lewis Hewitt's nursery on Long Island, and Marko will hire Fritz to work at Rusterman's. Marko has Wolfe's power of attorney, and will offer the brownstone for sale. Finally, Archie is to "act in the light of experience as guided by intelligence" – his standing instructions when Wolfe is not available to provide specific direction.
And Archie is recalled to Westchester. He took advantage of District Attorney Archer's imprecise instructions when he returned to Manhattan, and now Archer wants him back to clarify some points. Further, Archer wants to speak with Wolfe. When Archie tells him, truthfully, that he doesn't know where Wolfe is, Archer loses his temper and has Archie jailed as a material witness.
Archie's cellmate is Max Christy, who was arrested earlier in a raid on an apparently unsavory establishment. Christy takes an interest in Archie and tries to recruit him for his organization – it goes unnamed, but from Christy's very oblique description, it sounds criminal. For example, it regards the payment of income taxes as optional. And one of the reasons that Christy thinks Archie has potential is that he " . . . has been a private eye for years and so he would be open to anything that sounds good enough." Archie does not commit himself, but he takes Christy's phone number, and is annoyed that Christy gets released before Nathaniel Parker, Wolfe's lawyer, bails Archie out.
Days pass, then weeks and months, with no word from Wolfe. Archie sets up shop for himself, of course as a private investigator. He gets a hint that Wolfe is still alive, when Marko has him prepare a check, drawn to cash and charged to travel expense. A log of some of Archie's cases during this period suggests a much more quotidian professional life than he is accustomed to: finding a stolen cat, supervising workers at Coney Island, and catching a cashier dipping into the till.
Still, Archie makes enough to cover his living expenses, and then some. He's getting ready to spend a month vacationing in Norway with Lily Rowan when Max Christy shows up with an offer. Christy wants Archie to meet with someone – just possibly Arnold Zeck, Archie guesses – to answer some questions. If Archie's answers pass muster, he'll have a chance to " . . . dip into the biggest river of fast dough that ever flowed."
Out of curiosity, Archie agrees to a meeting. That night, he joins a man in a chauffered car. It's not Zeck, but a stranger named Pete Roeder. They drive around Manhattan, discussing Roeder's requirement: an expert tailing job on a man named Rackham, and he wants Archie to get Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin and Orrie Cather for the job. Archie verifies that Roeder means Barry Rackham, the one whose wife, Wolfe's client, was murdered. Rackham is the beneficiary of much of his wife's estate, and since her death he's been living well in a suite at the Hotel Churchill in Manhattan.
Roeder won't tell Archie specifically why he wants Rackham tailed, but he's certain that Archie can't turn the job down. As Roeder smugly points out, Archie was there when Mrs. Rackham was murdered, Wolfe disappeared just six hours after Archie phoned him, and Archie was jailed as a material witness. Now he's being offered the job of tailing Rackham, for no apparent reason. How could he turn it down?
He can't. Archie wonders who it is that's after Rackham. If it's Zeck himself, or if Roeder works for Zeck, then Rackham has somehow crossed Zeck since the day when Wolfe was told to lay off. If Rackham is still under Zeck's aegis, it would be dangerous to take a job tailing him for Roeder and Christy. Either way, Archie can't resist getting mixed up in it. So Archie arranges with Saul, Fred and Orrie to tail Rackham. They will report daily to Archie, who will then summarize Rackham's activities for Christy.
Archie confirms that both Christy and Roeder work in the Zeck organization, and that the organization is worried about Rackham. Before his wife's death, Rackham had been working for Zeck, but quit when he became a wealthy widower. Investigations into organized crime are ongoing in both Washington and New York, and Zeck's syndicate is worried that Rackham is meeting with a DA. Roeder would like to rope Rackham back in to participate in a new scheme he's developed, but first he needs to be sure that Rackham hasn't turned informant.
After more than a week of the tailing, Rackham has figured out that he's being followed, and Archie decides that he might as well have a chat with him to see if he can learn anything interesting. Rackham is wild to know who wants him followed, and Archie tells him it's Zeck. Rackham is so frantic that he throws his whisky glass against the wall. He offers Archie $5,000 for further information. Archie tells Rackham about Christy and Roeder, and Rackham tells Archie he'll top any offer that Roeder makes.
Archie reports this conversation to Christy: he doesn't dare conceal it, because Roeder might have other operatives watching Rackham. Archie's report apparently has an effect, for Christy returns the next day to say that Roeder wants to see him. A car and driver take them to Westchester, the location of both the Rackham estate and Zeck's. Upon arrival, Archie is relieved of his gun and escorted into a small waiting room that resembles a fortified bunker. There he meets Arnold Zeck, whose appearance is intimidating:
Zeck tells Archie that he needs good men, including some he can meet with and work through. Archie might be one such, and Zeck would like to try. He has Roeder brought into the room. Zeck explains that he and Roeder want Rackham frightened in order to ensure his cooperation with Roeder's new operation, which requires a well-to-do man with good social connections. Zeck closes the meeting by placing Archie on the B list.
Back in Manhattan, Archie gets a message from Rackham that he wants to meet. Archie arrives at the suite just in time to see Lina Darrow leaving, and he sees that Rackham has deteriorated during the last three days. His skin looks splotchy, his eyes are bloodshot, his muscles twitch, he needs a shave, his clothes are dirty and he's been drinking heavily. Archie turns up the pressure on Rackham by telling him that he has met with Zeck. He adds that because Zeck has evidence that will convict Rackham of murdering his wife, Archie can't help Rackham without becoming an accessory after the fact. He urges Rackham to assist in Roeder's new operation: if he does, Zeck might reciprocate by suppressing the evidence of Rackham's guilt. Rackham tacitly agrees, and Archie makes arrangements for them to meet with Zeck and Roeder.
But then the Westchester authorities butt in and call Archie to White Plains for further questioning. There, he finds that Lina Darrow has provided more information. She has had an intimate relationship with Rackham, but now he has refused to marry her. She has learned from him that Wolfe told Mrs. Rackham over the phone that he had determined Rackham's source of income – a criminal source – and that Mrs. Rackham then told her husband it had to stop.
This gives Rackham a motive, previously unknown to the police, for the murder. Archie has been summoned to White Plains to confirm what Wolfe told Mrs. Rackham, and to answer for not having mentioned it earlier. But Archie can't and won't do it. He says that Miss Darrow is lying, and it's not merely his word against hers. Her story has Wolfe phoning Mrs. Rackham just a few hours after she left his office – much too soon to have gathered so much information. And Archie points out that the Rackhams were getting along fine at dinner the next evening – not the way people behave when the wife tells her husband she's learned that he's a criminal.
The DA buys Archie's version of events and lets him go, so Archie is able to take Rackham to meet with Roeder and Zeck after all.
But the meeting turns into a bloodbath.
(1981), an NBC TV series starring William Conrad
as Nero Wolfe and Lee Horsley
as Archie Goodwin. Other members of the regular cast include George Voskovec
(Fritz Brenner), Robert Coote
(Theodore Horstmann), George Wyner
(Saul Panzer) and Allan Miller
(Inspector Cramer). Guest stars include Linden Chiles (Calvin Leeds), Juanin Clay
(Annabel Frey), Lawrence Casey (Barry Rackham), Burr DeBenning (Max Christy), Diana Douglas (Sarah Rackham), Robert Loggia
(Arnold Dorso [Zeck]) and Alex Rodine (Marko Vukcic). Directed by George McCowan
from a teleplay by Alfred Hayes
, "In the Best Families" aired March 6, 1981.
Nero Wolfe
Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective, created in 1934 by the American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe's confidential assistant Archie Goodwin narrates the cases of the detective genius. Stout wrote 33 novels and 39 short stories from 1934 to 1974, with most of them set in New York City. Wolfe's...
detective novel by Rex Stout
Rex Stout
Rex Todhunter Stout was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. Stout is best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe, described by reviewer Will Cuppy as "that Falstaff of detectives." Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the...
, first published by the Viking Press
Viking Press
Viking Press is an American publishing company owned by the Penguin Group, which has owned the company since 1975. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim...
in 1950. The story was collected in the omnibus volumes Five of a Kind (Viking 1961) and Triple Zeck (Viking 1974).
This is the third of three Nero Wolfe books that involve crime boss Arnold Zeck and his widespread operations (the others are And Be a Villain
And Be a Villain
And Be a Villain is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1948...
and The Second Confession
The Second Confession
The Second Confession is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1949. The story was collected in the omnibus volume Triple Zeck ....
). In each book, Zeck – Wolfe's Moriarty – attempts to warn Wolfe off an investigation that Zeck believes will interfere with his criminal machinations. Each time, Wolfe refuses to cooperate, and there are consequences.
Plot introduction
A wealthy wife hires Nero Wolfe to learn the source of her husband's mysterious income. In short order, Arnold Zeck horns in, the wife is murdered, and Wolfe disappears.Plot summary
Sarah and Barry Rackham have been married less than four years. She is a wealthy heiress, while he is neither employed nor of independent means. Mrs. Rackham has recently cut off Mr. Rackham's allowance due to his escalating demands, and yet he continues to spend considerable sums of money. Mrs. Rackham, along with her cousin Calvin Leeds, comes to the brownstone to engage Wolfe: she wants to know where her husband is getting his money.Reluctantly, Wolfe takes the case. The next day a carton, delivered to his brownstone and thought to contain sausage, turns out to contain a canister of tear gas, which discharges when the carton is opened. Shortly thereafter, Arnold Zeck phones. Zeck heads an organized crime syndicate, insulates himself from publicity by means of several layers of subordinates, and has figured in two of Wolfe's recent cases.
Now he calls Wolfe to stress that the carton of tear gas could have contained an explosive, and that Wolfe should withdraw from the work he is performing for Mrs. Rackham. Wolfe hangs up on Zeck. It now seems likely that Zeck is the source of Barry Rackham's income.
As arranged with Mrs. Rackham, Archie visits her country home in Westchester, ostensibly to investigate a dog poisoning for Leeds, who breeds Dobermans. His actual purpose is to develop an acquaintance with Mr. Rackham.
Over dinner that night, Archie picks up information on several guests, family members and staff. Leeds is to some degree dependent on his cousin for his livelihood: Mrs. Rackham has allowed him to set up a kennels on a corner of her property. Mrs. Rackham's secretary, Lina Darrow, amuses herself by flirting with some of the men present, including Oliver Pierce, a state assemblyman. Dana Hammond, a banker, is trying to establish a closer relationship with Mrs. Rackham's widowed daughter-in-law, Annabel Frey.
Archie also has an opportunity to size up Barry Rackham. Although Archie initially expected that Rackham would turn out to be a gigolo who got lucky, he is actually a very clever man, whose interactions with his wife show real character. After dinner and television, Rackham pointedly implies that he knows what Archie's doing there, and just as pointedly urges him to leave early the next morning.
Later that night, Mrs. Rackham and her pet Doberman are found stabbed to death in the woods near her house. Archie phones Wolfe to report and, after dealing with the local officials, returns to Manhattan to confer further with Wolfe. When he arrives at the brownstone, Archie finds the front door ajar, Fritz and Theodore in confusion, and Wolfe gone. A brief note, inarguably from Wolfe, instructs Archie not to look for him.
Wolfe's disappearance touches off other events. First, a Gazette employee wants to authenticate an order for an advertisement, which announces Wolfe's retirement from the detective business.
Then Marko Vukcic, Wolfe's oldest friend, tells Archie that Wolfe came to see him at 2:00 a.m. that morning. Marko spoke with Wolfe for an hour, and has information for Archie. The orchids are to be moved to Lewis Hewitt's nursery on Long Island, and Marko will hire Fritz to work at Rusterman's. Marko has Wolfe's power of attorney, and will offer the brownstone for sale. Finally, Archie is to "act in the light of experience as guided by intelligence" – his standing instructions when Wolfe is not available to provide specific direction.
And Archie is recalled to Westchester. He took advantage of District Attorney Archer's imprecise instructions when he returned to Manhattan, and now Archer wants him back to clarify some points. Further, Archer wants to speak with Wolfe. When Archie tells him, truthfully, that he doesn't know where Wolfe is, Archer loses his temper and has Archie jailed as a material witness.
Archie's cellmate is Max Christy, who was arrested earlier in a raid on an apparently unsavory establishment. Christy takes an interest in Archie and tries to recruit him for his organization – it goes unnamed, but from Christy's very oblique description, it sounds criminal. For example, it regards the payment of income taxes as optional. And one of the reasons that Christy thinks Archie has potential is that he " . . . has been a private eye for years and so he would be open to anything that sounds good enough." Archie does not commit himself, but he takes Christy's phone number, and is annoyed that Christy gets released before Nathaniel Parker, Wolfe's lawyer, bails Archie out.
Days pass, then weeks and months, with no word from Wolfe. Archie sets up shop for himself, of course as a private investigator. He gets a hint that Wolfe is still alive, when Marko has him prepare a check, drawn to cash and charged to travel expense. A log of some of Archie's cases during this period suggests a much more quotidian professional life than he is accustomed to: finding a stolen cat, supervising workers at Coney Island, and catching a cashier dipping into the till.
Still, Archie makes enough to cover his living expenses, and then some. He's getting ready to spend a month vacationing in Norway with Lily Rowan when Max Christy shows up with an offer. Christy wants Archie to meet with someone – just possibly Arnold Zeck, Archie guesses – to answer some questions. If Archie's answers pass muster, he'll have a chance to " . . . dip into the biggest river of fast dough that ever flowed."
Out of curiosity, Archie agrees to a meeting. That night, he joins a man in a chauffered car. It's not Zeck, but a stranger named Pete Roeder. They drive around Manhattan, discussing Roeder's requirement: an expert tailing job on a man named Rackham, and he wants Archie to get Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin and Orrie Cather for the job. Archie verifies that Roeder means Barry Rackham, the one whose wife, Wolfe's client, was murdered. Rackham is the beneficiary of much of his wife's estate, and since her death he's been living well in a suite at the Hotel Churchill in Manhattan.
Roeder won't tell Archie specifically why he wants Rackham tailed, but he's certain that Archie can't turn the job down. As Roeder smugly points out, Archie was there when Mrs. Rackham was murdered, Wolfe disappeared just six hours after Archie phoned him, and Archie was jailed as a material witness. Now he's being offered the job of tailing Rackham, for no apparent reason. How could he turn it down?
He can't. Archie wonders who it is that's after Rackham. If it's Zeck himself, or if Roeder works for Zeck, then Rackham has somehow crossed Zeck since the day when Wolfe was told to lay off. If Rackham is still under Zeck's aegis, it would be dangerous to take a job tailing him for Roeder and Christy. Either way, Archie can't resist getting mixed up in it. So Archie arranges with Saul, Fred and Orrie to tail Rackham. They will report daily to Archie, who will then summarize Rackham's activities for Christy.
Archie confirms that both Christy and Roeder work in the Zeck organization, and that the organization is worried about Rackham. Before his wife's death, Rackham had been working for Zeck, but quit when he became a wealthy widower. Investigations into organized crime are ongoing in both Washington and New York, and Zeck's syndicate is worried that Rackham is meeting with a DA. Roeder would like to rope Rackham back in to participate in a new scheme he's developed, but first he needs to be sure that Rackham hasn't turned informant.
After more than a week of the tailing, Rackham has figured out that he's being followed, and Archie decides that he might as well have a chat with him to see if he can learn anything interesting. Rackham is wild to know who wants him followed, and Archie tells him it's Zeck. Rackham is so frantic that he throws his whisky glass against the wall. He offers Archie $5,000 for further information. Archie tells Rackham about Christy and Roeder, and Rackham tells Archie he'll top any offer that Roeder makes.
Archie reports this conversation to Christy: he doesn't dare conceal it, because Roeder might have other operatives watching Rackham. Archie's report apparently has an effect, for Christy returns the next day to say that Roeder wants to see him. A car and driver take them to Westchester, the location of both the Rackham estate and Zeck's. Upon arrival, Archie is relieved of his gun and escorted into a small waiting room that resembles a fortified bunker. There he meets Arnold Zeck, whose appearance is intimidating:
Zeck tells Archie that he needs good men, including some he can meet with and work through. Archie might be one such, and Zeck would like to try. He has Roeder brought into the room. Zeck explains that he and Roeder want Rackham frightened in order to ensure his cooperation with Roeder's new operation, which requires a well-to-do man with good social connections. Zeck closes the meeting by placing Archie on the B list.
Back in Manhattan, Archie gets a message from Rackham that he wants to meet. Archie arrives at the suite just in time to see Lina Darrow leaving, and he sees that Rackham has deteriorated during the last three days. His skin looks splotchy, his eyes are bloodshot, his muscles twitch, he needs a shave, his clothes are dirty and he's been drinking heavily. Archie turns up the pressure on Rackham by telling him that he has met with Zeck. He adds that because Zeck has evidence that will convict Rackham of murdering his wife, Archie can't help Rackham without becoming an accessory after the fact. He urges Rackham to assist in Roeder's new operation: if he does, Zeck might reciprocate by suppressing the evidence of Rackham's guilt. Rackham tacitly agrees, and Archie makes arrangements for them to meet with Zeck and Roeder.
But then the Westchester authorities butt in and call Archie to White Plains for further questioning. There, he finds that Lina Darrow has provided more information. She has had an intimate relationship with Rackham, but now he has refused to marry her. She has learned from him that Wolfe told Mrs. Rackham over the phone that he had determined Rackham's source of income – a criminal source – and that Mrs. Rackham then told her husband it had to stop.
This gives Rackham a motive, previously unknown to the police, for the murder. Archie has been summoned to White Plains to confirm what Wolfe told Mrs. Rackham, and to answer for not having mentioned it earlier. But Archie can't and won't do it. He says that Miss Darrow is lying, and it's not merely his word against hers. Her story has Wolfe phoning Mrs. Rackham just a few hours after she left his office – much too soon to have gathered so much information. And Archie points out that the Rackhams were getting along fine at dinner the next evening – not the way people behave when the wife tells her husband she's learned that he's a criminal.
The DA buys Archie's version of events and lets him go, so Archie is able to take Rackham to meet with Roeder and Zeck after all.
But the meeting turns into a bloodbath.
The unfamiliar word
In most Nero Wolfe novels and novellas, there is at least one unfamiliar word, usually spoken by Wolfe. In the Best Families contains the following:- Trepidant. Just prior to the end of Chapter 2.
- Dissimulation, chapter 13. Wolfe sometimes withholds information from Archie so that he won't have to conceal knowledge by feigning ignorance. In the Best Families is arguably the best case for Wolfe's practice:
- You should act as if ... you knew nothing. Under what circumstances would you do that most convincingly? You are capable of dissimulation, but why try you so severely?
- Minim. Page 150 (Viking edition). Chapter 13. "A minim of cause for suspicion and I'm through."
Cast of characters
- Nero Wolfe — The private investigator
- Archie Goodwin — Wolfe's assistant, and the narrator of all Wolfe stories
- Sarah Rackham — Wolfe's client
- Calvin Leeds — Mrs. Rackham's cousin, a breeder of Doberman Pinschers
- Barry Rackham — The client's husband
- Lina Darrow — The client's personal secretary
- Annabel Frey — The client's daughter-in-law
- Oliver Pierce and Dana Hammond — Rackham family friends
- Marko Vukcic — Wolfe's oldest friend
- Arnold Zeck — Chief of an organized crime syndicate
- Pete Roeder — A member of Zeck's syndicate
- Max Christy — A low-level hood working for Zeck
- Cleveland Archer — Westchester District Attorney
- Ben Dykes — Of the Westchester County Detectives
- Lily Rowan — Manhattan socialite and heiress, and Archie's main romantic interest throughout the corpus
- Inspector Cramer — Representing Manhattan Homicide
Reviews and commentary
- J. Kenneth Van Dover, At Wolfe's Door — The reader is more affected by the reactions of the detective than by the actions of the criminal — even those of a criminal mastermind. This suggests both the special strength and the special weakness of the Wolfe series. The murder of Mrs. Rackham is poorly motivated, but Wolfe's solution of the case is neat. Archie continues his dalliance with Lily Rowan. And there is a sign of changing times when the Rackham house party turns down the lights and devotes itself to watching three television programs. After 1950, it seems, the inquiring detective cannot depend upon an evening of revealing conversation with the upper class.
Nero Wolfe (Paramount Television)
In the Best Families was adapted as the seventh episode of Nero WolfeNero Wolfe (1981 TV series)
Nero Wolfe is a television series based on the characters in Rex Stout's classic series of detective stories that aired January 16 – August 25, 1981, on NBC. William Conrad fills the role of the detective genius Nero Wolfe, and Lee Horsley is his assistant Archie Goodwin...
(1981), an NBC TV series starring William Conrad
William Conrad
William Conrad was an American actor, producer and director whose career spanned five decades in radio, film and television....
as Nero Wolfe and Lee Horsley
Lee Horsley
Lee Arthur Horsley is an American film, television, and theater actor known for starring roles in the television series, Nero Wolfe , Matt Houston , and Paradise . He starred in the 1982 cult film, The Sword and the Sorcerer, and recorded the audiobook edition of Lonesome Dove...
as Archie Goodwin. Other members of the regular cast include George Voskovec
Jirí Voskovec
Jiří Voskovec was a Czech-American actor, playwright, dramatist, director, translator, and poet...
(Fritz Brenner), Robert Coote
Robert Coote
Robert Coote was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of My Fair Lady.-Biography:Coote was educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex...
(Theodore Horstmann), George Wyner
George Wyner
George Wyner is an American film and television actor. He is probably best known for his role as ADA Bernstein on the series Hill Street Blues. Wyner graduated from Syracuse University in 1968 as a drama major, and was an in-demand character actor by the early 1970s. To date, Wyner has made guest...
(Saul Panzer) and Allan Miller
Allan Miller
Allan Miller is an American actor, best known for the role of Harland Richards in Santa Barbara.Miller was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Anna and Benedict Miller....
(Inspector Cramer). Guest stars include Linden Chiles (Calvin Leeds), Juanin Clay
Juanin Clay
Juanin Clay was an American actress who appeared in the 1983 drama-thriller film WarGames. She was one of the contenders for the role of Wilma Deering in the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century TV series, but lost the role when Erin Gray returned to reprise her role from the theatrical release...
(Annabel Frey), Lawrence Casey (Barry Rackham), Burr DeBenning (Max Christy), Diana Douglas (Sarah Rackham), Robert Loggia
Robert Loggia
Robert Loggia is an American film and television actor and director.- Early life :Loggia, an Italian American, was born on Staten Island, the son of Elena Blandino, a homemaker, and Benjamin Loggia, a shoemaker, both of whom were born in Sicily, Italy...
(Arnold Dorso [Zeck]) and Alex Rodine (Marko Vukcic). Directed by George McCowan
George McCowan
George McCowan was a Canadian film and TV director in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.McCowan began his career working for the Canadian Broadcasting Company...
from a teleplay by Alfred Hayes
Alfred Hayes (writer)
Alfred Hayes was a British screenwriter, television writer, novelist, and poet, who worked in Italy and the United States...
, "In the Best Families" aired March 6, 1981.
Publication history
- 1950, New York: The Viking PressViking PressViking Press is an American publishing company owned by the Penguin Group, which has owned the company since 1975. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim...
, September 2, 1950, hardcover
- In his limited-edition pamphlet, Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I, Otto PenzlerOtto PenzlerOtto Penzler is an editor of mystery fiction in the United States, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, where he lives.-Biography:...
describes the first editionEdition (book)The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed “from substantially the same setting of type,” including all minor typographical variants.- First edition :...
of In the Best Families: "Yellow cloth, front cover and spine printed with purple; rear cover blank. Issued in a purple, black and white dust wrapper." - In April 2006, Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine estimated that the first edition of In the Best Families had a value of between $300 and $500. The estimate is for a copy in very good to fine condition in a like dustjacket.
- 1950, abridged in The Montreal GazetteThe Gazette (Montreal)The Gazette, often called the Montreal Gazette to avoid ambiguity, is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with three other daily English newspapers all having shut down at different times during the second half of the 20th century.-History:In 1778,...
and The Newark Evening NewsNewark Evening NewsThe Newark Evening News was an American newspaper published in Newark, New Jersey. As New Jersey's largest city, Newark played a major role in New Jersey's journalistic history. At its apex, The News was widely regarded as the newspaper of record in New Jersey. It had bureaus in Montclair,...
during 1950 - 1951, New York: Viking (Mystery GuildBook of the Month ClubThe Book of the Month Club is a United States mail-order book sales club that offers a new book each month to customers.The Book of the Month Club is part of a larger company that runs many book clubs in the United States and Canada. It was formerly the flagship club of Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc...
), January 1951, hardcover
- 1950, abridged in The Montreal Gazette
- The far less valuable Viking book club edition may be distinguished from the first edition in three ways:
-
- The dust jacket has "Book Club Edition" printed on the inside front flap, and the price is absent (first editions may be price clipped if they were given as gifts).
- Book club editions are sometimes thinner and always taller (usually a quarter of an inch) than first editions.
- Book club editions are bound in cardboard, and first editions are bound in cloth (or have at least a cloth spine).
- 1951, London: Collins Crime ClubCollins Crime ClubThe Collins Crime Club was an imprint of UK book publishers William Collins & Co Ltd and ran from May 6, 1930 to April 1994. Customers registered their name and address with the club and were sent a newsletter every three months which advised them of the latest books which had been or were to be...
, April 1951, hardcover (as Even in the Best Families) - 1953, New York: Bantam #1173, October 1953, paperback
- 1961, New York: The Viking Press, Five of a Kind: The Third Nero Wolfe Omnibus (with The Rubber BandThe Rubber BandThe Rubber Band is the third Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. Prior to its publication in 1936 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., the novel was serialized in six issues of The Saturday Evening Post...
and Three Doors to DeathThree Doors to DeathThree Doors to Death is a collection of Nero Wolfe mystery novellas by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1950 — itself collected in the omnibus volume Five of a Kind...
), July 10, 1961, hardcover - 1964, London: Panther #1752, October 1964, paperback
- 1974, New York: The Viking Press, Triple Zeck: A Nero Wolfe Omnibus (with And Be a VillainAnd Be a VillainAnd Be a Villain is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1948...
and The Second ConfessionThe Second ConfessionThe Second Confession is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1949. The story was collected in the omnibus volume Triple Zeck ....
), April 5, 1974, hardcover - 1980, London: Collins Crime ClubCollins Crime ClubThe Collins Crime Club was an imprint of UK book publishers William Collins & Co Ltd and ran from May 6, 1930 to April 1994. Customers registered their name and address with the club and were sent a newsletter every three months which advised them of the latest books which had been or were to be...
Jubilee Edition, 1980, hardcover - 1992, London: Scribners ISBN 0-356-20107-4 1992, hardcover (introduction by Julian SymonsJulian SymonsJulian Gustave Symons 1912 - 1994) was a British crime writer and poet. He also wrote social and military history, biography and studies of literature.-Life and work:...
)(as Even in the Best Families) - 1995, New York: Bantam Crimeline ISBN 0-553-27776-6 January 1, 1995, paperback
- 2000, Auburn, California: The Audio Partners Publishing Corp., Mystery Masters ISBN 1-57270-146-3 July 2000, audio cassette (unabridged, read by Michael Prichard)
- 2010, New York: Bantam ISBN 978-0-307-75601-5 July 21, 2010, e-bookE-bookAn electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital...
- 1951, London: Collins Crime Club
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