Blood Will Tell (short story)

Plot summary

Archie Goodwin receives a blood-stained tie in the mail from the owner of a small walk-up apartment building in lower Manhattan, who also lives on the top floor. Archie investigates, only to find yet another dead body and now has to sort out the mess, preferably collecting a fee along the way since the other adventures in this volume have not earned the costly Nero Wolfe operation a cent.

"Blood Will Tell"

1963, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, December 1963

1971, Ellery Queen's Anthology, Fall–Winter 1971

Trio for Blunt Instruments

1964, New York: The Viking Press, April 24, 1964, hardcover

Contents include "Kill Now—Pay Later", "Murder Is Corny" and "Blood Will Tell".In his limited-edition pamphlet, Collecting Mystery Fiction #10, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part II, Otto Penzler describes the first edition of Trio for Blunt Instruments: "Orange cloth, front cover and spine printed with blue rules; the front cover printed with blue lettering; the spine is printed with black lettering; rear cover blank. Issued in a mainly red pictorial dust wrapper."In April 2006, Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine estimated that the first edition of Trio for Blunt Instruments had a value of between $150 and $300. The estimate is for a copy in very good to fine condition in a like dustjacket.

1964, New York: Viking (Mystery Guild), June 1964, hardcover

The far less valuable Viking book club edition may be distinguished from the first edition in three ways:

1965, London: Collins Crime Club, January 1965, hardcover

1967, New York: Bantam #F-3298, January 1967

1997, New York: Bantam Crimeline ISBN 0-553-24191-5 January 1, 1997, paperback

1997, Newport Beach, California: Books on Tape, Inc. ISBN 0-7366-4061-4 October 31, 1997, audio cassette (unabridged, read by Michael Prichard)

2010, New York: Bantam Crimeline ISBN 978-0-307-75629-9 July 21, 2010, e-book