Door to Death

Plot summary

When orchid nurse Theodore Horstmann leaves the brownstone indefinitely to tend to his sick mother, Nero Wolfe goes out — in the snow and on foot — into the raging wilds of Westchester to find a replacement. He and Archie find a corpse in the greenhouse, as well.

"Door to Death"

1949, The American Magazine, June 1949

1951, New York: Dell Publishing, Dell Ten Cent Paperback #21 (cover illustration by Robert C. Stanley), 1951, paperback

Three Doors to Death

1950, New York: The Viking Press, April 21, 1950, hardcover

Contents include "Man Alive", "Omit Flowers" and "Door to Death". In his limited-edition pamphlet, Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I, Otto Penzler describes the first edition of Three Doors to Death: "Green cloth, front cover and spine printed with black; rear cover blank. Issued in a mainly reddish-orange dust wrapper." In April 2006, Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine estimated that the first edition of Three Doors to Death 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, New York: Viking (Mystery Guild), August 1950, hardcover

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

1950, London: Collins Crime Club, September 18, 1950, hardcover

1952, New York: Dell (mapback by Rafael de Soto), 1952, #626, paperback

1961, New York: The Viking Press, Five of a Kind: The Third Nero Wolfe Omnibus (with The Rubber Band and In the Best Families), July 10, 1961, hardcover

1966, New York: Bantam #F3154, June 1966, paperback

1995, New York: Bantam Crimeline ISBN 0-553-25127-9 February 1995, paperback

2010, New York: Bantam Crimeline ISBN 0-307-75623-8 June 9, 2010, e-book

A Nero Wolfe Mystery (A&E Network)

"Door to Death" was adapted for the first season of the A&E TV series A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001–2002). Directed by Holly Dale from a teleplay by Sharon Elizabeth Doyle, the episode made its debut June 24, 2001, on A&E.

Timothy Hutton is Archie Goodwin; Maury Chaykin is Nero Wolfe. Other members of the cast (in credits order) are Colin Fox (Fritz Brenner), James Tolkan (Mr. Joseph Pitcairn), Marian Seldes (Mrs. Pitcairn), Kari Matchett (Lily Rowan), Nicholas Campbell (Andy Krasicki), Beau Starr (Lieutenant Noonan), Conrad Dunn (Saul Panzer), Ken Kramer (Neil Imbrie), Kristin Booth (Dini Lauer), Christine Brubaker (Sybil Pitcairn), Boyd Banks (Donald Pitcairn), Nancy Beatty (Vera Imbrie) and Francie Swift (Margot Dickey, uncredited).

In addition to original music by Nero Wolfe composer Michael Small, the soundtrack includes music by Angel Villaldo and Tony Clout.

In international broadcasts, the episodes "Door to Death" and "Christmas Party" are linked and expanded into a 90-minute widescreen telefilm titled "Wolfe Goes Out".

A Nero Wolfe Mystery began to be released on Region 2 DVD in December 2009, marketed in the Netherlands by Just Entertainment. The third collection released in April 2010 made the 90-minute features "Wolfe Goes Out" and "Wolfe Stays In" available on home video for the first time; until then, the linked episodes "Door to Death"/ "Christmas Party" and "Eeny Meeny Murder Mo"/"Disguise for Murder" were available only in the abbreviated form sold in North America by A&E Home Video (ISBN 0-7670-8893-X). The A&E and Just Entertainment DVD releases present the episodes in 4:3 pan and scan rather than their 16:9 aspect ratio for widescreen viewing.