Omit Flowers

Plot summary

As a favor for his oldest friend Marko Vukcic, Nero Wolfe takes the case of Virgil Pompa, a chef who traded his genius for a high-paying job as the supervisor of a restaurant chain. He is in jail, charged with murder. Archie begins the story with the statement, "In my opinion it was one of Nero Wolfe's neatest jobs, and he never got a nickel for it."

"Omit Flowers"

1948, The American Magazine, November 1948

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