Stout’s quite original novel. A detective story whose plot is built around the theme of literary plagiarism. And besides, Nero Wolfe is forced to work as a literary scholar—parallel to investigating mysterious murders.
Two lawsuits over plagiarism end with bestselling authors being compelled to pay large sums in damages to the claimants. But that’s not the end: new lawsuits are “filed,” and then the National Association of Writers and Dramatists together with publishers decide to turn to Wolfe. Wolfe begins an investigation. The result of his first steps is a murder. Moreover, one of the claimants is killed—and, as always, the center of events is the invariable Archie Goodwin. The case tightens further: a few days later he finds a second corpse—again of a claimant. The hunt for claimants continues…