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The Golden Spiders

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The Golden Spiders is a Nero Wolfe mystery novel by Rex Stout. It was first published in 1953 by The Viking Press.

The Golden Spiders
AuthorRex Stout
Cover artistBill English
LanguageEnglish
SeriesNero Wolfe
GenreDetective fiction
PublisherViking Press
Publication date
October 26, 1953
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages186 pp. (first edition)
ISBNNA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
Preceded byPrisoner's Base 
Followed byThree Men Out 

Plot summary

The story opens while Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe are at dinner. A gourmand in the heart of a great metropolis, Wolfe has secured a supply of 18 to 20 freshly killed starlings from Brewster, New York. Fritz has had the (presumed) affrontary to introduce the spices tarragon (agreed) and saffron (Fritz's own initiative). "You did not consult me," Wolfe declares. "It may possibly be edible, but I am in no humor to risk it. Please dispose of it and bring me four coddled eggs and piece of toast."

The doorbell rings. To give Wolfe "another child to play with," Archie admits neighborhood kid Pete Drossos, who asks to consult Wolfe because he has "a case." Wolfe agrees to hear Pete out, but tells him that the timing is unfortunate. Archie will now be unable to go to a billiard match that evening — he will have to stay and take down everything he says, and everything Pete says. Archie gets his notebook.

Pete works "the wipe racket," washing windshields for cash when cars are stopped at intersections. He believes he has seen a crime in progress. A woman at the wheel of a Cadillac was being held against her will, probably at gunpoint, by a man sitting in the passenger seat. The woman was wearing golden spider earrings. Paused at the intersection she silently mouthed the words, "Help, get a cop," to Pete, who had the presence of mind to write down the car's license number. Pete is sure there's money in the case — the earrings looked as if they were solid gold — but he needs Wolfe's help to proceed. When Wolfe instructs Archie to have the car's license number checked by the police, Pete is alarmed. Explaining that he frequently uses the police to get information at no cost to himself, Wolfe proceeds to educate Pete on the art of being a detective — after confirming that Archie will be taking copious notes.

The following day, Sgt. Purley Stebbins of Manhattan Homicide pays a visit to the brownstone. He wants to know why Archie inquired about a particular car the previous evening, because that car has just run down and killed a young boy named Pete Drossos. As Wolfe's conference with Stebbins is getting underway, Pete's mother arrives unexpectedly.

Anthea Drossos gives Wolfe all of the money Pete has saved — $4.30 — because it was what her son, as he was dying, had asked her to do. After Mrs. Drossos leaves, Wolfe snaps at Archie, telling him to return the money to her or give it to the Red Cross. Instead, Archie decides to spend Pete's money on an ad in The New York Times:

Woman with spider earrings and scratch on cheek who on Tuesday, driving a car, told boy at Thirty-fifth Street and Ninth Avenue to get a cop, please communicate with Nero Wolfe at address in phone book.

Wolfe and Archie are sure the ad will not get a nibble. Two days later, a woman arrives at the brownstone wearing golden spider earrings — and Wolfe is engaged.

Characters in The Golden Spiders

File:Stout-TGS-full.jpg
"Said a spider to a fly" — Book jacket design by Bill English
  • Nero Wolfe — The private investigator
  • Archie Goodwin — Wolfe's assistant, and the narrator of all Wolfe stories
  • Fritz Brenner — Wolfe's master chef
  • Pete Drossos — A 12-year-old who lives in Wolfe's neighborhood
  • Anthea Drossos — Pete's mother
  • Mrs. Damon (Laura) Fromm — Socialite and philanthropist, head of the Association for the Aid of Displaced Persons
  • Jean Estey — Mrs. Fromm's personal secretary
  • Angela Wright — Executive Secretary of Assadip
  • Dennis Horan — General counsel for Assadip
  • James Maddox — personal counsel for Damon Fromm
  • Matthew Birch — Of the Immigration and Naturalization Service
  • Lawrence (Lips) Egan — Organized crime figure
  • Inspector Cramer and Sergeant Purley Stebbins – Of Manhattan Homicide
  • Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin and Orrie Cather — Detectives employed by Wolfe
  • Lon Cohen — Of the Gazette

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Nero Wolfe (Paramount Television)

The Golden Spiders was adapted as the premiere episode of Nero Wolfe] (1981), an NBC TV series that starred William Conrad as Nero Wolfe and Lee Horsley as Archie Goodwin. "The Golden Spiders" aired January 16, 1981.

The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery (A&E Network)

 

The original telefilm The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery aired on the A&E Network March 5, 2000. The Jaffe/Braunstein Films production starred Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe, and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin. Veteran screenwriter Paul Monash adapted the novel, and Bill Duke directed.

In a 2002 interview in Scarlet Street magazine, executive producer Michael Jaffe explained why the novel was selected to introduce contemporary audiences to Nero Wolfe:

There are three or four really extraordinary novels — The Silent Speaker, In the Best Families, and The Doorbell Rang, for example. These are some of the most famous and most complex and most amazing stories in the series, but we didn't want to start with those particular ones for a whole complex of reasons. We wanted to pick a story that had activity in it so that we could slowly bring people into the static milieu of Nero Wolfe's house. The Golden Spiders took you outside. There's a gunfight and a tough interrogation scene. It was a very strong story with a lot of pathos, because a young boy is murdered and Wolfe has to deal with his mother. So that was why we chose that one. [1]

After the high ratings (3.2 million households) garnered by The Golden Spiders, A&E considered a series of two-hour Nero Wolfe films before ordering a weekly one-hour drama series into production.[2]

Release details

  • 1997, USA, Books on Tape, Inc. ISBN 1572700386 August 1997, audio cassette (unabridged, read by Michael Prichard)
  • 1995, USA, Bantam Crimeline ISBN 0553277804 June 1, 1995, paperback

Notes

  1. ^ Paula Vitaris, "Miracle on 35th Street: Nero Wolfe on Television"; Scarlet Street, issue #45, 2002
  2. ^ John Dempsey, "Wolfe series at the door for A&E"; Variety, June 26, 2000
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