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A Nero Wolfe Mystery Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
11 Episodes 2001 - 2001
Episode 1
The Doorbell Rang
Sun, Apr 22, 200193 mins
Idiosyncratic millionairess Mrs Rachel Brunner is sure that the FBI is bugging, following, and generally harassing her because she bought 10,000 copies of an infamous book criticizing J. Edgar Hoover and his organization and distributed them by mail to friends. During the course of their investigation Archie and Nero uncover a murder for which a G-man may or may not be guilty. Nero contrives to entrap the Bureau into a compromising situation in order to get them to cease and desist in their actions against the eccentric Mrs. Brunner.
Episode 2
Champagne for One: Part 1
Sun, May 6, 2001
Mrs. Louise Robilotti, a well-meaning but judgmental socialite, hosts a charity dance where she tries to introduce four young women from a home for unwed mothers to prospective husbands. Although not the marrying kind, Archie agrees to fill in for a casual ne'er-do-well acquaintance complaining of a cold and proceeds to have a good time with the attractive women, the hostess' alcoholic daughter, and the free-flowing champagne. The evening suddenly comes to an abrupt end when one of the young women collapses and dies on the dance floor. Because the dead girl carried cyanide with her and openly talked about a death wish, suicide is initially suggested by Mrs. Robilotti who dreads the bad publicity a murder would bring. Along with Archie, Nero suspects that the death is indeed murder and together they expose the means, the motive, and the murderer.
Episode 3
Champagne for One: Part 2
Sun, May 6, 2001
Archie stands in for a friend at a charity dance for unwed mothers and a mother-to-be dies on the dance floor in an apparent suicide.
Episode 4
Prisoner's Base: Part 1
Sun, May 13, 2001
An anonymous young woman approaches Archie with the proposition that she be allowed to spend a week at the Wolfe complex incommunicado, and she is willing to pay well for the privilege. Taken by her beauty, the chivalrous Goodwin agrees to argue her case with Nero, who is characteristically angered to find a female tenant under his roof. The next morning, lawyer Perry Helmar tries to hire Wolfe to locate his missing ward, Priscilla Eads, who stands to inherit her father's factory and considerable fortune when she turns 25 in a week. Archie recognizes her picture as his young guest, but neither man reveals the truth to her guardian. When the young heiress cannot agree to terms with Wolfe, she leaves his protection and shortly thereafter is found bludgeoned and strangled. A guilt-ridden Archie looks for the murderer in the board room of the dead girl's company and is subsequently arrested for impersonating a policeman. Before Nero can free his friend and solve the crime, the killer strikes again.
Episode 5
Prisoner's Base: Part 2
Sun, May 20, 2001
Moved by Archie Goodwin's zeal in trying to find the killer of heiress Priscilla Eads, Nero Wolfe takes on Archie as a client to aid him in his quest. Tension mounts when another woman who knew the heiress is found murdered.
Episode 6
Eeny, Meeny, Murder, Moe
Sun, Jun 3, 2001
The always fastidious Nero Wolfe inadvertently stains his tie while eating lunch alone in his study. While Archie is upstairs in the plant room trying to convince him to take on the prospective client, the beautiful young legal secretary is strangled in Nero's study using his abandoned tie by person or persons unknown. During the investigation Archie gets involved with a beautiful actress Rita Ramsey Sorrell.
Episode 7
Disguise for Murder
Sun, Jun 17, 2001
Noted orchid fancier Nero Wolfe hosts a flower show at his New York brownstone. A beautiful but inebriated young woman desperately wants to speak to the busy host but is diverted to his office by Archie, who is doing security duty. She confesses to him that she's a grifter and has recognized the killer of murdered socialite Doris Hatten at the exhibition. Archie does not take her seriously as he leaves her to help the boss, but when he returns, he finds the attractive young woman bludgeoned and strangled to death in Nero's den.
Episode 8
Door to Death
Sun, Jun 24, 2001
The "Door of Death" in the title refers to a warning sign on a greenhouse dioor referring to the lethal gas used in the cultivation of orchids. Because his regular gardener has taken a leave of absence and orchid lover Nero Wolfe is desperate to find a replacement, the rotund investigator leaves his brownstone and takes a rare car trip to an estate in Westchester. He is anxious to close the deal with an expert orchidist to become caretaker of his beloved plant room. He is so impressed with the gardener's expertise that misogynistic detective even agrees to house the man's fiancee under his roof as well. Unfortunately they find her under one of the plant tables in the greenhouse dead from poison gas. Suspects include the gardener and the eccentrically dysfunctional family living in the manor house.
Episode 9
Christmas Party
Sun, Jul 1, 2001
Archie shocks Nero by informing him of his forthcoming engagement to beautiful Margot Dickey. The announcement will be made officially at a Christmas party hosted by avant-garde designer Kurt Bottweil. To Archie's surprise at the party, Margot now intends to marry Bottweil, not him, but before the evening is over, the designer lies dead, poisoned after drinking his favorite liquor. Although everyone at the party is a potential suspect, immediate suspicion falls on the unknown actor in the Santa Claus suit who mysteriously disappeared during the excitement. After Archie returns to the brownstone, Wolfe reveals to him that he was the enigmatic figure in the Santa outfit.
Episode 10
Over My Dead Body: Part 1
Sun, Jul 8, 2001
A woman from Montenegro claims that Wolfe's long-lost adopted daughter is in New York, and is accused of theft at a prestigious fencing club. Her troubles increase when a club member is found stabbed to death and she is the prime suspect.
Episode 11
Over My Dead Body: Part 2
Sun, Jul 15, 2001
As Wolfe tries to unravel the mystery of a young woman who could be his long-lost adopted daughter, she draws him and Archie Goodwin further and further into a web of deceit, political intrigue and murder.
