Bitter End and The Last Drive

Bitter End the first novella length adventure featuring Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin appeared in the November 1940 issue of The American Magazine. The story which is dark and complex explores the family business and personal relationships of the owners and employees of a specialty food manufacturer. Wolfe has a personal encounter with one of their products that has been poisoned and feels compelled to investigate Before there was Nero Wolfe there were others detectives such a Canby Rankin Dol Bonner and Tecumseh who paved the road for the most famous of Stouts detectives. The Last Drive features Canby Rankin the Southerner who had turned detective in a story serialized in Golfers Magazine. The story can be viewed as a precursor of Fer-de-Lance the first Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin novel-length mystery in the sense that the device used here is almost identical to the murder weapon at the center of Fer-de-Lance.