A baby is left on a widow's doorstep with a note implying that her late husband had been its father. The widow, Lucy Valdon, hires Wolfe and Archie to find the true mother, but soon the case turns deadly.

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.

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.

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.

Nero Wolfe is stunned when Archie Goodwin reveals evidence of his impending engagement. However, Archie is no less shocked when accompanying his so-called fiancée to a Christmas party by the murder of their host.

Archie is standing in for a friend at a party for unwed mothers when one of the guests drops dead. Through she had often talked about killing herself and was known to carry cyanide, Archie does not believe her death was suicide. A little digging uncovers the connection that proves his hunch, and Wolfe helps bring the killer to justice.

Wolfe needs a new orchid man, and goes on an adventure to find him. Only to find a murder scene at his destination and no way of retrieving the horticulturalist without first solving the mystery.

Someone's poisoned a lecherous producer during a banquet prepared by Fritz, and Wolfe starts investigating the kitchen before the victim has even stopped breathing. He boils down the pool of suspects to one of five female servers, but it takes a clever ruse to bring the killer out into the open.

Two illegal aliens flee a barbershop when a New York City cop begins asking questions. When the cop turns up dead, Wolfe must clear the two of his murder.

Wolfe is asked to cook his famous baked trout for an oilman and an Eastern European ambassador. But when Archie finds a body in the trout stream, Wolfe must solve the murder first.