Gambit (novel)
Encyclopedia
Gambit is a Nero Wolfe
detective novel by Rex Stout
, first published by the Viking Press
in 1962.
Gambit employs three distinctive plot elements found in other Wolfe stories. The means by which poison is administered is very similar to the means used in "Cordially Invited to Meet Death." A tape recording is made in an Italian restaurant, one which also appears in "Poison à la Carte"; and the part that a gambit plays in a murder echoes "Method Three for Murder."
During the contest, Jerin had been sitting by himself in a small library off the chess club's main game room. He had nothing to eat or drink except a pot of hot chocolate, brought to him by Blount. After Jerin fell ill, he was diagnosed by a doctor who was playing in the contest; the doctor called for an ambulance but Jerin died at a hospital.
Not only had Blount brought the hot chocolate to Jerin, he had washed out the pot and the cup after Jerin complained that he didn't feel well. Blount is charged with murder.
The only people to enter the library where Jerin sat, other than Blount, were four messengers, who relayed the moves between the main game room and the library. The messengers apparently had no good opportunity to put arsenic in Jerin's chocolate.
Dan Kalmus is Blount's corporate lawyer, and represents Blount after he has been jailed without bail. Blount's daughter Sally is convinced, however, that Kalmus is in love with Blount's wife Anna, and that he won't be inclined to give Blount his best legal efforts. Furthermore, Blount's specialty is business law, not criminal law, and he might not have the needed background.
But Sally is certain that her father is innocent, so she hires a reluctant Wolfe to investigate on her father's behalf. Neither Wolfe nor Archie seems to have his heart in the case because the circumstances point so clearly at Blount. And Wolfe learns from the police that their own inquiries discovered no connection between the messengers and Jerin, whereas Blount was unhappy that Jerin had been seeing Sally.
Because none of the messengers could have a motive to kill Jerin, and because he has assumed that Sally is correct that her father didn't, Wolfe conjectures that Jerin was poisoned not because the murderer had it in for Jerin, but to get at Blount, whose apparent motive would surely get him arrested. Wolfe's hypothesis, then, is that Jerin was a pawn, sacrificed in a gambit to get rid of Blount.
Wolfe speaks with each of the messengers as the best alternative suspects, to try to determine which of them might have wanted Blount, not Jerin, out of the way. Each of the four has a possible motive: Sally thinks Kalmus is in love with her mother, Farrow would like to take over Blount's firm, Yerkes wants Blount's vote in a in a board election but won't get it, and Hausman resents Blount for going easy on him in chess games but winning anyway.
Wolfe learns that there is, in Blount's words, "a certain fact" known only to Blount and to Kalmus that will demonstrate his innocence. The fact turns out to be that Blount really did put something in Jerin's chocolate, but it was sedative in effect, not poisonous. This puts a very different face on things, and as a result Wolfe and Archie, independently, are able to infer both the murderer's identity and how the arsenic got into Jerin.
, published two years earlier, the restaurant is on 14th Street, between Second and Third Avenues, thus west of Second Avenue. Stout was not known for consistency in minor plot matters.
and Kokcha
lapis lazuli
and they and the table had belonged to and been played with by Louis XIV
, and that the men were kept in the position after the ninth move of Paul Morphy
's most famous game
, his defeat of the Duke of Brunswick
and Count Isouard in Paris
in 1858,"
In the same chapter, Archie Goodwin
tried to guess the next moves of a game that he was watching. After failing every time, he "conceded that I would never be a Botvinnik
…."
In Chapter 7, Morton Farrow says, "I'm all right the first three or four moves, any opening from the Ruy Lopez
to the Caro–Kann
, but I soon get lost. My uncle got me started at it because he thinks it develops the brain
. I'm not so sure. Look at Bobby Fischer
, the American champion
. Has he got a brain?"
Dr. Victor Avery, in Chapter 8, claimed that he didn't hear any conversations during a chess game because he "was concentrating on my reply. I was trying the Albin Counter Gambit
. Houghteling had used it against Dodge in 1905 and had mated him on the sixteenth move."
's African Genesis. This book promulgated the Killer ape theory
which claims that humans are naturally murderous.
The series of black-and-white telemovies stars Tino Buazzelli
(Nero Wolfe), Paolo Ferrari
(Archie Goodwin), Pupo De Luca (Fritz Brenner), Renzo Palmer
(Inspector Cramer), Roberto Pistone (Saul Panzer), Mario Righetti
(Orrie Cather) and Gianfranco Varetto (Fred Durkin). Other members of the cast of Sfida al cioccolato include Micaela Esdra (Sally Blount), Mario Maranzana (Matthew Blount), Silvia Monelli (Anna Blount), Paolo Carlini
(Daniel Kalmus), Giampiero Albertini (Ernst Hausman), Renato Campese (Morton Farrow), Renato Turi (Charles Yerkes) and Mario Laurentino (Piotti).
Nero Wolfe
Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective, created in 1934 by the American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe's confidential assistant Archie Goodwin narrates the cases of the detective genius. Stout wrote 33 novels and 39 short stories from 1934 to 1974, with most of them set in New York City. Wolfe's...
detective novel by Rex Stout
Rex Stout
Rex Todhunter Stout was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. Stout is best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe, described by reviewer Will Cuppy as "that Falstaff of detectives." Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the...
, first published by the Viking Press
Viking Press
Viking Press is an American publishing company owned by the Penguin Group, which has owned the company since 1975. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim...
in 1962.
Plot introduction
A chess prodigy is poisoned during a club tournament, and the police arrest the member who served the victim hot chocolate. Wolfe is hired to exonerate the suspect, but finds that no one else has either an adequate motive or the requisite opportunity.Gambit employs three distinctive plot elements found in other Wolfe stories. The means by which poison is administered is very similar to the means used in "Cordially Invited to Meet Death." A tape recording is made in an Italian restaurant, one which also appears in "Poison à la Carte"; and the part that a gambit plays in a murder echoes "Method Three for Murder."
Plot summary
Sally Blount's father, Matthew Blount, has been arrested for the murder of Paul Jerin, a chess master. Blount had arranged for Jerin to play twelve simultaneous games of blindfold chess at his club. Well into the contest, Jerin complains of physical discomfort and cannot continue. Shortly thereafter, Jerin dies of what tests show to be arsenic poisoning.During the contest, Jerin had been sitting by himself in a small library off the chess club's main game room. He had nothing to eat or drink except a pot of hot chocolate, brought to him by Blount. After Jerin fell ill, he was diagnosed by a doctor who was playing in the contest; the doctor called for an ambulance but Jerin died at a hospital.
Not only had Blount brought the hot chocolate to Jerin, he had washed out the pot and the cup after Jerin complained that he didn't feel well. Blount is charged with murder.
The only people to enter the library where Jerin sat, other than Blount, were four messengers, who relayed the moves between the main game room and the library. The messengers apparently had no good opportunity to put arsenic in Jerin's chocolate.
Dan Kalmus is Blount's corporate lawyer, and represents Blount after he has been jailed without bail. Blount's daughter Sally is convinced, however, that Kalmus is in love with Blount's wife Anna, and that he won't be inclined to give Blount his best legal efforts. Furthermore, Blount's specialty is business law, not criminal law, and he might not have the needed background.
But Sally is certain that her father is innocent, so she hires a reluctant Wolfe to investigate on her father's behalf. Neither Wolfe nor Archie seems to have his heart in the case because the circumstances point so clearly at Blount. And Wolfe learns from the police that their own inquiries discovered no connection between the messengers and Jerin, whereas Blount was unhappy that Jerin had been seeing Sally.
Because none of the messengers could have a motive to kill Jerin, and because he has assumed that Sally is correct that her father didn't, Wolfe conjectures that Jerin was poisoned not because the murderer had it in for Jerin, but to get at Blount, whose apparent motive would surely get him arrested. Wolfe's hypothesis, then, is that Jerin was a pawn, sacrificed in a gambit to get rid of Blount.
Wolfe speaks with each of the messengers as the best alternative suspects, to try to determine which of them might have wanted Blount, not Jerin, out of the way. Each of the four has a possible motive: Sally thinks Kalmus is in love with her mother, Farrow would like to take over Blount's firm, Yerkes wants Blount's vote in a in a board election but won't get it, and Hausman resents Blount for going easy on him in chess games but winning anyway.
Wolfe learns that there is, in Blount's words, "a certain fact" known only to Blount and to Kalmus that will demonstrate his innocence. The fact turns out to be that Blount really did put something in Jerin's chocolate, but it was sedative in effect, not poisonous. This puts a very different face on things, and as a result Wolfe and Archie, independently, are able to infer both the murderer's identity and how the arsenic got into Jerin.
The unfamiliar word
In most Nero Wolfe novels and novellas, there is at least one unfamiliar word, usually spoken by Wolfe. Gambit contains these three (the page references are to the Bantam edition):- Trimmer. Page 71, at the beginning of Chapter 8. This word, with this meaning, also appears in Champagne for OneChampagne for OneChampagne for One is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1958.The back matter of the 1995 Bantam edition of this book includes an exchange of correspondence between Stout and his editor at Viking Press, Marshall Best...
. - Analeptic. Page 125, halfway through Chapter 12.
- Contemned. Page 154, next-to-last page of the book. This word also appears in Prisoner's BasePrisoner's BasePrisoner's Base is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1952.-Plot introduction:...
.
Cast of characters
- Nero Wolfe — The private investigator
- Archie Goodwin — Wolfe's assistant (and the narrator of all Wolfe stories)
- Matthew Blount — Wealthy businessman, in jail on a charge of murder
- Sally Blount — Daughter of Matthew Blount, and Wolfe's client
- Anna Blount — Wife of Matthew Blount
- Dan Kalmus — Matthew Blount's lawyer, messenger at chess contest
- Charles Yerkes — Banker, business acquaintance of Blount, messenger at chess contest
- Morton Farrow — Sales manager at Blount's company, Anna Blount's nephew, messenger at chess contest
- Ernst Hausman — Retired broker, Sally Blount's godfather, messenger at chess contest
- Victor Avery — The Blounts' family doctor, participant in chess contest
The peripatetic Piotti
In Gambit, Piotti's restaurant is located on 13th Street, east of Second Avenue (of course, in Manhattan). In "Poison à la Carte"Three at Wolfe's Door
Three at Wolfe's Door is a collection of Nero Wolfe mystery novellas by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1960. The book comprises three stories, one of them published previously:* "Poison à la Carte"...
, published two years earlier, the restaurant is on 14th Street, between Second and Third Avenues, thus west of Second Avenue. Stout was not known for consistency in minor plot matters.
Chess allusions
There is a description, in Chapter 3, of the interior of the Gambit chess club. "In a corner was a chess table with a marble top, with yellow and brown marble for the squares, and the men spread around, not on their home squares. The Gazette had said that the men were of ivoryIvory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
and Kokcha
Kokcha River
The Kokcha River is a river of northeastern Afghanistan. A tributary of the Amu Darya river, it flows through Badakhshan Province in the Hindu Kush range of Afghan Turkestan. The city of Feyzabad lies along the Kokcha. Near the village of Artin Jelow there is a bridge over the river.The Kokcha...
lapis lazuli
Lapis lazuli
Lapis lazuli is a relatively rare semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense blue color....
and they and the table had belonged to and been played with by Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
, and that the men were kept in the position after the ninth move of Paul Morphy
Paul Morphy
Paul Charles Morphy was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and an unofficial World Chess Champion. He was a chess prodigy...
's most famous game
Opera game
The chess game played in 1858 at an opera house in Paris between the American chess master Paul Morphy and two strong amateurs, the German noble Duke Karl of Brunswick and the French aristocrat Count Isouard, is among the most famous chess games. Duke Karl and Count Isouard consulted together,...
, his defeat of the Duke of Brunswick
Charles II, Duke of Brunswick
Charles II , Duke of Brunswick, ruled the Duchy of Brunswick from 1815 until 1830.-Biography:Charles was the eldest son of Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
and Count Isouard in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1858,"
In the same chapter, Archie Goodwin
Archie Goodwin (fictional detective)
Archie Goodwin is a fictional character and detective in Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries. The witty voice of all the stories, he recorded the cases of the detective genius from 1934 to 1975 . He lives in Nero Wolfe's brownstone in New York City.Archie was born on October 23 in Chillicothe, Ohio,...
tried to guess the next moves of a game that he was watching. After failing every time, he "conceded that I would never be a Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...
…."
In Chapter 7, Morton Farrow says, "I'm all right the first three or four moves, any opening from the Ruy Lopez
Ruy Lopez
The Ruy Lopez, also called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves:-History:The opening is named after the 16th century Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura, who made a systematic study of this and other openings in the 150-page book on chess Libro del...
to the Caro–Kann
Caro-Kann Defence
The Caro-Kann Defence is a chess opening —a common defense against the King's Pawn Opening characterised by the moves:The usual continuation isfollowed by 3.Nc3 , 3.Nd2 , 3.exd5 , or 3.e5 . The classical variation has gained much popularity...
, but I soon get lost. My uncle got me started at it because he thinks it develops the brain
Transfer of learning
Transfer of learning is the study of the dependency of human conduct, learning, or performance on prior experience. The notion was originally introduced as transfer of practice by Edward Thorndike and Robert S. Woodworth...
. I'm not so sure. Look at Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
, the American champion
U.S. Chess Championship
The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the national chess champion of the United States. Since 1936, it has been held under the auspices of the U.S. Chess Federation. Until 1999, the event consisted of a round-robin tournament of varying size...
. Has he got a brain?"
Dr. Victor Avery, in Chapter 8, claimed that he didn't hear any conversations during a chess game because he "was concentrating on my reply. I was trying the Albin Counter Gambit
Albin Countergambit
The Albin Countergambit is a chess opening that begins with the moves:and the usual continuation is:The opening is an uncommon defense to the Queen's Gambit. In exchange for the gambit pawn, Black has a central wedge at d4 and gets some chances for an attack...
. Houghteling had used it against Dodge in 1905 and had mated him on the sixteenth move."
Trivia
Throughout the story, one of Wolfe's diversions is the reading of Robert ArdreyRobert Ardrey
Robert Ardrey was an American playwright and screenwriter who returned to his academic training in anthropology and the behavioral sciences in the 1950s....
's African Genesis. This book promulgated the Killer ape theory
Killer ape theory
The killer ape theory or killer ape hypothesis is the theory that war and interpersonal aggression was the driving force behind human evolution...
which claims that humans are naturally murderous.
Reviews and commentary
- Jacques BarzunJacques BarzunJacques Martin Barzun is a French-born American historian of ideas and culture. He has written on a wide range of topics, but is perhaps best known as a philosopher of education, his Teacher in America being a strong influence on post-WWII training of schoolteachers in the United...
and Wendell Hertig Taylor, A Catalogue of CrimeA Catalogue of CrimeA Catalogue of Crime, by Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor, is a critique of crime fiction first published in 1971. A revised edition was published in 1989 by Barzun after the death of Taylor in 1985. The book was awarded a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in...
— There is more detection in this story than in any other of the mulling-and-quizzing sort; here we really see Nero Wolfe's thoughts whirring. Moreover, Archie is in excellent form, and although a chess tournament is a feature, the game itself is not. The great scene is that in which Nero reads and burns the pages of Webster's Dictionary, Third Edition.
- Nancy PearlNancy PearlNancy Pearl is an American librarian, best-selling author, literary critic and was, until August 2004, the Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library...
, Book Lust — When Stout is on top of his game, which is most of the time, his diabolically clever plotting and his storytelling ability exceed that of any other mystery writer you can name, including Agatha Christie, who invented her own eccentric genius detective Hercule Poirot. Although in the years since Stout's death I find myself going back and rereading his entire oeuvre every year or two, I return with particular pleasure to these five novels: The Doorbell RangThe Doorbell RangThe Doorbell Rang is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1965.-Plot introduction:Nero Wolfe is hired to force the FBI to stop wiretapping, tailing and otherwise harassing a woman who gave away 10,000 copies of a book that is critical of the Bureau and...
; Plot It YourselfPlot It YourselfPlot It Yourself is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1959, and also collected in the omnibus volume Kings Full of Aces .-Plot introduction:...
; Murder by the BookMurder by the BookMurder by the Book is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout published in 1951 by the Viking Press, and collected in the omnibus volume Royal Flush .-Plot summary:...
; Champagne for OneChampagne for OneChampagne for One is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1958.The back matter of the 1995 Bantam edition of this book includes an exchange of correspondence between Stout and his editor at Viking Press, Marshall Best...
; and Gambit.
Sfida al cioccolato (Radiotelevisione Italiana)
Gambit was adapted for a series of Nero Wolfe films produced by the Italian television network RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana). Directed by Giuliana Berlinguer from a teleplay by Vladimiro Cajoli, Nero Wolfe: Sfida al cioccolato first aired February 14, 1971.The series of black-and-white telemovies stars Tino Buazzelli
Tino Buazzelli
Tino Buazzelli was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 46 films between 1948 and 1978.-Selected filmography:* Totò Tarzan * Against the Law * Ghosts of Rome...
(Nero Wolfe), Paolo Ferrari
Paolo Ferrari
Paolo Ferrari , Italian dramatist, was born at Modena. His numerous works, chiefly comedies, and all marked by a fresh and piquant style, are the finest product of the modern Italian drama. After producing some minor pieces, in 1852 he made his reputation as a playwright with Goldoni e le sue...
(Archie Goodwin), Pupo De Luca (Fritz Brenner), Renzo Palmer
Renzo Palmer
Renzo Palmer was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 65 films between 1957 and 1988.He was born and died in Milan, Italy.-Selected filmography:* Shivers in Summer * Obiettivo ragazze...
(Inspector Cramer), Roberto Pistone (Saul Panzer), Mario Righetti
Mario Righetti
Mario Righetti was an Italian painter of the Baroque period.He was born at Bologna He became a pupil of Lucio Massari. In Bologna, he painted an Archangel Michael for the church of S. Guglielmo; a Christ appearing to the Magdalen for San Giacomo Maggiore; an Adoration of the Magi for S. Agnese;...
(Orrie Cather) and Gianfranco Varetto (Fred Durkin). Other members of the cast of Sfida al cioccolato include Micaela Esdra (Sally Blount), Mario Maranzana (Matthew Blount), Silvia Monelli (Anna Blount), Paolo Carlini
Paolo Carlini
Paolo Carlini was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 45 films between 1940 and 1979.-Selected filmography:* La Grande strada * The Mute of Portici * It Started in Naples...
(Daniel Kalmus), Giampiero Albertini (Ernst Hausman), Renato Campese (Morton Farrow), Renato Turi (Charles Yerkes) and Mario Laurentino (Piotti).
Publication history
- 1962, New York: The Viking PressViking PressViking Press is an American publishing company owned by the Penguin Group, which has owned the company since 1975. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim...
, October 12, 1962, hardcover
- In his limited-edition pamphlet, Collecting Mystery Fiction #10, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part II, Otto PenzlerOtto PenzlerOtto Penzler is an editor of mystery fiction in the United States, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, where he lives.-Biography:...
describes the first editionEdition (book)The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed “from substantially the same setting of type,” including all minor typographical variants.- First edition :...
of Gambit: "Blue cloth, front cover and spine printed with red; rear cover blank. Issued in a red, white and black dust wrapper." - In April 2006, Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine estimated that the first edition of Gambit had a value of between $150 and $300. The estimate is for a copy in very good to fine condition in a like dustjacket.
- 1962, Toronto: MacmillanMacmillan PublishersMacmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
, 1962, hardcover - 1963, New York: Viking (Mystery GuildBook of the Month ClubThe Book of the Month Club is a United States mail-order book sales club that offers a new book each month to customers.The Book of the Month Club is part of a larger company that runs many book clubs in the United States and Canada. It was formerly the flagship club of Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc...
), January 1963, hardcover
- 1962, Toronto: Macmillan
- The far less valuable Viking book club edition may be distinguished from the first edition in three ways:
-
- The dust jacket has "Book Club Edition" printed on the inside front flap, and the price is absent (first editions may be price clipped if they were given as gifts).
- Book club editions are sometimes thinner and always taller (usually a quarter of an inch) than first editions.
- Book club editions are bound in cardboard, and first editions are bound in cloth (or have at least a cloth spine).
- 1963, London: Collins Crime ClubCollins Crime ClubThe Collins Crime Club was an imprint of UK book publishers William Collins & Co Ltd and ran from May 6, 1930 to April 1994. Customers registered their name and address with the club and were sent a newsletter every three months which advised them of the latest books which had been or were to be...
, April 29, 1963, hardcover - 1964, New York: BantamBantam BooksBantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
#F2731, February 1964, paperback - 1965, London: Panther, August 1965, paperback
- 1971, London: Fontana, 1971, paperback
- 1985, New York: Bantam Books ISBN 0-553-14646-7 September 1985, paperback
- 2005, Auburn, California: The Audio Partners Publishing Corp., Mystery Masters ISBN 1-57270-441-1 January 2005, audio CD (unabridged, read by Michael Prichard)
- 2011, New York: Bantam ISBN 978-0-307-76805-6 August 17, 2011, e-bookE-bookAn electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital...
- 1963, London: Collins Crime Club
-