Over My Dead Body (novel)
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| Author | Rex Stout |
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| Cover artist | Robert Graves |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Nero Wolfe |
| Genre | Detective fiction |
| Publisher | Farrar & Rinehart |
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Publication date
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January 3, 1940 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 293 pp. (first edition) |
| OCLC | 9421320 |
| Preceded by | Some Buried Caesar |
| Followed by | Where There's a Will |
Over My Dead Body is the seventh Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. The story first appeared in abridged form in The American Magazine (September 1939). The novel was published in 1940 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc.
"I'm resigning as of this moment."
"Resigning from what?"
"You. My job."
"Rubbish."
"No, boss, really. You told the G-man you have never married. Yet you have a daughter. Well — " I shrugged. "I'm not a prude, but there are limits —"
In Over My Dead Body Rex Stout begins to explore Wolfe's Montenegrin background. By 1939, of course, the Wolfe/Goodwin books had become an established series but Wolfe's youth had yet to be clarified. Stout starts to do so in this book by ringing in a number of European visitors, including some from Montenegro; the backdrop is the maneuvers of the Axis and Allied powers to dominate Yugoslavia. In the first chapter Wolfe tells FBI Agent Stahl that he was born in the United States—a declaration at odds with all other references in the corpus. Stout's authorized biographer John McAleer explained the reason for the anomaly:
Rex told me that even in 1939 Wolfe was irked by the FBI's consuming curiosity about the private business of law-abiding citizens. In consequence, Wolfe felt under no constraint to tell the truth about himself when interrogated by Stahl. There was, however, another reason for Wolfe's contradictory statements about his place of origin. Rex explained: "Editors and publishers are responsible for the discrepancy. … In the original draft of Over My Dead Body Nero was a Montenegrin by birth, and it all fitted previous hints as to his background; but violent protests from The American Magazine, supported by Farrar & Rinehart, caused his cradle to be transported five thousand miles. … I got tired of all the yapping, and besides it seemed highly improbable that anyone would give a damn, or even, for that matter, ever notice it."
Carla Lovchen and Neya Tormic, two young women from Montenegro, come to Wolfe's office asking his assistance. Miss Tormic has been accused, falsely she says, of the theft of diamonds from the locker room of a fencing studio where she works. She cannot afford Wolfe's large fees, but Miss Tormic has a document showing that Wolfe adopted her when she was an infant, at the time of World War I. Wolfe has not seen her since.
Wolfe undertakes to investigate Miss Tormic's predicament, and sends Archie to the fencing studio. At the studio, Archie is gathering information when a body is discovered: that of a British citizen who has just provided Miss Tormic with an alibi for the diamond theft. The body has been pierced by an épée – but because of the rapier's blunt point, this is thought at first to be an impossibility.
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