The Second Confession
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| Author | Rex Stout |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Bill English |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Nero Wolfe |
| Genre | Detective fiction |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
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Publication date
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September 6, 1949 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 245 pp. (first edition) |
| OCLC | 1468849 |
| Preceded by | Trouble in Triplicate |
| Followed by | Three Doors to Death |
The Second Confession is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1949. The story was collected in the omnibus volume Triple Zeck (Viking 1974).
It is the second of three Nero Wolfe novels that involve crime boss Arnold Zeck and his widespread operations. (The others are And Be a Villain and In the Best Families.) In each story, Zeck – Wolfe's Moriarty – telephones Wolfe to warn him off an investigation that Zeck believes will interfere with his crime syndicate. Each time, Wolfe refuses to cooperate – and there are consequences.
Then I saw that I wasn't standing on the stone of the stoop but on a piece of glass, and if I didn't like that piece there were plenty of others. They were all over the stoop, the steps, the areaway, and the sidewalk. I looked straight up, and another piece came flying down, missed me by a good inch, and crashed and tinkled at my feet. I backed across the sill, shut the door, and turned to face Wolfe, who was standing in the hall looking bewildered.
"He took it out on the orchids," I stated.
Hired to find evidence that Louis Rony is a Communist, Nero Wolfe finds himself under attack from Arnold Zeck and stymied by his own client. Wolfe solves Rony's murder by coercing the assistance of the American Communist Party.
James U. Sperling, a prominent industrialist, approaches Nero Wolfe to investigate Louis Rony, a criminal attorney and admirer of Sperling’s youngest daughter Gwenn. Sperling distrusts Rony and wants Wolfe to find evidence that Rony is a member of the American Communist Party. Wolfe is reluctant to accept the job, as he knows of Rony’s reputation and believes that he has connections to Arnold Zeck, a shadowy criminal mastermind who has crossed paths with Wolfe before and whom Wolfe is hesitant to tangle with again. Nevertheless, Archie Goodwin is dispatched undercover to Sperling’s Westchester estate to learn what he can about Rony and see if he can discover any reasonable grounds for Sperling to convince his daughter to break off their relationship.
Present at Sperling’s estate are his family, including his wife, his son Jimmy, and his daughters Gwenn and Madeline; Rony himself; Paul Emerson, a controversial conservative radio commentator who is sponsored by Sperling’s business; Emerson’s flirtatious wife Connie; and Webster Kane, an economist and friend of the family. Madeline reveals that she is aware of Archie’s true identity, having read about his exploits with Wolfe in the newspapers and nursing something of a crush on him. That night, after dinner Archie plans to surreptitiously drug Rony’s drink in order to ensure he is unconscious while Archie searches his room for evidence; much to Archie’s surprise, however, when he switches drinks with Rony he discovers that Rony’s drink was already spiked and that Rony had already discarded his drink, apparently anticipating being drugged by someone else.
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