Line #12 Literature/DeathOfADude

Context Literature / DeathOfADude

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1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsdeathofadude0773.jpg]]
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3	Creator/RexStout's thirty-first Literature/NeroWolfe novel, published in 1969.
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5	At Lily Rowan's Bar JR Ranch in Timberburg, Montana, Archie becomes involved in clearing the name of Harvey Greve, who runs the ranch but has been imprisoned for the murder of Philip Brodell, a "dude" (city-dweller) who impregnated Greve's daughter a year prior. Archie takes an indefinite leave of absence to work on the case, but does not foresee Wolfe's reaction: faced with an undetermined length of time without Archie, Wolfe leaves the comfort of his New York brownstone for the wilds of Montana to solve the case. Faced with an unfriendly populace and a small-town-big-power obstructive local sheriff, Wolfe and Archie find themselves hamstrung - even more so when a second murder lands Archie in jail.
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7	!Tropes in this work: [-(Tropes relating to the series as a whole, or to the characters in general can be found on Literature/NeroWolfe and its subpages.)-]
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9	* CowboyEpisode: The usually citybound Nero Wolfe has to relocate to the wilds of Montana to investigate a murder on a dude ranch.
10	* InTheBack: Philip Brodell was shot from behind while picking huckleberries. This is Archie's main reason for concluding Harvey Greve is innocent, as Harvey was not cowardly enough to shoot a man in the back.
11	* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Sheriff Haight, who clearly resents Archie and Wolfe muscling in on his authority. While he does have some motive (at one point Archie suspects his son, who was sweet on the girl Brodell impregnated, of some involvement), for the most part it's clear he's just an inept big-fish-in-a-small-pond type who is reacting out of spite due to outsiders showing him up.
12	* SacredHospitality: Having deduced [[spoiler:Wade Worthy]] as the murderer and carried out his duty to inform the police, Wolfe arranges for a fishing trip to clear out the household, and for [[spoiler:Worthy]] to escape and be caught by the highway patrol well off the premises — ''before'' the local police arrive with a search warrant at the empty and locked-up house, all because it would be a serious breach of his duties as Lily's guest to put his host through that turmoil if he could prevent it. This has the added benefit of embarrassing Sheriff Haight, who had earned Wolfe's animosity.

Context Literature / DeathOfADude