The Black Mountain

The Black Mountain is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1954. The story was also collected in the omnibus volume Three Trumps (Viking 1955). This book and the pre-war novel Over My Dead Body both involve international intrigue over Montenegro, but under very different circumstances, first concerning Nazi designs on the Balkans, and later in the context of Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavia. Plot introduction In The Black Mountain, Nero Wolfe's oldest friend and fellow Montenegrin Marko Vukcic is murdered by a Yugoslavian agent who has already made his escape from New York. Without hesitation, Wolfe is compelled to go back to his homeland to avenge Marko's death and bring the killer back to American justice; this desire is intensified by the news that Carla Britten, Wolfe's adopted daughter, has also been killed. As they covertly negotiate through one of the most dangerous places on earth, Archie sees Wolfe as the man of action he used to be, and gets a little culture-shock: In these strange lands, Nero replaces Archie as the expert operator.