- Ellery's publicist becomes embroiled in a murder investigation when she finds the body of one of her clients, a World War II spy who recently wrote a tell-all memoir.
- At a book signing Ellery is introduced to Colonel Alec Nivin who is signing his recent publication "Memoirs of a Spy" on the book's first day of sale. The book is a character assassination of various British, French, and Russian operatives who are now living in the United States after WWII. Later that evening when one of the exposed operatives kills Nivin, Ellery and Inspector Queen must sort through Nivin's files to find the killer. As the list of suspects keeps growing, it isn't till Ellery realizes that the killer could only have bought Nivin's book on the day of the murder at the Gotham Book Store since Ellery was there and he bought the last copy of the book.—H Pylypiw
- Colin Esterbrook gets out of a car in front of a bookstore where Col. Alec Nivin is holding a signing for his new book, 'Memoirs of a Spy'. Esterbrook goes in, and Nivin is telling his publicist Jenny O'Brien that they're doing a brisk trade on their first day of signings. Nivin suggests that they go together to a cocktail party, and Jenny gently brushes him off and goes to get some more books for signing.
Going over to Nivin with a book, Esterbrook slips him a note saying that they have to talk immediately. Nivin looks up at Esterbrook in recognition, then goes out of the way and talks with Esterbrook. Jenny notices Esterbrook gesturing angrily at Nivin as they talk, and then Esterbrook leaves.
Ellery comes in and calls to Jenny, and asks where she was for their lunch date. She points out that their lunch date was the day before, and Ellery realizes that he forgot. Ellery tries to make a supper date for her, and Jenny tells him she has a cocktail party date with her newest client, Nivin. She says that Nivin is only a celebrity because of her publicity, and goes over to the author.
Nivin mistakes Ellery for a fan, and talks about how his second volume will break sales records. The store sells out of Nivin's book, and Nivin invites Jenny out for dinner after the cocktail party, in his private room. To get out of it, Jenny says that she has a dinner date with Ellery. Ellery has no idea what's going on, but plays along when Jenny persists.
That night, Jenny arrives at the Safari Club where the party is. The receptionist, Rosh Kalle, tells her that only gentlemen are allowed in. When Jenny says that Nivin invited her, Kalle buzzes at a nearby door but gets no answer. Kalle tells Jenny to wait, and then is called away. Angry at not being let in, Jenny goes to the door and discovers it open. Jenny goes in and finds Nivin dead, seated at his desk. A back door closes, and as Jenny goes to check it out, Kalle comes in and tells her to stop, comes over, and grabs her wrist.
At home, Ellery is dressing while reading Nivin's book. Richard notices, and Ellery explains that Nivin mostly engages in character assassination in the book, about war criminals who escaped to America after the war. When Richard points out the time, Ellery quickly leaves to be at his date on time. Velie calls and tells Richard that Nivin has been murdered. Richard notices that Ellery forgot his glasses and figures his son will be back. Ellery comes back in looking for his glasses and Richard tells him about the murder.
The Queens arrive at the Safari Club and Ellery discovers Nivin was killed with a ceremonial dagger that was previously mounted on the wall. Velie has Jenny and Kalle brought in, and Kalle claims that Jenny slipped in when he wasn't, then tried to run out the back. Jenny says that she was trying to catch the killer, and she tells Ellery that Nivin was dead when she got there. Ellery finds a woman's glove with a "SD" monogram beneath the sofa cushion, and Kalle insists that women aren't allowed in the club. There's a blonde hair there as well, and Kalle says that he cleaned the room thoroughly the day before in anticipation of Nivin's return. Ellery checks the cabinet with Nivin's file, and discovers that someone tampered with the drawer lock with "D-K" although it's still locked.
The next day, Ellery and Richard are in Richard's office going through Nivin's files. They find one on Alexei Dobrenskov, a Soviet diplomat. His wife, Sonja, matches the initials on the glove. That night, they go to the Dobrenskovs' residence and Sonja sees them. She dismisses the butler, Mikhail, who initially says that he might stay to be of service. Sonja insists and Mikhail leaves. Ellery notices that Sonic has a copy of 'Memoirs', and she dismisses it as dull, and doesn't know Nivin.
Alexsei comes in and figures that Richard is there about a Russian seaman who fell off of a Russian ship, and insists the seaman be returned to them immediately. Ellery figures the seaman is a defector, and the diplomat says if the seaman is defecting, it's only because he's confused. The Queens explains that they're there about Nivin's murder, and Richard shows Sonja the glove. Alexsei points out that they have diplomatic status, then tells Sonja that it's all in the past. The diplomatic says that Sonja's relationship with a man in Prague is sensitive, and asks Richard for his discretion.
Sonja admits that she did go to the club to Nivin at 4:30, when the murder took place at 5. She insists that Nivin was alive when she left, and went there to beg Nivin not to make his book public. Sonja says she didn't want Aleksei's career destroyed, and says that Nivin demanded money in return for not using her name, and she said she'd find the money.
The Queens leave, and a car follows them as they drive off. Then a car follows that car.
The next morning at the apartment, Jenny comes to see Ellery. He's been up all night reading the files, and he tells Jenny about Sonja's claim. Ellery has found a file about Esterbrook, who broadcast Nazi propaganda during the war. Now Esterbrook is an antique dealer in the east. There's also info in the files about Marcel Fourchet, a Free French leader who sold out his comrades to the Nazis. Jenny knows Marcel as a freelance photographer who works on PR assignment and magazine. She insists on going with Ellery to Marcel's studio.
Velie calls and tells Ellery that he found out that the only fingerprints on the dagger were Nivin's and Kalle's. Ellery figures since Kalle cleaned the room, he probably left his fingerprints on it. He wonders why Sonja's fingerprints weren't on the dagger, and it was a right-handed glove and Ellery saw her light her cigarette with her right hand. She couldn't have stabbed Nivin with her right hand and then accidentally left the right glove behind.
Ellery and Jenny go to see Marcel at his apartment. He initially mistakes them for a couple looking for wedding portraits. Marcel claims not to know Nivin, but Ellery finds a copy of 'Memoirs' with the bookstore's bookmark in it. Jenny accuses Marcel of betraying his friends, and Ellery tells the Frenchman that they read Nivin's files and points out the bookmark is where Nivin threatened to expose Marcel.
Marcel breaks down and says the thought it was all safely behind him. He says the Gestapo tortured him to betray his friends, He says that he was in Boston when Nivin was murdered, on assignment taking photos of a longshoreman strike. As Marcel shows them the photographs, Glenda Dunlap, Marcel's secretary and fiancé, comes in from the next room in lingerie, and says that she can verify Marcel's alibi.
Outside, Jenny tells Ellery that she's going to stop playing detective and she'll walk back to her office. Once Ellery leaves, Jenny takes a taxi to Sonja's apartment, watches the place, and eventually sees Sonja leave. Jenny has her taxi follow Sonja's. The cars from the previous night are there, and follow the taxis.
Sonja goes to a dress shop, and Jenny goes in after her. Jenny looks around, and Sonja comes out and tells the clerk to add the dress she's buying to her account. She signs the bill with her left hand, and Jenny confronts Sonja with the information. A man in a suit comes in and shoves Jenny back, and she attacks him with her purse.
The clerk summons the police, who arrest Jenny for assault and battery. She ends up in Richard's office, and he calls Ellery there. While Richard and Jenny both blame Ellery, Velie comes in and says that at Ellery's request, he confirmed Marcel's alibi. The sergeant also run Kalle's fingerprints through criminal investigation.
Richard, Ellery, and Jenny go to the club and confront Kalle. He's really a bunco artist named Barney Groves, and "Kalle" talks to them in Nivin's office, takes off some of his makeup, and says that he never in Paris during the war. He says that he saw Sonja, and Nivin's sometimes entertained guests in his office. Groves made himself scarce so he had no idea who was or wasn't in Nivin's office. He confirms that Nivin got two calls the day before from an Englishman who wouldn't give his name, but mentioned antique. Ellery and Jenny figure it was Esterbrook, and Jenny remembers the man who entered the bookstore and argued with Nivin.
The trio go to Esterbrook's store, and Richard asks Esterbrook where he was at the time of the murder. They've confirmed Esterbrook is an illegal alien and Richard threatens to have Esterbrook deported unless he cooperates. Ellery finds a copy of 'Memoirs' on the counter, at the bookmark at the place where Nivin threatened to expose Esterbrook. Esterbrook says that he was undercover working for British Intelligence, and he was transmitting coded information to Britain. Only one man knew of Esterbrook's identity, but he was killed in the final weeks of the war. Esterbrook came to America and forged a new life, and has an alibi for the time of the murder. However, the custom providing his alibi is in the Bahamas on vacation.
That night at the apartment, the trio discover that has someone torn the place up looking for Nivin's files. Ellery reveals that he absent-mindedly put them in the refrigerator, Ellery points out that Nivin didn't have a file for Groves, and if Groves had stolen it he would have no reason to search the apartment. Jenny spots the man, Nikolai, from the dress shop outside, watching the apartment. She tells the Queens, and Ellery goes to talk to Nikolai.
Ellery goes outside and asks Nikolai wants Nivin's file, and invites the man into the apartment so they can talk about it. Nikolai goes for his gun, just as Velie pulls up in answer to Richard's call. The sergeant pulls his gun and tells Nikolai not to move, then arrests him. Groves--out of his disguise--and another man are across the street, in the second following car from earlier, and see the entire thing.
The next day, Richard call Alexsei in. As Ellery looks on, Richard accuses Alexei of Nikolai working for him. Alexsei says that Nikolai worked with the NKVD: Russian Secret Police. Alexsei says that Nikolai broke into the Queens' apartment without his knowledge, and Richard points out that Alexsei wanted Nivin's files as much as anyone. The diplomat is surprised to learn the files were in the apartment, and says that the situation is grave. Alexsei explains that his wife was a "friend" to a Nazi during the war, and he threatened her family to gain her cooperation. The diplomat's superiors know nothing of Sonja's past, and if they did it would be dangerous for her because they wouldn't believe her innocence.
Ellery tells Alexsei that the files weren't found, and the diplomat explains that the NKVD watches all Russians out of the country. That's why the Dobrenskovs couldn't have killed Nivin, because they're under constant surveillance by the NKVD. Alexsei doesn't have an alibi for the time of the murder, and he says that the Russians would rather see Alexsei go to prison for murder than let him provide the name of the person who was in his office and can give him an alibi.
Back at the apartment, Richard worries about starting World War III. Jenny calls to remind Ellery he forgot another of their lunch dates. As he meets with her and they drive to the restaurant, Ellery figures that something doesn't fit. Jenny has Ellery pull over to buy some cheap nylons at a five-and-dime, and a mounted policeman comes up and writes Ellery a ticket for his parked car next to a fire plug. Jenny comes back and complains that the store was sold out of the 700 pairs they had. The cop gives Ellery the ticket and leaves, and Ellery thinks about what Jenny said and has an idea. He then challenges the viewer, assuring them that Jenny isn't the murderer. He says that someone's alibi is all wet.
Ellery has Richard bring all of the suspects to Nivin's office at the Club. Through a contact, Ellery has confirmed that Groves' files were taken out of the prison system by the U.S. government. Groves died two years ago, and they figure someone has assumed Groves' identity.
The suspects are all there along with Velie and Jenny, and Ellery asks "Groves" to tell them who he really is. When Ellery threatens to produce Groves' death certificate, "Groves" talks to Richard and Ellery privately, flashed an OSS badge, and says that his real name is Major George Pearson. He was under orders to keep an eye on Nivin, and the files are stolen government property. Pearson denies having his people go through the apartment.
Ellery points out that Marcel is the only one with a perfect alibi. He has his father give him a magazine with the photo Marcel took for the strike. The ship in the photo, the Larissa, is a Russian ship that was in New York harbor the same night that Marcel claimed he took the photo in Boston when the seaman defected. Ellery then notes that the copy of 'Memoirs' that Marcel was only on sale for one day, the day that Nivin was murdered, with the bookstore bookmark in it. Marcel could only have purchased it on the day of the murder, even though he claims he was in Boston. He went to see Nivin, argued and killed him, made sure not to leave prints, took the train to Boston, then flew back and made sure Glenda was there to see him arrive to give him an alibi.
Marcel confesses, saying that Nivin laughed at him for betraying his comrades. Velie takes Marcel away and Richard dismisses the others. The Dobrenskovs thanks Ellery for not holding the politics of the moment against them, then leave. Pearson asks for the files and Richard agrees.
The Dobrenskovs come back, saying there are NKVD men out on the street. Pearson says that he's been empowered by his superiors to offer them asylum along with a new identity. The Dobrenskovs gladly agree, and Pearson tells Alexsei that the OSS would like to know more about Abel, the man who Alexsei met at the time of the murder.
The couple leave with the agent, and Jenny kisses Ellery and says he made a brilliant deduction while she gave him the vital clue. As they go, Ellery asks Richard to take care of the ticket for him. His father tells Ellery to pay $2 and they leave together.
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