"Not Quite Dead Enough" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in abridged form in the December 1942 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form as the first of two novellas in the short-story collection Not Quite Dead Enough, published by Farrar & Rinehart in 1944; Booby Trap (novella) is the second novella in the book.
Archie has recently joined the Army and is now Major Goodwin. His high rank, as a rookie GI, reflects the fact that the Army recognizes and is making use of his civilian expertise by assigning him to domestic (counter) intelligence, specifically a unit based back in New York City, where Archie lived with his erstwhile boss Nero Wolfe before enlisting.
The Army wants to have Wolfe aid the Intelligence unit. Wolfe does not respond to requests, instead starts a program to lose weight and increase his physical strength. His goal is to enlist as a soldier while Archie is away.
The whole household routine Wolfe is known for has already been abandoned during Archie's absence in favor of strict adherence to wartime rationing and losing weight. This is what Archie finds on his return to the brownstone. His challenge is to re-direct Wolfe to using his mind, not his body, in this war.
On the flight back to New York from Washington, Archie encounters wealthy and beautiful Lily Rowan, (introduced in Some Buried Caesar) and with whom he has the beginnings of a romance. She has gone to great lengths to be on this flight. Lily asks him to look into a problem a girl-friend of hers is having. Archie seizes this opportunity to find a case for Wolfe to solve.
Archie takes Lily's friend to the Flamingo nightclub, as Anne Amory is not answering ArchieâÂÂs questions at her apartment building. Lily sees the pair, and is jealous. When Archie has Roy Douglas in the brownstone the next day, Lily tries again to get his full attention. At the partly open door, she tells the tale of her dead friend. Roy leaves rapidly and Archie follows him to AnneâÂÂs apartment. Archie implicates himself in the crime by leaving evidence at the scene. He is arrested, and uses his phone call to a newspaper to assure coverage the next morning. Wolfe reads the story over breakfast and comes to the police office to get him released, by telling his story. In return, Archie asks Wolfe to meet with Army Intelligence.
Thus Archie is free and Wolfe can find Anne AmoryâÂÂs murderer. Lily Rowan and Roy Douglas are the likely suspects. They come to the brownstone, where police are listening to the conversation. Wolfe realizes the nub of LilyâÂÂs motive for her actions, wanting to see Archie and get his full attention after two months. She had not left home early enough, nor gone to Anne's apartment, before heading to the brownstone that day. She did not know Roy was present as she spoke to Archie at the door. Roy leaves immediately, finding that his fiancée is âÂÂnot quite dead enoughâÂÂ, that is, fully alive. So he does the job, matching the details of the scene to those he heard Lily say. Lily made up that story to get ArchieâÂÂs attention. Others in the apartment building know Roy had killed another woman a few months earlier. That woman was threatening to block his care for his prize pigeons. Anne knew, and that was his motive for killing his fiancée. He really wants to spend all his time with those birds, and he loses that. Cramer arrests him for murder.
Archie and Wolfe are working together again, and Wolfe agrees to contribute to the war effort by working with Army Intelligence in the Second World War.