Review: ARCHIE MEETS NERO WOLFE A Prequel to Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Mysteries by Robert Goldsborough

Thanks to Les Blatt at Classic Mysteries for the heads up on this little gem. Upon reading Les's review, I had no choice but to order ARCHIE MEETS NERO WOLFE. It arrived a couple of days later and I immediately dropped everything and read it straight through.

While I'm not overly fond of Robert Goldsborough's Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe re-incarnation (he just doesn't have the writing verve of Rex Stout, or the brilliance - but then, who does?), I did enjoy reading this prequel. I'd always wondered how Archie and Wolfe came to their lifelong partnership and now I know.

The thing I like best is that Goldsborough used clues dropped by Stout in his stories over the years to augment his tale of a fresh faced nineteen year old college drop-out arriving in NYC direct from Ohio. Archie is lucky enough (it's the Depression era) to get a job as a night-watchman but does too good a job. So good, in fact, that he's fired.

Next he talks himself into a job with private detective Del Bascomb (mentioned by Wolfe over the years as a reputable firm) who is still - at this point - a small time operation.

When a young boy is kidnapped and Nero Wolfe hired to get him back, Wolfe brings in Bascomb as well as Saul Panzer, Orrie Cather, Fred Durkin and Bill Gore. (Where was Johnny Keems?)

Bascomb brings his capable protege, Archie, along with him and there in the brownstone, with Fritz and Theodore already in place, we have The First Meeting.

It's a good enough case with a couple of murderous villains (though no child is harmed in the making of this story) who keep our heroes plugging along in their wake, up and down the streets of the Bronx that once was.

ARCHIE MEETS NERO WOLFE, a nice trade paperback published by Mysterious Press, is a must addition to any Nero Wolfe library and a great gift for any Nero Wolfe maven.

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Friday's Forgotten Books: CHAMPAGNE FOR ONE (1958) by Rex Stout

If it's Friday, it's Forgotten Books day, the weekly meme hosted by Patti Abbott at her blog, Pattinase  Today, while Patti is is traveling, Todd Mason has rounded up the links on his blog, Sweet Freedom. 

I'm off to another late start, but that seems to be the way of it lately. It doesn't help that it's a dreary, rainy day - perfect for lounging around in bed, the ceiling fan going and Rocky (my chihuahua) snoozing.

Anyway, don't forget to check in at Todd's and see what other forgotten (or overlooked) books other bloggers are talking about today.

CHAMPAGNE FOR ONE by Rex Stout is my entry even though I don't think it's, technically, a 'forgotten' book. I mean, if you love Rex Stout's work as much as I do, by inference you love Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, so you might not have forgotten this one. I'll admit though, that I hadn't re-read it in years - couldn't find my copy in the house anywhere - so I bought it again online and this time I'm keeping an eye on it.

This is also the copy with an introduction by Lena Horne, a lady I admired very much. It seems she and her hubby were personal friends and neighbors of Rex Stout and his family.

Even though CHAMPAGNE FOR ONE prominently features a bunch of 'unwed' mothers - an idea that no longer shocks - this is still a book that, otherwise, hasn't aged much. It also seems to have gotten better or I've changed or - who knows? Never one of my favorites, it has now moved up into my top ten Wolfe books. Go figure.

Archie Goodwin gets a phone call from Dinky Byne (you can tell right away from the name that the guy is a dilettante) requesting a favor. Will he [Archie] attend the annual high society dinner for unwed mothers (that's what it amounts to) given by Mrs. Robert Robilotti?

It's that evening at seven and yeah it's short notice but Dinky has a bad cold.

Though Archie is suspicious of Dinky's real reason, he goes to the dinner all dolled up in a tux as requested. Mrs. Robilotti is the unwitting (and rather stiff-necked) benefactor of a charity begun by her late first husband, which funds a halfway house for unwed, pregnant young women to come and stay. The facility also arranges for adoption of the newborns.

There's lots of condescension involved since the evening (at Mrs. Robilotti's luxurious townhouse) involves the appearance of ten young mothers and ten society stalwarts (not that Archie counts as 'society' but he is a last minute replacement and beggars can't be choosers) to dance attendance on the women and buck up their supposedly low spirits.

When one of the young mothers, Faith Usher, dies in full view of a crowded room, everyone but Archie assumes it's suicide by poison.

The police, the party-goers, Mrs. Robilotti, everyone involved wants the bad episode simply to go away. It must have been suicide because NO ONE could have poisoned Faith Usher except herself.

But Archie is stubborn.

A fabulous book in which Nero Wolfe must accept that Archie's intelligence, experience and observational skills trump the evidence of everyone else's eyes. Wolfe knows Archie and so accepts  his version of what happened though Wolfe was not there. Ultimate trust between friends and cohorts. It's a wonderful thing. Even if it makes for a very difficult and exasperating murder problem.

My post today also counts as an entry in Bev's Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge 2012.

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Friday's Forgotten Book: MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD (1956)by Rex Stout

Not really forgotten, of course, not by Nero Wolfe aficionados like you and me, but I've just finished reading it for the umpteenth time and thought this would be a good time to mention it. Don't think I have before, except in passing.

It's Forgotten Book Friday once again, a weekly meme hosted by Patti Abbott at her blog, PATTINASE, so don't forget to check in and see what other forgotten or overlooked books other bloggers are talking about today.

Being that this book was published in 1956, it qualifies as well for the Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge hosted by Bev, at her blog, MY READER'S BLOCK.

MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD features several nasty murders, one of which hits very close to home for gargantuan detective Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, Wolfe's right hand, confidant, secretary, bookkeeper, bodyguard and all around, general purpose henchman. This, of course, makes them even more determined to catch a crazed killer who has already allowed an innocent man to be tried, convicted and sentenced to death.

A prospective client, James R. Herrold, arrives from Omaha, Nebraska especially to hire Wolfe to find his long lost son, Paul. There had been a falling out and the son has severed all contact (after being kicked out of the family home) except for yearly holiday cards mailed to his mother and sisters from New York City. That's all Paul Herrold knows, but he is adamant about finding the boy who had been accused - years before - of stealing money from the family firm but has since been found to have been innocent.

This is one of Rex Stout's more inventive plots - it begins one way then takes a surprising detour almost immediately. The son, when he is found, has - once more - been wrongfully accused of a crime. (This guy just cannot catch a break.) But Paul Herrold aka Philip Hays has refused to help in his own defense despite his lawyer's entreaties. He tells Archie Goodwin that he 'might as well be dead' for all the good anyone can do for him. He refuses to admit who he is and refuses as well, to see anyone, including any family.

Inspector Cramer of the NYPD is not happy that a case he thought solved and over with has been re-opened by Nero Wolfe. And within a couple of days, when the murderer strikes again, then again, he is forced to admit that they may have arrested the wrong man. This sort of thing makes Cramer even grumpier than usual.

Though no one can out-grump Wolfe when he's forced, by circumstance, to work. As Archie is fond of saying: "When a hippopotamus is peevish, it's a lot of peeve."

As bodies pile up, Archie and the gang work to find the glimmer of light which will lead Wolfe to the truth.

As in many of Rex Stout's stories, some of the motivation is a little iffy, but I overlook that since I do especially like the way the plot of MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD comes together bit by bit, an angle here, an angle there, until it all begins to make sense, even if it is melodramatic sense. Plus there's a great love story at the heart of it. I did mention melodrama.

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Happy Birthday, Rex Stout! (1886 - 1975)

The brilliant creator of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin was born today in Noblesville, Indiana. As a young man, Rex Stout served in the Navy aboard President Teddy Roosevelt's yacht. He invented a school banking system which paid him royalties and enabled him to travel. He wrote for the pulps, and in several genres, including science fiction, before he found his niche in the mystery novel.

Prior to WWII, Stout was an avid proponent of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. He was an unabashed liberal and anti-communist who served on various propaganda making organizations during the war.

After the war he moved to an estate in Brewster, New York and served as President of the Author's Guild as well as the Mystery Writers of America which presented him with the Grand Master Award. He was also a member of the original board of the American Civil Liberties Union.

FER DE LANCE, published in 1934, was the first novel featuring the one and only Nero Wolfe, cranky genius, orchid lover, gourmand and reluctant private eye. The 'best detective north of the South Pole,' at least according to his alter-ego, associate, body-guard, bookkeeper and general all around weisenheimer, Archie Goodwin.

Stout went on to write 47 Nero Wolfe novels as well as many short stories featuring his entertaining duo. He also wrote stand-alone novels and created three other crime fighters:

Theodolinda Dol Bonner, a NYC private eye who appeared in her own book as well as occasionally in a Wolfe story, Alphabet Hicks who also appeared in one book, and Tecumseh Fox who appeared in several. For a complete listing of all of Stout's work, please check here. 

To learn much more about Rex Stout, please use this link  to his Wikipedia page. and/or this link to the Wolfe Pack, the Rex Stout and Nero Wolfe veneration society which meets once a month in Manhattan for good food, good drinks and good talk about one of the great writers of the 20th century.

His narrative and dialogue could not be improved, and he passes the supreme test of being rereadable. I don't know how many times I have reread the Nero Wolfe stories, but plenty. I know exactly what is coming and how it is all going to end, but it doesn't matter. That's writing. P.G. Wodehouse I couldn't agree more.

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TRIPLE ZECK by Rex Stout - On My Horizon.

I love omnibus collections. They are so handy, best of all they take up less shelf space. I have several collections by some of my favorite authors including a bunch by Agatha Christie.

Though the type within is sometimes a bit smaller than normal, I have reading glasses that make up the difference. The only problem is sometimes they're hard to hold open while you eat.

You guys know how much I love to read Nero Wolfe during meals.

Well, while searching through my collection of Wolfe paperbacks and one omnibus, I noticed I didn't have the three novels which make up the Zeck saga. (Though, of course, I've read them in the past.)

AND BE A VILLAIN

THE SECOND CONFESSION

IN THE BEST OF FAMILIES

How to describe the odious and powerful Mr. Zeck? Well, as Wolfe tells Archie, warns Archie - Zeck is a man never to be trifled with. He is a man whom Archie must never interfere with or investigate of have anything to do with. Wolfe says Zeck is the most dangerous man he has ever come up against. If Wolfe were to involve himself in a case which even peripherally had anything to do with Zeck, he, [Wolfe] might have to leave the brownstone and go into hiding.

Archie doesn't believe him, but it turns out to be true.

It also turns out that the greenhouse on the roof of the brownstone is vulnerable to machine gun fire.

Worse yet, it also turns out that Wolfe might have to go on a diet!

Zeck is 'the napoleon of crime'. He is Wolfe's Moriarity. His nemesis. His arch enemy.

So, long story short, I found a used copy of TRIPLE ZECK. Don't know what I'm going to do when I run out of Wolfe books to reread. It's become a habit.

I'm turning manic, I know.

Note: illustration by Emilia Dziubak.

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Friday's Forgotten Books: THE SILENT SPEAKER by Rex Stout

Well, maybe not so much forgotten, since I reread this all the time. But for those few of us not familiar with Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, it may qualify not only as forgotten but overlooked. If you know my reading tastes, you know I am a devoted Nero Wolfe groupie, so here we go.

Friday's Forgotten Books is a weekly meme hosted by Patti Abbott at her blog, PATTINASE.

Don't forget to check in and see what other forgotten books, other bloggers are chatting about today.

THE SILENT SPEAKER is another of Stout's devilishly plotted, NYC tales of multiple murder. One of which, to Wolfe and Archie's acute chagrin, happens on the brownstone's very doorstep while a high level meeting between suspects, the cops and Wolfe, is going on inside. Not only that, but it happens to a particularly intriguing character.

This time out it is especially hard for Archie who had been enthralled by the victim. It is interesting to see Archie non-plussed.

Not that Wolfe, notoriously lazy, wants to go to work, but the exchequer is barren at the moment. Barely enough to pay Archie's salary, let alone maintain the luxurious orchid-central lifestyle of his boss. PLUS, there's those pesky quarterly taxes to pay.

So, work Wolfe must.

I call it Operation Payroll.  That name for the preliminary project, the horning-in campaign, was not, I admit, strictly accurate. In addition to the salaries of Fritz Brenner, Charley the cleaning man, Theodore Horstmann the orchid tender, and me, the treasury had to provide for other items too numerous to mention. But on the principle of putting first things first, I called it Operation Payroll.

It was Friday morning before we caught the fish we were after.

The Boone Case was the big fish, Wolfe and Archie were trawling for.

Cheney Boone, Director of the  government's Bureau of Price Regulation had been invited to make a speech at a dinner of the National Industrial Association - two groups who are perpetually at each others' throats - in the Grand Ballroom of the famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel. About 1500 people in attendance.

While going over his notes and waiting to make his entrance in a side room off stage, he is brutally murdered.

Eventually, by Wolfe and Archie's clever machinations, Wolfe is called upon to solve the case which almost gets Inspector Cramer a one way ticket to palooka-ville.

Another winner.

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