Archie Meets Nero Wolfe

by Robert Goldsborough

  All the freelance operatives in this narrative also appear throughout the corpus. Del Bascom plays a far larger role here than in any of the other Wolfe stories and is generally used far less frequently than “regulars” Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin, and Orrie Cather. However, Nero Wolfe respects Bascom, and in Rex Stout’s The Silent Speaker (1947), Wolfe recommends the old-school private eye to a prospective client, calling him “a good man.” Bill Gore, like Bascom, appears only on occasion in Wolfe stories. Overall, I have tried to make all the recurring series characters, including NYPD’s Inspector Cramer, Lieutenant Rowcliff, and Sergeant Stebbins, behave and react as they did in Rex Stout’s compelling tales.

  In addition to Mr. Stout’s stories, I found three books most helpful in my research. They are: Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-fifth Street: The Life and Times of America’s Largest Private Detective by William S. Baring-Gold (The Viking Press, 1969); The Brownstone House of Nero Wolfe by Ken Darby as told by Archie Goodwin (Little, Brown & Co., 1983); and the fine biography Rex Stout by John McAleer (Little, Brown & Co, 1977), which won a Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for best critical/autobiographical work in 1978.

  This book would not have taken flight without the tireless work of my agent, Erik Simon of the Martha Kaplan Agency, and the enthusiastic support of my publisher, Otto Penzler of Mysterious Press. I am pleased to say my history with Otto goes back quite a while. It was in his Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan that I had the launch of my first Nero Wolfe book, Murder in E Minor, in 1986.

  I also want to thank my longtime confidante, the literary agent David Hendin, for his support, as well as the superbly gifted mystery writer and film producer Max Allan Collins, a faithful friend who voluntarily read my manuscript and made invaluable suggestions that have improved the final product.

  And the biggest thanks of all go to my wife, Janet, who not only has cheerfully put up with my idiosyncrasies and irascibilities for nearly a half century, but who also is a far better speller and grammarian than I could ever hope to be. Her eagle eye has saved me from embarrassment more times than I can count.

  About the Author

  Robert Goldsborough has been a longtime journalist with the Chicago Tribune and Advertising Age and is the author of seven previous Nero Wolfe novels. He also wrote five Snap Malek Chicago historical mysteries published by Echelon Press. He lives in Illinois.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2012 by Robert Goldsborough

  ISBN 978-1-4532-6637-3

  Published in 2012 by MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media

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