When you talk about Rex Stout, you talk about Nero Wolfe. I'm
apologize to all the Stout fans out there who love his other
books. But basically Stout's opus was Nero Wolfe.
Wolfe is, in my opinion, the best of the pure detective series (with,
of course, the exception of Sherlock Holmes, who can never be
matched). Nero is such a fascinating character, with his incredible
vocabulary (which has improved mine considerably), his food, his
plants, his house, and his... je ne sais quoi. Then there's Archie,
the incomparable right hand man. Stout has managed to use the device
of the ignorant side-kick who needs to have the workings of the genius
described in detail (allowing us, the audience, to know what's going
on) while making the side-kick smart, hip, on the ball, and competent.
Not a Watson at all. I find these stories the most entertaining
detective stories around, and have read them all a number of times.
I even have a book that tries to convince the reader that Nero is really
Sherlock Holmes son by way of Irene Adler, and Archie is Wolfe's son.
I like that scenario....
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