Nero Wolfe

He is one of America's most well-known fictional detectives, and also one of its largest. Nero Wolfe, is, in the words of assistant Archie Goodwin, "He weighs between 310 and 390, and he limits his physical movements to what he regards as the irreducible essentials." Wolfe is one of the most widely read and widely known of America's fictional sleuths, first brought into existence in 1934 by author Rex Stout in the book Fer-de-Lance. Nero Wolfe, is a detective yes, but he is also by and large many other things. In addition to solving crimes, in which case it is Archie or one of Wolfe's other footmen, Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin or Orrie Cather who often actually goes out and gathers the information for Wolfe, but then, in that grand display of near Sherlockian brilliance, puts all of the pieces together, the guilty are punished and justice prevails once again. But I digress; Mr. Wolfe, in addition to solving crimes, is a connoisseur of fine food, beer and orchids. The New York City brownstone in which Wolfe lives, and sometimes Archie as well yes, is described as having three floors, with a rooftop greenhouse in which Nero Wolfe has over 10,000 orchid plants he himself has grown and breed. Wolfe has two servants, Fritz Brenner who is Wolfe's chef, but also fills the roles of majordomo and butler; and there is Theodore Horstmann, an orchid expert who assists Wolfe in the greenhouse. Nero Wolfe's fame over the years has lead to many branch offs in the media, including two films made in the late 1930's, three different radio shows and three different tv shows, the most famous of these being the A&E series which aired from 2001-2002. The show was entitled A Nero Wolfe Mystery, ran for two seasons and starred Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin. For those who read this blog, you can find all 87 of his adventures, to some degree, online or in any bookstore. And for those who have a zeal for radio much as I do, simply click this link www.radiospirits.com and type Nero Wolfe in the search bar. I guarantee good readers, that you will not be disappointed, and almost certainly get hooked on the adventures of this eccentric but brilliant detective as I have.