Heh. In the Gahan Wilson novel Everybody’s Favorite Duck, the story is narrated by a guy who’s a mash-up of Goodwin, Watson, and (unless I miss my guess) Captain Hastings and maybe Dr. Petrie, playing sidekick to a mash-up of Wolfe, Holmes, (maybe) Poirot, and (also maybe) Nayland Smith; they go up against a Legion of Doom made up of pastiches of Zeck, Moriarty, and (once again, I believe) both Fantomas and Fu Manchu.
Missed the edit window: Scratch Hastings and Poirot. The Professor is mostly a Moriarty parody, with at least one reference to Arnold Zeck in his make-up.
IIRC, one of the books where Zeck figures in has Archie go undercover – the better to slip stuff into a guy’s drink, and go through his wallet, and so on – only to get found out, because a young woman kept the newspaper clipping that described how Archie pulled off a noteworthy shot at the right time to save the day.
Sounds similar to the film comedy Murder by Death, which has thinly-veiled versions of such fictional sleuths as Poirot, Miss Marple, Sam Spade, Nick and Nora, and Charlie Chan - but not Nero Wolfe.
They’re all descended from Case for Three Detectives by Leo Bruce, a pseudonym for the very prolific Rupert Croft-Cooke. A locked room mystery is solved in turn by thinly disguised versions of Lord Peter Wimsey, Hercule Poirot and Father Brown, each using his trademark idiosyncratic detection methods. Each has a different solution. Each is wrong. The case is finally solved by the lowly local constable, who knew it all the time using plain common sense. It’s a classic, if of course dated, since it’s from 1938.
I haven’t read those guys. I imagine that it is pretty cool for on who has.
I remember speculation that Archie may be distantly related to Wolfe.I don’t recall anything definitive they are related. Just a feeling among fans, that’s based on their relationship.
It’s mentioned Archie moved in with Wolfe straight from school. Wolfe taught him to fight, shoot, and many detective skills. Archie ate his first gourmet meal at Wolfe’s house. Archie stills likes grabbing a sandwich at the drugstore lunch counter. He’s loyal, but very much his own man.
The information is scattered across all the books. That’s why a good commentary like Nero Wolfe of W 35th Street is helpful to piece everything together.
Wolfe and Archie bicker like relatives. He’s quit several times and always reconsiders. There’s unusual loyalty in that relationship.
btw one of the better books is Death of A Dude
Another rare example of Wolfe in a outdoor setting. He adapts amazingly well.
I recall 1/7 of a ton. That’s about 281. As it happens, that was the maximum I weighed ever, 281. My BMI then was about 38, which is high, but not absurd.
This was supposedly written by Rex Stout. 272 pounds.
Where is the secret panel from which Archie can spy on the room when he’s been supposedly banished?
There is a painting of a waterfall and a mirror with a peephole in the hallway.
5 ft 11 in., 272 lbs., though he gains and loses and may have been athletic at one time. He must have been in good health despite the weight, since if he was still alive in the 1970s he would have been 85-95 or so years old.
One thing that always bothered me is, the introduction to one of the novels states, “Through Wolfe and Archie, Stout shows you how people are supposed to behave.” In the novel mentioned in the OP, Nero Wolfe literally cannot bring himself to hurt a fly, yet he dispatches a viper and expresses great regret for the beer he spilled while doing so. Most telling, he more or less arranges for two men to die because if they came through alive he would have been forced to leave his house to testify at the trial. Archie has issues as well… The characters are what they are, but whom was the author of the introduction trying to kid?
I could never figure out how anyone could afford to hire Wolfe. ISTR he charges $5000+ to take a case, and in the 1930’s that’s an incredible amount of money. I don’t know how he has clients.
They are wealthy.
Paladin made $2000 a job in 1868.
Pound for pound, that’s a great deal!
An article about the 1959 pilot starring William Shatner as Archie and Kurt Kasznar as Nero, and a rare clip from that pilot.
Thank you! Shatner would have been big fun as Archie. Hard to tell about Kasznar, as he’s under the covers and in his jammies. And would you call that…a “Montenegrin” accent…?
It sure as hell beats William Conrad’s.
Thanks!