Rex Stout (1886-1975) was an American author and inventor, but is chiefly memorable for his 72 detective novels and short stories about Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.
Wolfe (no one calls him Nero) is "a genius who speaks like a genius", weighs "a seventh of a ton" and never leaves his brownstone house in New York City, except on rare personal errands. (Exceptions to this are made in the stories, as you might expect.) He enjoys reading, drinking beer, disposing of gourmet cooking, and growing orchids in the plant rooms on the roof of his house. He does not like television, radio, music, riding in cars, or any disturbance in his quiet, scheduled life. He was born in Eastern Europe, in Montenegro.
Wolfe's "leg man" is Archie Goodwin, a sardonic young man from Chillicothe, Ohio who performs Wolfe's physical activities outside the house. The tension between him and Wolfe is one of the most entertaining features of the series. Indeed, what makes the stories so interesting is the way all the personalities interact: literately, individually, and amusingly.
(Description mostly from Muir's page, inside.)
Winnifred Louis's site dedicated to the Nero Wolfe series. Includes biographical information, and a complete, annotated bibliography of short stories and novels, with summary and quotes for each. www.geocities.com/Athens/8907/nero.html
Essay and collection of images of the orchids cultivated by Nero Wolfe, with book references. Offers lithograph of Nero Wolfe oil portrait by Kevin Gordon. www.concentric.net/~Kgunby
Rex Stout's great fictional detective is known for his collection of orchids. Why doesn't he have any ugly ones? Essay by Raphael Carter. www.chaparraltree.com/essays/wolfe.shtml
Dan Dapkus's online reference of characters in the Nero Wolfe series of detective novels, and details of their exploits story by story. Users are welcome to enter information on story characters and character-story data, many have no data yet entered. www.danlhos.com/wolfe
Dave Patty's page has URLs of members of the Nero Wolfe mailing list, cover scans of hundreds of editions of the books, and eleven parodies. nerowolfe.freeservers.com/indexnw.html
An essay on the brilliant writing of Rex Stout who brought us Nero Wolfe. How could we ever have lived without him? A one of a kind detective. www.suite101.com/article.cfm/mystery/9907
Fan organization. Includes biographical data and pictures, listings of his works and related works, story synopses, scanned covers, and event details. www.nerowolfe.org
Plans and 3D representations of the House at 815 W. 35th Street, references and documentation for placement of furniture and rooms. John Clayton. johnclaytonsr.com/Wolfe/index.htm
Detailed analysis of the plot, theme, setting and characters of his Nero Wolfe books, plus links to similar books. Sign up to be a Rex Stout scholar on the site. www.allreaders.com/Topics/Topic_142.asp
"Beer of Werowance" describes "The WolfeHounds", the Nero Wolfe fan mailing list, and maintains a list of excerpts from the Kennel discussion. www.nexus.hu/mic/beer
Forsiden | 