Archie Meets Nero Wolfe

An excellent novel that goes back to 1920s New York to reveal how the famed detective first met his incomparable sidekick (Publishers Weekly, starred review). In 1930, young Archie Goodwin comes to New York City hoping for a bit of excitement. In his third week working as a night watchman, he stops two burglars in their trackswith a pair of hot lead slugs. Dismissed from his job for being trigger-happy, he parlays his newfound notoriety into a job as a detectives assistant, helping honest sleuth Del Bascom solve cases like the Morningside Piano Heist, the Rive Gauche Art Gallery Swindle, and the Sumner-Hayes Burglary. But its the kidnapping of Tommie Williamson, the son of a New York hotel magnate, that introduces Goodwin to the man who will change his life. Goodwin knows theres only one detective who can help find Tommie: Nero Wolfe, the stout genius of West Thirty-Fifth Street. Together, theyll form one of the most unlikely crime fighting duos in historybut first Goodwin must locate Tommie and prove that he deserves a place by Wolfes side. In this witty story about the origin of a legendary partnership, Robert Goldsborough gloriously evokes the spirit of Nero Wolfes creator, bestselling author Rex Stout, and breathes new life into his beloved characters.