When Archie Met Nero Wolfe by Robert Goldsborough

Has anyone read this? Its billed as a prequel to the Nero Wolfe books and is by the guy that wrote the Wolfe novels in the 80's. I didn't care for any of those books but this seems intriguing.

I didn't love the Robert Goldsborough books that continued the Nero Wolfe series. I just don't think he has the rhythm of the characters. Both Wolfe and Archie sound like they are having a thesaurus contest sometimes.

Having said that, I did read this new one. It seemed not quite as bad as the earlier ones, and it's nice to have an origin story for when Nero and Archie started working together. The author builds off some of the clues that Stout dropped in various Wolfe books. The dialogue is still awful, though.

All of this is IMHO, of course.

Better than the non-Stout Nero Wolfe books are the four (maybe 5) books by William F. Love. His character isn't called Wolfe, rather he is a bishop in a wheelchair with a Jewish detective as an assistant, but they are a real homage to Stout. Characters, dialogue, everything.

Robert, I'm reading it right now. Rosalita pretty much summed up my thoughts on it. The music of Archie and Wolfe isn't there, but for fanfic, it's pretty good. I kinda liked the beginning of Archie's career in it, but I'm at the end now, and glad of it.

mysterymax, I've never heard of that, I'll have to check it out! Thanks.

Thanks for the good news, mysterymax! San Francisco's public library system doesn't have these, but the Mechanics' Institute Library has 2, which I plan to grab at the first opportunity.

I just started Murder in E Minor, & agree with others who've commented here. Goldsborough's command of the facts is encyclopedic, & the pace is good so far, but his ear is off. It's like listening to a note-perfect violin sonata played slightly out of tune. Not sure how long I'll stick with it.

In desperation for something new, I began reading Silver Spire. It is either better than the earlier ones, or it has been so long since I've read the real deal that my ear has lost some of its sensitivity. Anyway, still not got the zip of Stout, but readable.