The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

I've read them all, at least twice.

My all time favorite series. I own all the books and have also read them more than once. I also bought the DVD set of the A&E series starring the late Maury Chaykin as Wolfe. He probably captured the character closer than any other actor who has attempted it on film or radio. The only thing I saw that was not in keeping with Wolfe's character was that he yelled a lot......Wolfe didn't do that. But with that aside, I loved him as Wolfe and of course, Mathew Broderick was a wonderful Archie.

Ummmmm don't you mean Timothy Hutton?

Jill wrote: "My all time favorite series. I own all the books and have also read them more than once. I also bought the DVD set of the A&E series starring the late Maury Chaykin as Wolfe. He probably captured ..."

I am also fond of this series. I rotate the A&E presentation through my Netflix queue often, so that I can watch them again.

Just recently read Fer-de-Lance again and am ready to re-do the rest.

I can't believe I said Mathew Broderick......of course I meant Timothy Hutton. I was having brain fade!!!!!!

I loved the A&E series, but had not read any of the books until a few months ago. I read the first six in a sort of frenzied reading marathon.

But, I "heard" Hutton, Chaykin and the whole gang as I was reading. I've never had that experience before, even with the Poirot books (I really enjoy David Suchet's portrayal of the character). It was like reading an audiobook ... or something. As a fan of both actors, particularly Hutton, I didn't altogether mind having their voices in my head. I was really surprised at how well the show had translated the books - they really captured the characters and the "feel" of the books.

Anyway, I loved the books - couldn't put them down. I am in the middle of a challenge with another group and I was supposed to be reading something on my list, but I just kept picking up another Nero Wolfe! I managed to stop after six, but I can't wait to read more of them.

What was the name of the Nero Wolfe series on A & E.??
I guess I missed it, but Jill wrote of buying the DVD
so I guess I will need the name. Is it worth it???????

A Nero Wolfe Mystery.

A Nero Wolfe Mystery.

Susan wrote: "I loved the A&E series, but had not read any of the books until a few months ago. I read the first six in a sort of frenzied reading marathon.

But, I "heard" Hutton, Chaykin and the whole gang as ..."
I just recently started reading Them as we'll and my experience was similar to yours. The A and E series was superb visually and did bring the books alive. I now have them fixed in my brain while I read.

The Wolfe books and characters are all great, although something of an acquired taste, I guess. Some people I recommend them to say they were bored or that they're not well written. I disagree.

Rex Stout was a fascinating man as well, it seems. Legend has it that he would write the books straight through, from start to finish, sentence by sentence, having the entire plot fixed in his head, and not go back and change anything. It's said he would sit with his head on the typewriter and plan each sentence for as long as it would take, then continue on. When he reached the end, he was done. He had that kind of brain.

I've also read somewhere that he was an amazing math whiz, and as a kid in school, the students would turn him away from the blackboard, write a long series of numbers on it, and Stout would then turn around and say the answer in seconds.

Love stories like that.

Stout was a very interesting fellow. He designed a school banking system for students which was widely used across the country.

And Glenn is right....the Wolfe books are an acquired taste. Some people hate the characters, hate the writing, don't think there is enough action, etc.......but not this reader. I love them.

Something Stout did that didn't back him into a corner was never aging his characters. Agatha Christie started both Miss Marple and Poirot at an advanced age and kept aging them as the books progressed. Wolfe and Archie never aged although the times changed around them. So we can always see them as they first appeared. I have not read the continuation books written after Stout's death and don't intend to. Has any one read them?

I read a bunch of Robert Goldsborough's Wolfe books about 20 years ago. K remember them being pretty good and faithful to the locations, the layout of the brownstone, and in the style of Archie's narrative. I'd have to dig them out again now for a reread to give a more accurate review.

I love Stout's Nero Wolfe stories, but there is a trick to enjoying them. You have to avoid reading one right after the other. Like many series characters, there is a certain sameness to all the books. If you've been reading other stuff and then want to "visit the brownstone" (as my wife charmingly puts it) then its like getting re-acquainted with old friends. If you then, however, pick up another Nero immediately after that, the sense of deja vu is overwhelming.

I find this to be more of a problem with Nero Wolfe than with other series characters, probably because so much of the drama takes place there in the brownstone. Archie has to go out and drag people in to see Nero, etc. That adds greatly to the sameness, I'm afraid.

I probably read one Nero a year, however, and that is the perfect antidote to the deja vu factor.

Jill wrote: "Stout was a very interesting fellow. He designed a school banking system for students which was widely used across the country.

And Glenn is right....the Wolfe books are an acquired taste. Some pe..."

I read them. They were OK, AS STAND ALONES, But as part of the series didn't quite match-up!

Picked up one of Stout's non-Wolfe books about detective Del Bonner a long time ago and never read it. Maybe that will be next on my list.

For those of you interested in a book about the world of Nero Wolfe, let me recommend:
Stout Fellow: A Guide Through Nero Wolfe's World by O.E. McBride.
It is very well done and frankly, I like it much better that the usually accepted "biography":
Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-fifth Street: The Life and Times of America's Largest Private Detective by William S. Baring-Gould

Steve wrote: "I love Stout's Nero Wolfe stories, but there is a trick to enjoying them. You have to avoid reading one right after the other. Like many series characters, there is a certain sameness to all the bo..."

Great point, Steve. I find that same problem with the Sherlock Holmes stories. When continuing characters have particular quirks which make them unique, they can begin to grate on the nerves if taken in large doses!!

Steve wrote: "I love Stout's Nero Wolfe stories, but there is a trick to enjoying them. You have to avoid reading one right after the other. Like many series characters, there is a certain sameness to all the bo..."

True, there's a sameness to the city-based cases, although the few variations when Wolfe is forced to leave to house provide a good break in the monotony. The trip to the dude ranch and Wolfe's reactions to being out if his element are very entertaining. In many ways, he is almost a precursor to Adrian Monk in these installments.

Jill and Glenn: Nice to meet you. Yes, it does help a lot when Nero gets out of his comfort zone, and the Monk comparison is quite apt. Jill is right, other serial characters elicit that deja vu feeling, too.

That is why a spread things around. If I read Nero this week, I might go with Sherlock or Travis McGee next week -- along with a lot of non-mystery reading in between, too. Time between a serial detective's adventures sure helps freshen things up.

Glenn wrote: "Steve wrote: "I love Stout's Nero Wolfe stories, but there is a trick to enjoying them. You have to avoid reading one right after the other. Like many series characters, there is a certain sameness..."

I think this is true of many series it gets to the point where the author knows they must include such common themes, antics, etc. otherwise their faithful readers will be disappointed.

Recently I was enjoying Lisa Lutz Spellman's books but I needed a break but the temptation is that you enjoy the first so much you rush to read the 2nd. So I try to force myself to wait on #3 of a series.

By the same token do you sometimes read a book in a series and have lukewarm feelings but decide to give #2 a chance?

Steve wrote: "Jill and Glenn: Nice to meet you. Yes, it does help a lot when Nero gets out of his comfort zone, and the Monk comparison is quite apt. Jill is right, other serial characters elicit that deja vu fe..."

never heard of Travis McGee...

Ruth: Travis McGee is a John D. McDonald series character, more of a free agent/action-oriented guy than a traditional detective, although he has a brain and he uses it.

One of favorites of the Wolfe corpus is A Family Affair which really has quite a twist at the end. Somewhat different from most of the other stories.

Jill wrote: "One of favorites of the Wolfe corpus is A Family Affair which really has quite a twist at the end. Somewhat different from most of the other stories."

It differed, most;y, because it was the last.

Albert wrote: "Jill wrote: "One of favorites of the Wolfe corpus is A Family Affair which really has quite a twist at the end. Somewhat different from most of the other stories."..."

For me it wasn't the fact that it was the last of Stout's Wolfe book but the identity of the villain and how it affected the continuing characters. There was a sadness about it and a real twist about how the villain met his end.

Kari wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Glenn wrote: "Steve wrote: "I love Stout's Nero Wolfe stories, but there is a trick to enjoying them. You have to avoid reading one right after the other. Like many series characters, ..."

I agree with Kari.....often the first book is not the best of a series. I read the Marjorie Allingham books featuring Albert Campion and the first one made me grit my teeth. I couldn't understand Campion at all.....he was silly and just wandered through the story seemingly without purpose. But there was something that made me read another of the series and pretty soon I was hooked. So sometimes you have to give an author another chance.
But that can come back to bite you as well.....I read a book by an author that I won't mention.( I don't think we ought to trash writers since it is a personal opinion)...but the first book was interesting, so I searched out the second. It was the dumbest book I have ever read....the story line was idiotic, the characters were unbelievable, and it was generally amateurish. You just never know.

Kari wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Glenn wrote: "Steve wrote: "I love Stout's Nero Wolfe stories, but there is a trick to enjoying them. You have to avoid reading one right after the other. Like many series characters, ..."

The sadness was the reason it was not my favorite, plus I liked Orrie. At least a little.

Kari wrote: "Jill wrote: "Kari wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Glenn wrote: "Steve wrote: "I love Stout's Nero Wolfe stories, but there is a trick to enjoying them. You have to avoid reading one right after the other. Lik..."

Do you find as well that some writers, who start off writing nice compact nicely flowing stories, when they hit it a bit big now seem to feel that they need make their stories clunky and wordy?

Authors who sell sometimes have tough deadlines, too. "Need another book for Christmas sales ...". And I suppose writing under contractual obligation is different from writing because you have a fresh idea.

I should add, though, that I do not think Stout's prose got all padded and wordy as time went on. His voice is fairly consistent.

A couple of people here have mentioned reading Goldsborough's pastiches, but I have not. I feel strongly that authors should create their own characters, rather than perpetuate someone else's stuff. The add-ons are never the same.

On the other hand, pastiche authors have to put food on the table, so more power to them if they can make money by writing. I just prefer not to read the pastiches, that's all.

Steve wrote: "A couple of people here have mentioned reading Goldsborough's pastiches, but I have not. I feel strongly that authors should create their own characters, rather than perpetuate someone else's stuff..."

I agree Steve, but have to admit that I have read a couple of Sherlock Holmes continuation books and especially liked Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson by Lyndsay Faye. But I won't be reading any Wolfe pastiches....I'll just leave the brownstone house as Stout left it.........and then re-read them one more time!!

Jill: I probably will give "Dust and Shadow" a try, too, based on the recommendations and reviews.

Dust and Shadow is one of this month's group reads. Check out the comments.

I will, Donna. Thanks. I am not sure I will be able to track down a copy in time for the group read, but I will try!

No Nero Wolfe collection is complete without the The Nero Wolfe Cookbook!! I found it in a book sale and grabbed it. As Wolfe readers know, there is a multitude of foods mentioned in the corpus and all those recipes and the stories in which they are mentioned are here I can't imagine preparing many of them but it is fun to browse through it.

I read "Archie meets Nero Wolf" by Goldsbourgh over the Christmas holiday. I thought it was very well done, and was very much in character with the original series.

It was good enough, but I had a few problems!!!!

Hi! I just want to say that though I didn't get into Nero Wolfe - the books. I really loved the radio plays that are available on podcasts, http://podgallery.org/great-detective...
Worth a listen if you haven't already.

Hello! This is my first post and I have to say that The Rex Stout/Nero Wolfe books are my favorites. I’ve just finished reading the entire series for the second time. I was first introduced to them probably 25 years ago or so. Back then, I slowly bought all the books over time. I even have a Nero Wolfe cookbook! Love the writing and the back and forth between Archie and Nero. Cheers!

Bernard wrote: "Hello! This is my first post and I have to say that The Rex Stout/Nero Wolfe books are my favorites. I’ve just finished reading the entire series for the second time. I was first introduced to them..."

The Nero Wolfe books are favorites of mine too. 🌞