Prisoner's Base

Prisoner's Base Rex Stout Series: Nero Wolfe [20] Published: 1992 Tags: Cozy Mystery, Vintage Mystery, Early 20th Century

Cozy Mysteryttt Vintage Mysteryttt Early 20th Centuryttt

SUMMARY: Nero Wolfe, the brilliant, orchid-loving, gourmet detective, and his debonair assistant Archie Goodwin attempt to protect their client, a young lady expecting an eight-million-dollar inheritance on her birthday NjBwBT.

Rex Stout

Prisoner's Base

Introduction

First I want to talk a little about Rex Stout. When I, as a Bantam Doubleday Dell author, volunteered (begged, actually) to do an introduction for one of the books in this edition of Stout's works, I did so for one main reason-I owe a lot to Rex Stout (and Wolfe, and Archie); and since it's impossible to repay the debt, I'd like at least to acknowledge it.

I'd read some Sherlock Holmes as a kid, and I watched a lot of tough private eyes on TV. But I didn't really get hooked on mysteries until I was twelve years old. And no, it wasn't Stout who first got me, it was Ellery Queen. But I ran into the problem that plagues all true mystery fans-I read faster than my favorite author could write. When Queens grew hard to come by, I turned to my mother, the other mystery junkie in the family, and said, through pangs of withdrawal, "Who else is good?" She told me her own favorite was Rex Stout. I didn't have anything to lose, so I plunged in. I started slowly, with novelettes reprinted in Howard Haycraft anthologies: "Die Like a Dog" and "Instead of Evidence."

Wow.

King Rex had joined the Queen. I mean, even as a kid I could see Stout's genius, and I could see that the genius resided in the creation of Archie Goodwin. Nero Wolfe was great, but great as he was, he was a master detective, and I'd seen a lot of those before. Wolfe might have been an updated Mycroft Holmes.

But, my youthful self judged (and I've never found a reason to change my mind), this Goodwin character was something new. He was a Watson in that he told the story and was frequently left panting behind in the great man's tracks, but there was nothing worshipful about him. He was a tough guy, but unlike too many tough guys, he had no chip on his shoulder. He could work for a man he acknowledged to be his mental superior without having to shelve his own sense of self-worth. He knew what he brought to this particular partnership. In fact, Archie's deflations of Wolfe are what make Wolfe a human and (dare I say it?) lovable figure, rather than the off-putting freak he might have been if a lesser author had given him a lesser sidekick.

I may have grown to resemble Wolfe, but I always identify with Archie.