Archie Meets Nero Wolfe

Starred review from September 24, 2012
Set in 1923, Goldsborough’s excellent eighth pastiche to recreate Rex Stout’s iconic characters (after 1994’s The Missing Chapter) showcases his improved ability to recreate the smart-alecky voice of Archie Goodwin, the more-than-Watsonian sidekick to the quintessential armchair detective. Goldsborough fleshes out passing references to Archie’s background in Stout’s originals, and succeeds in presenting a much more callow figure than the familiar accomplished PI. The 19-year-old, newly arrived in New York City from Ohio, has taken a job guarding the Moreland Import Company docks that soon turns deadly. In self-defense, Archie guns down two would-be thieves and loses his job as a result. He later lands with a detective agency, whose proprietor, Del Bascom, hooks Archie up with his future boss after Wolfe brings in Bascom on a kidnapping case. Goldsborough hits nary a false note, an impressive achievement that will cause devotees to hope he won’t wait another 18 years before his next Goodwin and Wolfe adventure. Agent: Erik Simon, the Martha Kaplan Agency.