THIS IS THE BEST NERO WOLFE BOOK YET.
It's the payoff of the vague ~big bad guy that was set up in a couple of books before this one. Nero Wolfe accepts a job that brings him into direct confrontation with that bad guy, and so while Archie is out investigating a murder, Wolfe vanishes. Seriously; he finds new jobs for Theodore the orchids guy and Fritz his cook, and puts the brownstone on 35th street up for sale. (GIVE IT TO MEEEEE.) Archie kind of thinks he's bluffing, until weeks and then months go by. After a while Archie quits and starts his own private detective company.
It's such a delight seeing the books break out of the normal formula. No one sits around in Wolfe's office while he considers who's lying. Archie doesn't wine and dine any pretty young ladies. It's like a season finale; everyone is on their own, everything is terrible, and Archie is just barely coping. (His sarcasm is delightfully monstrous by the end.)
And just when I thought it couldn't get better, Lily Rowan shows up. She's the best. Don't try and tell me she and Archie aren't madly in love. He plans a vacation and then later in the book grudgingly admits he was MAYBE, KINDA, SORTA gonna take her. She's also the woman he always turns to when he needs one for a set-up to catch a criminal. She's smart and he trusts her. (He loooooves her.)
This book was such a delight. I'm still not sure the conceit of having an arch nemesis for Wolfe works, nor did I ever think Mr. X was ever bad or smart enough to really match wits with Wolfe. But this book was so much fun because it was different from start to finish, and the twists are really great, and Archie is SO grumpy. I loved this.
Grade: A
#37 in 2016
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