Nearly Nero

March 6, 2017
The conceit of this disappointing collection from Edgar-finalist Estleman (the Amos Walker series) is solid enough. A lazy, wealthy Brooklynite, who idolizes Rex Stout’s detective Nero Wolfe, renames himself Claudius Lyon and hires Arnie Woodbine as an assistant, just because Arnie’s name sounds like the name of Wolfe’s leg man, Archie Goodwin. Arnie, an ex-con, misses no opportunity to steal from his boss, who, finding orchids too much to handle, has settled for growing tomatoes when not playing amateur sleuth. While Stout fans may be amused by the 11 short stories, one original to this volume, the caricatures and the humor aren’t at the level of, say, Lawrence Block’s hilarious Leo Haig and Chip Harrison series (The Topless Tulip Caper, etc.). By contrast, Estleman’s characters, mysteries, and deductions are slight, with the solutions to the puzzles often obvious and repetitive, such as the whereabouts of a poetry contest winner.

April 1, 2017
The chronicler of shamus Amos Walker (Don't Look for Me, 2014, etc.) and film preservationist Valentino (Brazen, 2016, etc.) rounds up 10 stories, all but one of them reprints from 2008-16, about a seemingly clueless Nero Wolfe wannabe who always gets his man anyway.Claudius Lyon has patterned himself so completely on Rex Stout's celebrated detective that he's even changed his name from whatever it was before he began advertising as an investigator who never charged for his services--because if he did, Capt. Stoddard of Brooklyn Bunco would arrest him in a New York minute--and hired ex-con Arnie Woodbine as his legman just because his name sounded like Archie Goodwin's. The differences between the master and his acolyte are manifold. Lyon is fat, all right, but much shorter and less prepossessing than Wolfe; he lives in "a Bizarro version of Nero Wolfe's brownstone" in Brooklyn, raises tomatoes (orchids are beyond his limited horticultural skills), eats kosher meals prepared by his Yiddish-speaking chef, Gus, and hides his reading material--Minute Mysteries and Encyclopedia Brown--behind a formidable copy of Crime and Punishment. None of the 10 souffles collected here involves murder; half of their solutions depend on atrocious wordplay (the short-short "Wolfe on the Roof" reveals mercilessly how threadbare this tactic is when it's not plumped out with the domestic detail that will hook Stout fans and keep them tittering); and reading them all at a sitting, as you'll be sorely tempted to do, is like downing 20 pounds of cotton candy. Fans who rejoice in Estleman's deep knowledge and obvious love of Stout's oeuvre and his infectious playfulness will demand more adventures of the man who perpetually asks himself "WWND (What Would Nero Do?)"--if only the author can come up with more punning story titles ("Wolfe at the Door"?).

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May 1, 2017

Arnie Woodbine (the name if said fast enough sounds like Rex Stout's series character Archie Goodwin) narrates this short story collection inspired by Stout's "Nero Wolfe" mysteries. Featuring semireformed con artist Arnie and his employer Claudius Lyon, perhaps the world's biggest Nero Wolfe fan, the humorous tales feature the pair solving crimes while strenuously avoiding payment (if they took money, the local police captain could run them in for fraud since neither has a detective's license). Lyon owns a brownstone in Brooklyn and has inherited the funds to indulge his sleuthing hobby. Unfortunately, he lacks Wolfe's green thumb in regards to orchid breeding, so he grows tomatoes in his rooftop greenhouse. Lyon share his idol's gift for deduction and puts this skill to the test in decidedly less consequential matters, including $200 stolen from a bookstore, a misdelivered sausage, and the disappearance of a blue tomato from a locked case at a growers' convention. Estleman's (The Lioness Is the Hunter) love of Nero Wolfe as well as his own ability to craft a satisfying mystery are both on display in these tales. VERDICT This title should appeal to Rex Stout admirers, but new readers might also be led to the canon by these light crime stories solved with good humor.--Dan Forrest, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green

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