Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Vol. 11, No. 51, February 1948

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One of the brightest observations ever wade about Rex Stout’s work in the detective field, and seemingly one of the most penetrating ever advanced by an American critic, is credited to Howard Haycraft. Speaking of Nero Wolfe’s “paint-fresh assistant,” Archie Goodwin, Mr. Haycraft offers the opinion that Archie is “the one example in history of a Watson who steals the play from his Holmes, and a first-rate Holmes to boot.” Your Editor does not agree. True, Archie Goodwin is something that most Watsons are not: he is a three-dimensional character in his own right and easily in the top rank of clever and engaging “narrators”; but when the shouting is over, Archie remains what he started out to be — the great Nero Wolfe’s stooge. It is Nero Wolfe who is the criminological catalyst; it is Nero Wolfe who pulls the culprit out of the hat; it is the elephantine and elephant-memoried Nero Wolfe who always makes sense out of nonsense; and infinitely more important, it is Nero Wolfe who emerges as the fuller of two three-dimensional characters. Once you have met Nero, you will never forget him — and that is the test.

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