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● ONE OF THE MOST UNDERRATED AMERICAN authors of the twentieth century is Rex Stout, creator of Nero Wolfe and a canon of some three dozen mystery stories featuring the super-sized sleuth. Set in mid-century, mid-town New York, Wolfe lives in servant-supplied luxury, eschewing society in favour of his gourmet kitchen, his library and his collection of orchids. It is this latter affectation that I think makes Stout’s creation most interesting and which sets him apart from other fictional heroes of the hardboiled detective era. It also places the character firmly in a period which, though strange to us now, would be readily understood by the author’s audience when he introduced Wolfe to the world in 1934. At that time, the Victorian craze for all things orchidean was still a…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, December/January 2025

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