Nero Wolfe is a brilliant, obese and eccentric fictional armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe was born in Montenegro and keeps his past murky. He lives in a luxurious brownstone on West 35th Street in New York City, and he is loath to leave his home for business or anything that would keep him from reading his books, tending his orchids, or eating the gourmet meals prepared by his chef, Fritz Brenner. Archie Goodwin, Wolfe's sharp-witted, dapper young confidential assistant with an eye for attractive women, narrates the cases and does the legwork for the detective genius.
Carl Mueller illustrated "The Red Bull" (1938) for The American Magazine
Nero Wolfe and his boyhood friend Marko Vukcic hunted dragonflies in the mountains where Wolfe was born, in the vicinity of Lovćen
Manhattan brownstone used for exteriors in A&E TV's Nero Wolfe
Cartoon by Stan Hunt for The American Magazine (June 1949)
Rex Todhunter Stout was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels, and 41 novellas and short stories, between 1934 and 1975.
Rex Stout on Our Secret Weapon (December 1942)
The Stout family at High Meadow, "The House That Nero Wolfe Built" (Look, February 13, 1940)
Rex Stout in 1973