Archie Goodwin's Office

Nero Wolfe Speaking

By: Sandy Lerner

Narrated by: Micah Mason

Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

It's 1978. Nero Wolfe, New York's 300-pound epicurean genius detective, has been dead for two years, leaving Archie holding the brownstone. In a post-Wolfe dystopia with a sense of humor, Archie, Saul, Fritz, and Cramer find themselves in the crosshairs of a worldwide criminal cartel.

In America, it's a time of change: Vietnam, Watergate, free love, smallpox, the reserve clause, and cheap oil are all history. People are changing names, changing jobs, and changing sides. Aided and abetted by Roy Cohn, Richard Wragg, Dorothy Bruce, the Army, FBI, CIA, and the Dutch police, will Saul and Archie live up to Wolfe's legacy?

Archie Goodwin's Office, Nero Wolfe Speaking is rife with answers and, sometimes, more questions. Did Wolfe really die of natural causes? How will Archie function in a world of hippies, goths, disco, the women's movement, and word processors?

©2021 Ayrshire House Publishing (P)2021 Ayrshire House Publishing

Enjoyable, but ...

An interesting story, but, when it comes to Nero Wolfe books, there was only one Red Stout.

Good enough for me...

I have listened to all the Rex Stout audible books and read most of the rest, and he is one of my favorite authors. I had seen a few Nero Wolfe books by other authors and decided to give a few of them a try. This one is the only one I liked. It caught the spirit of Rex Stouts writing and the characters. This novel is set in 1978 after Nero Wolfe has died, and is narrated by Archie as he teams with Saul to start their own agency. This is certainly is not as good as even an average Rex Stout Nero Wolfe, but it was MUCH better than the other knock offs and I enjoyed the whole thing. I would certainly give this author another try if another Nero Wolfe book appears.

Where’s the mystery?

Although I enjoyed hearing about the lives of the characters in the post-Nero world, the author focused on my least favorite books in the original series, and the actual detective work described was pretty ho-hum. And they lived happily ever after…

Life After Nero Wolfe

Warning!! Spoilers!! Let me just say from the beginning, I really enjoyed this story. It kind of drew me in without my even realizing I was 1/4 through the story. The narration reminded me of Jack Webb narrating Dragnet stories. I was a little sad about the changes in relationships, but everyone grows and changes, even Archie & Lily. I’m glad Fritz was able to find someone and Saul was able to move on and start a new life with a new love.

The storyline was easy to follow and get lost in. So many times I found myself thinking about how this new telling would fit into the real world events of the 1970’s.

I’ll be on the lookout for more of Sandy Lerner’s Archie Goodwin adventures.

Excellent - start to finish!

I, like many, have secretly loved Archie for decades. Thank you for wrapping up his life post-Nero Wolfe. I was sad to see that Lily wasn't one of the family anymore but his choice for marriage was satisfactory.

Potential

I have listened to all available Nero Wolfe audiobooks by Rex Stout and Robert Goldsbourogh and am working through the radio episodes w Sidney Greenstreet

The initial part of the book for me is understandable but was a bit tedious for me. This detracted from the final entry into the final “mystery”

This resolution seemed very rushed and lacking in the normal detail.

Lots of loose ends. I am hoping that the author has set the new stage so that in follow up novels we can see how these loose ends and the more tradition crime solving focus can return given the new landscape Hopeful?

There is Only One

There is only one Rex Stout so it makes no sense to compare writers and how they project the characters. This is a light weight rendering of Archie and the rest of the characters in Stouts books. That being said it wasn't a back start. I am anxious to read the next book. That one will tell the fate of this author in my library.

Interesting premise

The book starts well it’s an interesting premise to see what would happen after Nero end the story builds quite well, and then the ending is a big nothing sandwich.

Dumpster fire of a mystery novel

The story starts out strong with a lot of potential, but ultimately leaves the reader disappointed. There are random characters that contribute little to the story, The ending is abrupt and poorly planned. The mystery could have been stellar, but crashes and burns instead. The narrator was decent, but did not portray Archie's voice well. The year is supposed to be 1978 yet the author makes no attempt to be era appropriate, instead it sounds like it is taking place in 2021. The author is weak when it comes to describing rooms and surroundings and characters are hastily introduced.
Overall it comes across like it was written by a high school student in AP English.

I wish I would’ve purchased a paper copy of this book ….. so I could throw it in the nearest river.

It’s a mess … a sloppy attempt to name drop every character mentioned in every Nero Wolfe story or novel. Terrible pacing. No mystery. No real payoff. The last fifteen minutes (literally) is a ham handed attempt to introduce gender roles and dynamics as motivation.

It feels like an unedited rough draft.

I regret wasting a credit on it.