This year I decided to revisit some old friends, and read two Nero Wolfe mysteries this month. For those of you too young to have had this pleasure, Nero Wolfe was a private detective in New York City. He is quite corpulent, is a gourmand, grows orchids in a greenhouse on the roof of his brownstone, is a genius, and almost never leaves his house.So how can he solve mysteries, you ask? Enter Archie Goodwin, his erstwhile assistant, who is almost as smart as Wolfe, and does all the legwork. In this book, Archie is chauffeuring Nero Wolfe to an exposition in upstate New York, where Wolfe is going to enter some of his orchids. However, shortly before reaching their destination the car has a blowout, thereby hitting a tree. Nero and Archie start across a pasture to a farmhouse to ask for help, and are cornered by a bull.
It turns out that the bull is a champion that was purchased by the owner of the farm, who owns a chain of fast food restaurants in NYC, and plans to barbecue it as a publicity stunt. However, before that can happen, murders ensue, and the detectives step in to solve the mystery.
A very pleasurable read.
287 pages
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