Nero Wolfe stories, written for 40 years by Rex Stout, and then continued by Robert Goldsborough, are populated by a cast of many supporting characters, some of whom die, or get forgotten. These stories sustain the illusion that whenever you start a Nero Wolfe story, you are in a familiar world. Rex Todhunter Stout (December 1, 1886 - October 27, 1975) was an American writer best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe. ... Robert Goldsborough is an American author of mystery novels. ...

The Wolfe Household

• Nero Wolfe — private detective in Manhattan where he has lived many years, who is originally from Montenegro^[1]; orchid fancier; chef
• Archie Goodwin — private detective and live-in assistant to Mr. Wolfe
• Fritz Brenner — chef. Fritz knew Nero before Archie
• Theodore Horstmann — Theodore and Archie just tolerate each other. Theodore has a sister in New Jersey and sometimes spends time there. During prolonged absences, there is sometimes a need to bring in a substitute orchid nurse.

Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective created by American author Rex Stout in the 1930s and featured in dozens of novels and novellas for more than 40 years. ... Motto: None Anthem: Oj, svijetla majska zoro Capital Podgorica Largest city Podgorica Official language(s) Serbian of the Ijekavian dialect1 Government Republic  - President Filip Vujanović  - Prime Minister Milo Đukanović Independence From Serbia and Montenegro   - Declared June 3, 2006   - Recognised June 8, 2006  Area    - Total 14,026 km² (159th)   5,414... Archie Goodwin as illustrated in the June 21, 1958 edition of The Saturday Evening Post alongside the story Frame Up for Murder by Rex Stout. ...

Wolfe's friends

• Marko Vukčić — another Montenegrin whom Wolfe has known since childhood; possibly a blood relative (since "vuk" means "wolf"). Marko owns the high-class Rusterman's Restaurant in Manhattan. When Marko is killed in The Black Mountain, then Wolfe inherits Rusterman's and runs the restaurant as a trustee for several years. The Tecumseh Fox novel The Broken Vase (1941) mentions a Rusterman's Bar.
• Lewis Hewitt — a well-heeled orchid fancier, and one for whom Wolfe did a favor (as told in Black Orchids). During a prolonged as told in the novel In the Best Families, Wolfe sends his orchids to Hewitt for care while Marko manages Wolfe's business affairs.
• Carla Lovchen^[2] — Wolfe's adopted daughter, who appears in only two stories: Over My Dead Body, and The Black Mountain.

The Black Mountain is a Nero Wolfe mystery novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1953. ... The Broken Vase is a Tecumseh Fox mystery novel by Rex Stout, first published by Farrar and Rhinehart in 1941, and later in paperback by Pyramid Books. ... The Black Mountain is a Nero Wolfe mystery novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1953. ...

Other private detectives whom Wolfe employs

• Saul Panzer — the best in Manhattan, perhaps including Wolfe himself. He and Wolfe share mutual respect. By his name Saul is presumably Jewish, although his religion never enters into any of the Wolfe stories.
• Fred Durkin — both reliable and honest, yet by no means a brilliant operative. Fred's qualities, both bad and good, are explored in Goldsborough's novel Silver Spire.
• Orrie Cather — Orrie Cather is something of a complement to Durkin: he's bright and confident in his abilities - sometimes too confident. Orrie also thinks he could replace Archie as Wolfe's assistant. Orrie's character and abilities are central to two Rex Stout novels: Death of a Doxy, and A Family Affair.
• Johnnie Keems — another operative used in some Wolfe stories; he is killed in the novel Might As Well Be Dead.
• Del Bascom — runs a large conventional detective agency in Manhattan. Wolfe sometimes subcontracts to Bascom when he needs a lot of men for something (as in The Silent Speaker).
• Theodolinda (Dol) Bonner and Sally Colt — A pair of female operatives whom Wolfe employs at need. They also play a major role in the novella Too Many Detectives. Rex Stout had an idea to spin them out into a separate series of detective stories. Although this idea never got far, they appear in a few Wolfe mysteries in places where female operatives are required, such as The Mother Hunt^[3]

Rex Todhunter Stout (December 1, 1886 - October 27, 1975) was an American writer best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe. ... Might As Well Be Dead is the name of a detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1956. ... The Silent Speaker is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1946. ... Three for the Chair is a collection of three Nero Wolfe novellas by Rex Stout, first published in this form by Viking Press in 1957, and later by Bantam Books in paperback in various printings beginning in 1958. ... Rex Todhunter Stout (December 1, 1886 - October 27, 1975) was an American writer best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe. ...

Police Contacts

• Inspector Cramer — head of Homicide in Manhattan (in some of the stories, it's implied that his authority extends to other NYC boroughs)
• Sergeant Purley Stebbins — assistant to Cramer
• Lieutenant George Rowcliffe — Police lieutenant whom Wolfe particularly hates for executing a search warrant on his home. Stutters when angry. Bellicose and attempts to intimidate (coerce) suspects and witnesses. In the Wolfe stories, Rowcliffe is a poster boy for the uglier side of law enforcement. However, at no point in the Wolfe canon is a dishonest policeman uncovered by Wolfe's actions, although stupidity by DA's and Rowcliffe are commonplace.
• Commissioner Hombert — in some of the novels the New York Police Commissioner^[4].
• Skinner — The New York County (Manhattan) DA
• Mandelbaum — Manhattan DA in later Wolfe stories
• Cleveland Anderson — The Westchester County DA: Wolfe and Goodwin have an adversarial relationship with Anderson based on incident mentioned but not described in the first Wolfe novel Fer-de-lance^[5].
• Ben Dykes — head of Westchester County detectives
• Con Noonan — lieutenant with the New York State Police. He dislikes Wolfe and Goodwin and would lock them up under the feeblest excuse (see the story Door To Death in the book Three Doors To Death).

Inspector Fergus Cramer (his full name is only ever mentioned once, in Where Theres A Will) of the New York Police Department is Nero Wolfes main foil in the Nero Wolfe mystery series by Rex Stout. ... Nickname: Big Apple Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... Sergeant Purley Stebbins of the New York Police Department is Inspector Fergus Cramers assistant in the Nero Wolfe series of mysteries by Rex Stout. ... For other uses, see Manhattan (disambiguation). ... Westchester County is a suburban county with about 940,000 residents located in the U.S. state of New York. ... A district attorney is, in some U.S. jurisdictions, the title of the local public official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminals. ... Westchester County is a suburban county with about 940,000 residents located in the U.S. state of New York. ... The New York State Police is the state police force for the state of New York. ...

Other professionals

• Nathaniel Parker — When Wolfe, Archie, or assorted clients find themselves in need of a lawyer, Wolfe generally recommends Nathaniel Parker. Parker is an old friend, and shares some of Wolfe's abilities; i.e., Parker converses with Wolfe in French during the story "Immune From Murder"
• Doctor Vollmer — A medical doctor who lives only a few houses away. Like Parker, the doctor is one of Wolfe's few friends. Wolfe calls upon Vollmer whenever a dead body is discovered (which happens often). In the novel The Silent Speaker, Vollmer contrives an illness severe enough that Wolfe cannot be bothered by anyone. Vollmer's motivation, aside from friendship, is that Wolfe helped him out with a would-be blackmailer years ago.
• Lon Cohen — senior journalist at the Gazette newspaper, pointedly described in some of the stories as not an editor because he prefers to write stories himself. Lon is willing to help Archie with background information on both suspects and prospective clients, but gets scoops in return when Wolfe nails a murder suspect.

The Silent Speaker is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1946. ...

Notes

1. ^ Venetian Italian for "black mountain", which would be "montenero" in Tuscan (standard) Italian
2. ^ "Lovchen" is not a family name; rather, it is the name of the black mountain from which Montenegro gets its name
3. ^ Also one of the few stories where Wolfe has to flee his home to escape arrest
4. ^ In The Rubber Band, an early Wolfe mystery, Wolfe displays great respect, if not always cooperation towards Cramer, but thinks Hombert "should go back to diapers", an opinion indirectly shared by Cramer himself who points out that Hombert is a politician and not a policeman. In The Silent Speaker, Wolfe gets a chance to humiliate Hombert and help Cramer in the process
5. ^ In that first story, Wolfe further annoys Anderson, who has married money, by forcing him to "bet" Wolfe $10,000 (in 1934) that Wolfe can solve a mystery in Anderson's jurisdiction which Anderson proves completely unable to solve, and forces him to pay up before Wolfe's whimsical notion of "solving" a crime becomes evident