The Misadventures of Nero Wolfe

edited by Josh Pachter

In April of 2016, I got an out-of-the-blue email from Rebecca Stout Bradbury, the daughter of Rex Stout (who created Nero Wolfe in 1934). Why the invitation? Well, in 1971 I had a story, "Sam Buried Caesar," in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and the story was a loving spoof of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. Rebecca had heard about it, was visiting her daughter not far from where I was living at the time, and wanted to meet me. We spent a lovely afternoon together, during which she suggested that I come up to New York that December to address the annual Assembly of the Wolfe Pack -- the international Nero Wolfe appreciation society -- to talk about my story, which I was delighted to do.

Two years later, in 2018, my friend Dale Andrews and I co-edited The Misadventures of Ellery Queen (Wildside Press). I met Rebecca again that fall at the Bouchercon in St. Petersburg, Florida, where I was invited to deliver the keynote address at the Wolfe Pack's dinner, and she wondered if it might be possible to do a similar volume of parodies, pastiches, and other tributes to her father's most famous creation.

With her blessings, I set to work on The Misadventures of Nero Wolfe. Since Dale is a Queen scholar but not a Stout/Wolf scholar, I decided to go it alone this time around, though some of the same authors represented in the Ellery Queen book appear in this one, too: Lawrence Block, Jon Breen, Bill Brittain, Joe Goodrich, Thomas Narcejac, Norma Schier (writing again under an anagrammed pseudonym). Others are here who weren't in the EQ book, including Loren D. Estleman, Robert Goldsborough, John Lescroat, Marian Wainwaring, Mack Reynolds, and Dave Zeltserman. And where all of the stories in The Misadventures of Ellery Queen were reprints, for this book I enticed Michael Bracken and Rob Lopresti to write brand-new works. (Jon Breen's contribution, though it was written in the 1970s, appears in print here for the first time, so it is in a way also a new story.)

At Rebecca's request, we offered the collection to Otto Penzler at the Mysterious Press, and he jumped at the chance to publish it. It was released on April 14, 2020, got a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was the subject of Episode 10 of the "Like the Wolfe" podcast. In late October 2020, it was re-published by Center Point in a large-print hardbound edition with a different cover, apparently intended for libraries. You can order the trade paperback, large-print hardcover, and e-book editions here.

In July 2025, the Spring 2025 issue of the Wolfe Pack's twice-yearly publication, The Gazette: A Journal of Detective Fiction, featured a nine-page article by Mike McSwiggin labeled "the first part of a two-part book review." It began with a full-page color reproduction of the Misadventures cover, included a color portrait photo of me, and covered the first (pastiche) section of the anthology, promising a review of the parody and potpourri sections in the next issue of the Gazette. The review was enthusiastic, and will undoubtedly contribute to a bump in sales. Thanks, McSwiggin!

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