An "excellent" novel that goes back to 1920s New York to reveal how the famed detective first met his incomparable sidekick ( Publishers Weekly , starred review). In 1930, young Archie Goodwin comes to New York City hoping for a bit of excitement. In his third week working as a night watchman, he stops two burglars in their tracks--with a pair of hot lead slugs. Dismissed from his job for being "trigger-happy," he parlays his newfound notoriety into a job as a detective's assistant, helping honest sleuth Del Bascom solve cases like the Morningside Piano Heist, the Rive Gauche Art Gallery Swindle, and the Sumner-Hayes Burglary. But it's the kidnapping of Tommie Williamson, the son of a New York hotel magnate, that introduces Goodwin to the man who will change his life. Goodwin knows there's only one detective who can help find Tommie: Nero Wolfe, the stout genius of West Thirty-Fifth Street. Together, they'll form one of the most unlikely crime fighting duos in history--but first Goodwin must locate Tommie and prove that he deserves a place by Wolfe's side. In this witty story about the origin of a legendary partnership, Robert Goldsborough gloriously evokes the spirit of Nero Wolfe's creator, bestselling author Rex Stout, and breathes new life into his beloved characters.