Nero Wolfe is back on the case after a two-year hiatus. He'd be willing to turn away a young woman in distress, but Archie Goodwin is more sympathetic. And when Wolfe learns that the woman is the niece of an old friend of his from his days as a freedom fighter in Montenegro, Wolfe agrees to take the case.

The niece is concerned about some recent threatening letters that her uncle has received. Her uncle is the musical director of the New York Philharmonic. And when her uncle is found stabbed to death in his apartment, Wolfe is on the case. There are numerous suspects from rivals in the New York Philharmonic to old enemies.

I enjoyed this return to the world of Nero Wolfe. The fantastic meals, the orchids, and Wolfe's quirks were all present. This story is narrated by Archie who knows his boss and is close behind on the solution to the mystery. I enjoyed the NYC setting too. ( )

Milan Stevens, the tyrannical conductor of the New York Symphony, has been getting death threats. Knowing that he is an old Montenegrin comrade of Nero Wolfe’s, Stevens’ niece—Maria—asks for Wolfe’s help; however, Maria’s request has come too late because Maria soon discovers her uncle brutally murdered in their apartment. Maria’s boyfriend, Jerry, is the obvious suspect and is quickly arrested for the murder. However, Stevens was incredibly unpopular, and there is no dearth of suspects among the symphony’s musicians and administrators. Nero Wolfe and his sidekick Archie Goodwin agree to take the case and prove Jerry’s innocence.

The mystery and its solution were mildly interesting, and the book passed the time reasonably well.

Unfortunately, Archie Goodwin is an incredibly pompous and unpleasant character. Aside from serving as the book’s narrator, Archie seems to serve only three purposes:
1) to convince the reader what hot stuff he thinks he is
2) to constantly remind the reader just how fat Nero Wolfe is
3) to make fatuous comments about how worthy (or unworthy) of his notice the female characters are

To paraphrase good ol’ Arch, ‘she had too much mileage on her to be of any interest to ME, but she was still good looking enough to say that Stevens was doing all right for himself.’

Any woman who would give the likes of Archie Goodwin the time of day would have to have more than a few screws loose.

The mystery story itself was ok, but I’m not eager to waste any more of my own time with that jerk Archie; so, I am going to have to give the rest of the series a definite pass. ( )

I was a bit trepidatious about trying this book having read all of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books (though there still may be a few short stories that I missed). Overall, I would say Goldsborough did a decent job of capturing the flavor of Stout's characters but was a bit more wordy than Stout was, especially in the wrap-up after the case had been solved.

A note to Stout fans - don't read this if you haven't yet read Stout's "A Family Affair"! This book talks about the ending of that final full length novel in the original Nero Wolfe series in some detail (which, if you have read it, makes sense). ( )

I was drawn to investigate this title as I’ve never read a mystery involving a symphony orchestra. I was also intrigued to see the series name, "A Nero Wolfe Mystery." It’s surprising that I’ve never read a Nero Wolfe mystery but I only knew of the series by Rex Stout. As I read the dedication, "In memory of my mother, who first introduced me to Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin" I felt I might be in for either a special treat or an utter disappointment. Let me hurriedly share that I loved "Murder in E Minor" told from Archie Goodwin’s point of view.

The case investigated by Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin is a murder investigation of New York Symphony Orchestra Maestro Milan Stevens. Archie Goodwin didn’t realize that his invitation to meet the maestro’s adopted child would be just the stimulus needed to bring Nero Wolfe out of his self-imposed retirement. Then again at the time Archie didn’t know that the maestro was Milos Stefanovic, a Montenegrin from Yugoslavia as is Nero Wolfe or that Nero owed his life to Milos.

I was fascinated by Nero Wolfe’s investigative style as he never leaves his home. I simply couldn’t conceive how it would be possible.

Again, I have no knowledge of the "Nero Wolfe Mysteries" other than name recognition of the original author so perhaps my ignorance of the original series led to a stronger delight than some will have to the opening novel of the series but I completely enjoyed the writing style. Archie’s humorous comments about his boss Nero particularly when interruptions come to Archie's breakfast and newspaper reading time almost had me laughing out loud. The comments are also perfectly timed to interject an uplift when the investigation seems to be daunting or halting from forward progress. The duo reminded me of the respect and camaraderie of Sherlock and Watson. ( )

I was a bit trepidatious about trying this book having read all of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books (though there still may be a few short stories that I missed). Overall, I would say Goldsborough did a decent job of capturing the flavor of Stout's characters but was a bit more wordy than Stout was, especially in the wrap-up after the case had been solved.

A note to Stout fans - don't read this if you haven't yet read Stout's "A Family Affair"! This book talks about the ending of that final full length novel in the original Nero Wolfe series in some detail (which, if you have read it, makes sense). ( )