The Mother Hunt (1963)

Good fun, not much of a mystery though ( )

The one-seventh-ton detective and his ladykiller sidekick are back. A recent widow wants to know who left a baby in her vestibule--with a note claiming the father was her late husband. That turns out to be tricky enough, but when two women turn up murdered, the stakes go up. I enjoyed this one a lot. Like other Nero Wolfes, the mystery is fairly straightforward--no tricky twists--and I find that the side characters run together a bit. Still, lots of fun. ( )

Quite possibly my favorite Nero Wolfe. Just delicious.

This short review has also been published on a dabbler's journal. ( )

A young widow finds a baby on her doorstep, supposedly the son of her late husband. She hires Wolfe to find out if that's true and who the baby's mother is. To solve this case and avoid arrest for withholding evidence, Wolfe must not only leave the brownstone, but spend the night in a stranger's home - and that stranger is a woman, to boot. ( )

Nero Wolfe books are comfort reading for me. The plots and supporting characters are gone from my head as soon as I read them, but I find them enjoyable and well written, and I utterly adore Archie Goodwin. They are my go-to reading when I just need to be reading something.

This works nicely. The plot involves a baby left on the doorstep. Archie is inappropriately involved with a client, although he makes a point of verbally distinguishing between personal and professional. Nero Wolfe leaves his home and sleeps in someone else's house. It got me through dinner and bedtime nicely.