History Literature / NeroWolfe

** The most glaring is the smoking Inspector Cramer does in the first five or six books, even smoking a pipe in the first one, which clashes with his ever-present cigar which he only chews on in all subsequent books.

** Wolfe eats ''good'' food in sizable portions. Mediocre or bad food he will refuse completely or pick at. While he is a gourmet he will never disparage good food simply because it comes from a "low" source. In one book he is shown to be very fond of a particular diner's chili, and when forced to hide out in Saul Panzer's apartment he compliments him on his choice of cheese at the rather humble table Saul provides. He also very definitely avoids the "speed eater" aspect that often accompanies Big Eaters; he is adamant that no meal should be rushed, no matter how simple it is, to the point that Archie eats separately in the kitchen if he has a task or appointment that would cause him to rush a meal.

* HeManWomanHater: Nero Wolfe is openly one of these, but strangely enough his misogyny doesn't extend to sexism in that while Wolfe dislikes women, he doesn't actually disrespect them. He's actually quite tolerant of the occasional strong, independent female visitor to the brownstone. Archie, on the other hand, ''loves'' women but doesn't always respect them, and frequently pays for it. In one instance he calls a well-dressed feminist a "phony" and her ideas "stupid" -- because women dress well only to attract men and feminists hate men, so a real feminist wouldn't dress well. This, ah, ''fascinating'' theory gets his ass handed to him on a platter when she solves the mystery at the same time Wolfe does. It's worth pointing out that Rex Stout was convinced that there was nothing a woman could do that a man couldn't do better -- until he read Creator/JaneAusten. The above was probably written to poke fun at ''himself'' for his earlier opinions. See WriterOnBoard below for another example.

Brilliant, eccentric cynic Nero Wolfe makes his living as New York City's finest private detective. He charges outrageous fees, usually in the tens of thousands, to solve the highest-profile murders -- because, quite frankly, he needs the money. After an adventurous youth in his native Montenegro, he's now fully engaged in the pursuit of self-indulgence, weighing in at "a seventh of a ton [[note]] 285 pounds[[/note]]" ('to insulate my feelings,' he explains). He literally refuses to leave his home on business -- or most anything else, for that matter -- and has seen to it that there's little reason why he should.

* SherlockHomage: Or a ''Holmes'' Homage, at least, since while he has some similarities to the Great Detective in general his indolence, obesity and refusal to break his routines or leave his house for all but the most diabolical circumstances suggest Mycroft Holmes rather than Sherlock. In a more literal sense, several stories mention that he keeps a framed portrait of Sherlock Holmes on the walls of his office as a tribute.

* BuxomIsBetter: Occasionally evoked by Archie in a GettingCrapPastTheRadar way, such as describing a suspect named Martha Kent as “ornamental both above the neck and below.”

* ''Three at Wolfe's Door'' (1960; contains "Poison à la Carte", "Method Three for Murder" and "The Rodeo Murder")
* ''Homicide Trinity'' (1962; contains "Eeny Meeny Murder Mo", "Death of a Demon" and "Counterfeit for Murder")
* ''Trio for Blunt Instruments'' (1964; contains "Kill Now—Pay Later", "Murder Is Corny" and "Blood Will Tell")

* ''Three Witnesses'' (1956; contains "The Next Witness", "When a Man Murders" and "Die Like a Dog")
* ''Three for the Chair'' (1957; contains "A Window for Death", "Immune to Murder" and "Too Many Detectives")
* ''And Four to Go'' (1958; contains "Christmas Party", "Easter Parade", "Fourth of July Picnic" and "Murder Is No Joke")

* ''Not Quite Dead Enough'' (1944; contains "Not Quite Dead Enough" and "Booby Trap")
* ''Trouble in Triplicate'' (1949; contains "Before I Die", "Help Wanted, Male" and "Instead of Evidence")
* ''Three Doors to Death'' (1950; contains "Man Alive", "Omit Flowers" and "Door to Death")
* ''Curtains for Three'' (1951; contains "The Gun with Wings", "Bullet for One" and "Disguise for Murder")
* ''Triple Jeopardy'' (1952; contains "Home to Roost", "The Cop-Killer" and "The Squirt and the Monkey")
* ''Three Men Out'' (1954; contains "Invitation to Murder", "The Zero Clue" and "This Won't Kill You")

* ''Death Times Three'' (1985; posthumous, contains "Bitter End", "Frame-Up for Murder" and "Assault on a Brownstone")

* ''Please Pass the Guilt'' (1973)

-->--'''Nero Wolfe''', ''Too Many Cooks''

* ''Death of a Dude'' (1969)

* ''The Father Hunt'' (1968)

* ''Death of a Doxy'' (1966)

* ''The Doorbell Rang'' (1965)

* ''A Right to Die'' (1964)

* ''The Mother Hunt'' (1963)

* ''Gambit'' (1962)

* ''The Final Deduction'' (1961)

* ''Too Many Clients'' (1960)

* ''Plot It Yourself'' (1959)

* ''Champagne for One'' (1958)

* ''If Death Ever Slept'' (1957)

* ''Might as Well Be Dead'' (1956)

* ''Before Midnight'' (1955)

* ''The Black Mountain'' (1954)

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: A very very deeply buried heart of gold, perhaps, and insulated along with his feelings by the large amounts of fat he carries. But there are occasional signs that underneath Wolfe's cynicism, apathy and coldness, there's a slightly more caring individual than he wants to admit. In particular, he tends to come closest he gets to displaying these tendencies when the case he's working on touches on the plight of immigrants; as a man who himself was an impoverished immigrant who prospered and thrived after arriving in America, he presumably feels a kindred spirit. And, of course, he's a lot fonder of Archie than he lets on.

* YourCheatingHeart: A common motive, such as in the short stories "[[spoiler:Immune to Murder]]" and "[[spoiler:Fourth of July Picnic]]."