Talk:Nero Wolfe supporting characters

message: There has been confusion on this page, I see, dating back to its earliest versions. In Fer-de-Lance the Westchester DA was Fletcher M. Anderson (chapter 3). In subsequent books (such as The Second Confession), it is Cleveland Archer. I don't know when the voters of Westchester County saw fit to replace Mr. Anderson with Mr. Archer, but because of the different names, and to forestall further confusion, I have deleted this article's reference to Fer-de-Lance, as well as the note concerning the bet with Anderson. TurnerHodges 22:09, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Anderson and Archer

message: I've begun integrating text from this article into sections of the Nero Wolfe article. I believe that a separate "supporting characters" article may no longer be needed. — WFinch (talk) 04:46, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Changed my mind. — WFinch (talk) 03:18, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Integrating content into main Nero Wolfe article 

message: An earlier version of the Hombert discussion mentioned, I believe via footnote, that in The Silent Speaker Wolfe has a chance to humiliate Hombert and help Cramer in the process. I think that the editor might have been confused: there's a scene in And Be a Villain in which Wolfe has an opportunity to humiliate Deputy Police Commissioner O'Hara. At any rate, I find nothing in The Silent Speaker to suggest that Wolfe was in a position to humiliate Hombert, and I've removed the reference. If I'm wrong about this, please correct me. TurnerHodges (talk) 06:08, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Hombert Hombert

message: I think I have made my first successful redirect, bringing the Lily Rowan article here. If I didn't foul up too many things, I'll do the same (in time) with the individual articles for the other Nero Wolfe supporting characters, since we're consolidating all the information here. Athaenara, please pardon my removing the internal link you placed here today. — WFinch (talk) 01:05, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Redirecting 

message: For some reason, the edit summary did not pick up my comment on restoring "likable" from the change to "likeable." My Random House Unabridged prefers "likable," while giving "likeable" as a variant. OTOH, the SOED prefers "likeable" and gives "likable" as a variant. It appears to be an issue of British vs. American spelling. However, I'll rely on a British source, Fowler's Modern English Usage: When a suffix is added to a word ending in mute "e", the mute "e" should be dropped before a vowel, but not before a consonant, unless it is needed to indicate a soft "g" or "c" preceding. TurnerHodges (talk) 15:55, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Spelling

message: I just noticed the mention in the Cramer article that Cramer's son fought in the European theater in WWII.  I may be forgetting a reference, but the only mention I recall of Cramer's son is in Not Quite Dead Enough, beginning of Chap. 9 (Farrar & Rinehart, War Edition).  Archie has just given his report about Ann Amory to Wolfe and Cramer, and Cramer says, "I had a headache and now it's worse.  My son's in Australia with the Air Corps.  He's a bombardier."   Is there another reference indicating that young Cramer also fought in the European theater? Amy Duncan (talk) 23:03, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I've skimmed through what I think would be the likely candidates (Booby Trap, Black Orchids, The Silent Speaker, Instead of Evidence) and found nothing on point, other than your citation from NQDE. In Booby Trap there is a reference to Colonel Ryder's son, who had shot down four enemy planes in Europe. Possibly the contributor who wrote that confused the two (or maybe it's really there, somewhere unexpected such as A Family Affair). TurnerHodges (talk) 23:50, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I'll see your two Cramer citations and raise you one. :-). No, seriously, I think it was a good idea to put a citation tag on Cramer's getting up from a chair without using his hands because you contributed it and have some recollection of seeing it in some book. But in the case of Cramer's son, we don't know who contributed "European theater" and we do now know for a fact, per Amy Duncan, that he did serve in Australia, so I'd vote for Amy to go ahead and change his service venue and include her citation; if the European theater contributor or anyone else comes across a reference for that one, he can put it back in.RRRRowcliff (talk) 02:42, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cramer's Son 

message: "Rowcliff is the only character acknowledged by Stout to have been consciously modeled and named after a real-life person" -- is this true? It seems to me that there's an old photo of an Archie Goodwin in McAleer's Stout bio, an Indiana (?) police officer who once did something helpful for the Stout family, perhaps investigating a burglary or some such. This is a very vague recollection, but if I'm right then it may be that the "only character" comment might have to be softened. TurnerHodges (talk) 17:00, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: It's true, unless there's another case of Rex Stout ever acknowledging such a thing. I've amended the Rowcliff citation to include McAleer's question to Stout about Rowcliff, which he prefaces with the statement, "You've said you've never modeled a character on anyone you know..." — WFinch (talk) 21:28, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Regarding Rowcliff 

message: I've deleted a recent edit of the discussion of Fritz Brenner for several reasons. The principal reason is that little of the added matter pertains to Fritz. But it also claims that Archie "often" sides with Fritz and "often rags on Wolfe. . ." -- implying that Wolfe and Fritz often disagree regarding food and its preparation. But they don't. "Cuisinal" is not a word. As to the starlings, Fritz did not "add a new sauce," he replaced sage leaves with tarragon and a little saffron. These latter two issues are minor, of course, and the principal reasons for the deletion are that the material was only marginally pertinent, and that its basis -- frequency of occurrence -- just isn't accurate. TurnerHodges (talk) 22:36, 19 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Fritz and Archie 

message: I don't find Rettetast's explanation for the highhanded and unilateral removal of the images on this page at all convincing. I hope that someone with a fuller understanding than I have of the nuances of the NFC policy can explain why the rationales supplied for their use are inadequate -- or, better, why they're not. TurnerHodges (talk) 22:36, 19 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Image deletions 

message: There are recent edits to Fritz's section in this article which disagree about whether the dish that caused the spat between Fritz and Wolfe in chapter 1 is starlings or pheasant. My copy (a paperback, alas) of TGS states that it's starlings, and so does the relevant quotation in the Nero Wolfe Cookbook. So I have, perhaps temporarily, reverted the article to starlings. However, I wonder if this might be another one of those inconsistencies between an earlier hardcover and a subsequent paperback, and perhaps someone with a hardcover edition can check that. TurnerHodges (talk) 16:35, 16 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Starlings in the first edition. — WFinch (talk) 01:15, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

text: TY. Let's stet it at starlings. TurnerHodges (talk) 14:30, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

text: Sorry about being the editor that set it back to "Pheasant" the other day.  My copy of TGS was lost in the hurricane Katrina flood, and it's been years since I read it.  It had been "pheasant" in this article for, as far as I could tell, years so I assumed the sudden switch to "starlings" was an error.  Again, sorry about that. Fish Man (talk) 03:03, 19 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: No worries. The difference between starlings and pheasants is nothing to grouse about. Newyorkbrad (talk) 03:07, 19 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Starlings/pheasant 

message: Wondering about the proper handling of spoilers in such articles, but I actually came today in search of information about the fates of Cather and Durkin. In my fuzzy recollection (but I read the books many years ago) both fates were bad, but in different ways (since I don't know if I should give even a partial spoiler here). Shanen (talk) 00:09, 2 January 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: WP:SPOILER notes "Spoilers are no different from any other content and should not be deleted solely because they are spoilers." ThaddeusSholto (talk) 02:15, 2 January 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Spoilers in general and Cather and Durkin in particular