Whimsical Wednesdays (Jul. 28)

Whimsical Wednesdays is my personal departure from my Current Reads list. For one evening each week, I go back to a book I enjoyed as a child, teen, or young adult, and spend some time revisiting favorite characters or authors. Sometimes they are classics, other times it's something quirky that just caught my fancy.

I had planned to continue with the Anne of Green Gables series, having read through the first three already, and I'm just about finished with the fourth (Windy Poplars, probably my least favorite of the eight), but I think that'll change. Instead, I intend to curl up with Rex Stout's Prisoner's Base, my favorite of the Nero Wolfe books. I first came to the books through the A&E series starring Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin. I read that Mr. Chaykin passed away yesterday, on his 61st birthday, so this will be a sort of tribute. Tomorrow the DVDs come out and I'll watch some of my favorite episodes.

The story centers around Priscilla Eads, a young heiress who will take control of a vast fortune in one week. She attempts to convince Wolfe to let her board at his house, but he refuses. The young woman leaves and is later found murdered. Archie Goodwin, who has a streak of gallantry, blames himself for the death (since he was unable to find a secure location for her), and storms off to solve the case on his own. In the process, he gets himself arrested and Wolfe dragged down to the station as a material witness. No one forces Wolfe from his brownstone, let alone hauls him to a police station, without serious consequences. Wolfe claims Archie as his client and bullies the DA into letting them both go. Now it's a matter of pride to solve the case.

After this, I'll drop back into Shakespeare, hitting two epic poems he wrote while the theaters were closed, due to the plague. Cheery, no? ;)