According to Some Buried Caesar, 85 years ago today, Archie Goodwin—one of my top 5 All-Time Favorite Characters—met the only woman who could keep his attention for more than a few months, Lily Rowan. Lily shows up several times in the Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin series and threatens to steal every scene she appears in (and frequently succeeds). Check out this post from Today in Mystery Fiction for the details—one of my favorite scenes, from one of my favorite books in possibly my favorite series—(I think I have 3 or 4 copies of it), so I had to say something.

Besides, it’s not like I have a long list of dates associated with fictional events to commemorate (but I really should work on one).

How they met 85 years ago, when Archie’s only in his mid-30s, is beyond me. But Math was never my strong suit, I’m sure it makes sense, surely Charlie Epps could explain it to me.

Regardless, it’s a great scene—the first of many between the two. Lily will go on to have great scenes with Mr. Wolfe, as well–one of the more memorable happens at a crucial point in In the Best Families where she does something that no one else does in the Wolfe/Archie books.

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