It’s not a joke. Wolfe is both a genius crime solver with an official license and an almost total recluse who spends all his time in his house growing orchids and enjoying the hard work of his private chef.

He has a hard working assistant who brings Wolfe people to interrogate. Archie is the one who writes the stories and finds the clues, but it’s Nero who actually solves the cases.

“The League of Frightened Men” by Rex Stout is one of the best of the series. It was originally published in 1932 and is still in print.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-league-of-frightened-men-rex-stout/7336709?ean=9780553762983