"Murder by the Book" is a very good choice, actually. That is, the characters are fully developed, and everything plays out as it is supposed to. Unlike say, Agatha Christie, characters and not the mystery puzzle are what makes these books. Once you read enough of these books, and you find Lt. Kramer taking Archie Goodwin in for questioning, or as a suspect, you KNOW how it's going to play out, but the payoff is still just as enjoyable. In the A&E series I linked to earlier in the thread, Timothy Hutton is a perfect Archie, and the fellow who plays Fritz Brenner is exceptional. Maury Chaykin as Nero gets a little too screechy/scratchy when he gets upset, whereas Stout's Wolfe simply bellows authoritatively.
The link below is a preview of "Gambit", chapter 1 alone will give you a taste of some of characters. It involves the famous scene of Nero Wolfe burning a Merriam-Webster's unabridged 3rd Edition Dictionary in buckram.
http://books.google.com/books?id=f_1ew0EvI3MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=stout+gambit&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5uB5VIHOI4ahNpKigNgN&ved=0CCkQuwUwAA#v=onepage&q=stout%20gambit&f=falseAnd that was just Chapter 1 — Lots of info. Not only what we’ve got but info needed to get Pops out of the clink all to the background sound and smell of paper burning. Yes, Stout will be fun.
Here are two back at you that came to mind while reading Chap 1. Maybe you’ve read Allen but this is always fun to re-read (short story, one of his best, and on the internet). “The Gossage-Vardebedian Papers” by Woody Allen.
On the non-fiction side - “The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary” by Simon Winchester