Too Many Cooks

Since I led a book discussion group on Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe, I have will have a number of titles to share. But this one, Too Many Cooks, I am also having fun listening to the audio book of it. It is set very early in the Nero Wolfe series, and in some ways it reflects the era - 1938 - and in some ways it is ahead of its time.

Wolfe is invited to a special gathering of world renowned chefs. He is the guest of honor. That is probably the only reason he will leave his brownstone in New York and travel to a West Virginia spa where the gathering will take place. The chefs are friendly rivals or are they really? When a chef is found dead and several people have declared their interest in seeing him gone, Wolfe gets himself reluctantly involved in the case.

This book is filled with food references and even *gasp* food recipes! Somehow I do not think that most people will be trying to make Terrapin Maryland, but who knows?

One of the more interesting aspects of this book, as a Nero Wolfe fan, is the fact that Archie seems a bit racist (to our "modern" mindset) when referring to the southern blacks who are the backstage workers and cooks at the spa. (But then he has snarky things to say about the chefs too!) But you have to remember this was written in 1938 when that attitude and the language used would have been common. The notable part is that when Nero Wolfe questions the staff about the murder, he treats them with dignity and civility and eventually ends up defending them from retribution from the local sheriff.

A fun read. And a fun book to listen to!

Favorite line of dialogue that I must use in a conversation sometime -

"I didn't see anybody put you away on a shelf to save up for the lord."