Too Many Cooks

Although private detective Nero Wolfe rarely leaves his New York brownstone, his reputation as a gourmand leads to an invitation to deliver the keynote address to an intimate gathering of the world’s greatest chefs. The book opens with Wolfe and his assistant, Archie Goodwin, on a train headed for the Kanawha Spa in West Virginia. From conversations on the train and at the spa after their arrival, it’s apparent that chef Philip Laszio is universally disliked. When Laszio is murdered while supervising a tasting contest, all clues point to one suspect. However, Wolfe realizes that there is more to this case than meets the eye. Will he survive long enough to expose the real killer?

This is the kind of impossible crime that made Wolfe show more such a famous fictional detective. The book was written in the Jim Crow era and set in the southern U.S., and several of the spa’s African American staff are crucial witnesses. While other characters in the book use highly offensive racial slurs for the African American service workers as well as for other ethnic minority characters, Wolfe never uses this offensive language, and he treats the African American staff with respect. show less

Six-word review: 1930s Southern racism makes story painful.

Extended review:

I've stated my opinion that an author oughtn't to be faulted for accurately reflecting prevailing or common views and attitudes of his or her own time and place; or, I suppose, of others' if faithfully represented. For every way in which social progress has improved conditions, there was a time before that progress in which views were held that we would now consider unacceptable; for example, demeaning attitudes toward women.

Several recent readings have tested my commitment to that opinion, most notably the novels of John Buchan (1910s) and Neville Shute (1940s), with their depiction of native Africans and Australians, respectively; or, more precisely, their show more depiction of white men's view of them. I've managed to read through the portions that are objectionable by today's standards, saying that people really did think and speak that way and that we shouldn't forget what it is that people have struggled to overcome.

Rex Stout's Too Many Cooks, however, exceeds my limits of tolerance. It is set in a Southern state in 1938, and the race of black Americans is a key issue in the plot. Even though the most offensive speech and behavior are expressed as those of characters belonging to that culture, the language of the narrator and various other characters throughout is simply too condescending, superior, and even contemptuous to be read with equanimity in 2016. Not only blacks but women and even Chinese come in for some heavy-handed stereotyping that is bound to choke most modern readers. Nero Wolfe makes a speech against racism and for justice:

"The ideal human agreement is one in which distinctions of race and color and religion are totally disregarded; anyone helping to preserve those distinctions is postponing that ideal...." (page 110)

but that is not enough to offset the effects of unapologetically racist representations expressed--perhaps even with harmless intent--throughout.

For that reason, even though the story is a good enough series mystery, solved by fair means--an interesting setup, and the clues are all present, but only Nero Wolfe puts them all together--I regret rereading this one and can't recommend it except to students of evolving social attitudes in the United States of the twentieth century. show less

One of the more interesting Wolfe stories for two reasons. One is that he breaks most of his own rules in this one, spending no time at home in New York. More interestingly, this book tackles race more directly than any of his books I've read so far, and while there are some obvious racists in this book, Wolfe isn't one. I found it fascinating, especially because this is a book written in 1938,when the type of thinking that Wolfe has about black men was not at all prevalent.

I have just completed the fifth Nero Wolfe mystery, Too Many Cooks by Rex Stout and believe me, reading a Nero Wolf novel is totally satisfying on many levels. The arrogant, gourmandizing sedentary sleuth that is Nero Wolf is a treat on his own, but add in his man-about-town, the suave Archie Goodwin, admired by the likes of Agatha Christie and P. G. Wodehouse, and you have characters that are a delight to read about.

This novel was originally published in 1938, and Nero Wolfe and Archie have travelled south to a five-star resort to attend the gathering of the world’s greatest chefs. As guest of honor, Wolfe is served both haute cuisine and murder. Reluctantly at first, Wolfe eventually decides he does need to solve this case.

At that show more time, much of the hotel staff were black and although Wolfe actually did address and deal with some of the outright and obvious prejudice, there was still a number of racial slurs and condescending speech about and towards these black characters. This brings thoughts of today’s policy of pulling these types of books from the shelves. I have mixed feelings about this, yes, it is distasteful to read, but how are we going to remember how hurtful this casual racism is and improve upon it if we don’t see where this type of prejudice comes from. I would rather books like this come with a foreword discussing the situation than to see them disappear.

Rex Stout delivers interesting, intricate mysteries that give the reader plenty to puzzle upon. The interplay between Wolfe and Archie make these books well worth picking up. I enjoyed Too Many Cooks and fully intend on continuing my exploration of this series. show less

Nero Wolfe’s grumpy under the best of circumstances, so imagine how grumpy the dour detective is in the wilds of West Virginia without his orchids, his personal chef, the niceties of his brownstone on West 35th Street! Wolfe was snarling from the moment he entered the train from New York to Kanawha, W.V., for a weekend with Les Quinze Maîtres, the finest chefs in the world. Needless to say, one of them will end up murdered — there wouldn’t be a detective novel otherwise, would there? — and Wolfe reluctantly agrees to discover who killed Philip Lazio, the reprobate who stole one chef’s wife, another chef’s job and, more or less, inspired hatred from the other top chefs.

I don’t know what it is about Nero Wolfe out of his show more element, be it this or The Black Mountain (where he goes to Yugoslavia), that makes the novels not as good as the ones set in New York City. (Incidentally, restauranteur Marko Vukcic, Wolfe’s bestie, from this novel also appears in The Black Mountain.) But I found Too Many Cooks to drag quite a bit until Lazio’s murdered, and drag after Lazio’s stabbed in the back, although much less than before. Not as good as author Rex Stout’s usual fare, but still better than most authors routinely publish. show less

Not the best Wolfe or Stout . Very interesting as a snapshot of what America was like in 1938. Particularly of note is the treatment of African-Americans at the resort in Virginia and the total absence of a looming presence of a European war. Since the bulk of the cast of characters were Europeans -- some of whom were on visiting the United States this obliviousness to the onset of a war is rather stunning. It is difficult to know if Stout was more aware than he assumes his audience was. Wolfe and Goodwin are not shown to be racists -- but neither are they offended at what, to the current day reader, is the stunning level of racism expressed by other characters, including characters that the reader is clearly meant to see as at worst show more banal rather than evil or stupid. show less

the mystery itself, once you get to it and through it, is actually quite excellent and satisfying. the clues he uses to get to the truth are minor but plausible, and not at all obvious, but also not so small that it's inconceivable. i wasn't a fan of the narration, but i can see how someone could be. same with spending time with archie and nero - they weren't fun to be around for me, but it's definitely possible, maybe even likely, that with time that would change. this is a slim volume so maybe just reading a longer one of the series, or another one or two, would do it. i'm not sure.

but my main issue with the book was that the racism and sexism was a bit too much. it didn't feel like the kind of racism that just comes with the time, show more somehow. i mean it was, and to some extent you can forgive that (as much as you can forgive that, that is), but this felt...like a white person's excuse for racism? because this book featured race prominently, it wasn't just casual racism in the characters that i, as a white person, could put aside probably more easily than someone of color reading this could; i have the privilege of being able to set that aside and say it's just that it takes place in 1937 and not let it bother me. but it was more than that. it was a white man writing for white men, in a way to make them feel good about some amount of tolerance and acceptance. but not getting to a real position of equality in the way he viewed people or talked to people. i don't know how to explain it, but it felt like more than what you'd expect with the times. but i also know that i don't allow for how bad it was (or probably even fully acknowledge how bad it is) then.

bottom line - the mystery was really good but the writing wasn't a style i liked (it took me way too long to get into the story for a book so thin) and i had too much trouble getting past the racism, and a little trouble with the sexism. it doesn't really matter, but i also hate the cover of this edition, passionately. show less