Too Many Women

This is more an Archie than a Nero Wolfe book - Wolfe is there and helps (and solves the problem) but most of the story happens outside of his office and without him being anywhere around.

It all starts weirdly - a company had had too many people leaving in the previous year and decides to check what had happened. One man had left because he was hit by a car and left - and his manager insists on calling it murder. And the director decides to hire Wolfe to investigate and find out if it was an accident or a murder. So Archie gets a new job - a personnel expert in the company, reviewing practices and what's not. Of course, his job is to investigate.

Except that he seems to spend more time being chased by women (all of them seem to really show more love him), being beaten by men (more than usual) and chasing his tail. Except that there is another corpse, Wolfe get hired again to now discover who the killer is and Archie's role is known by everyone (officially that is, the gossip was always there).

It is a strange novel - the Nero Wolfe novels are sexist (because of the times) but that one seems to be even more so. It is partially because most of the action happens in the work-space, with all the stenographers and typist are and women are only considered good enough for those jobs. But Archie is also womanizing a lot more than usual - and the women in the novel behave as damsels in distress. On the other hand, it may not be so unrealistic. But all the characters sound a bit off - Cramer, who is usually intelligent, behaves like an idiot in places and the end feels a bit rushed.

I am not sorry I read it but it is my least favorite so far from the series. I think I prefer this series with Wolfe in the center and not Archie - at least not Archie behaving like that. show less

I was introduced to Nero Wolfe through the amazing Nero Wolfe A&E series, so I see Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin, et al. So, after a hiatus of several years, I got a hold of And Be a Villain and liked it, so I decided to get them all so I could read them in order (from 1934 to 1975).

This one is number 12: Too Many Women. Always in need of money, big spending Nero Wolfe, the team takes on a possible case at another of those big businesses that could only really exist in New York City. Whacky characters, wise-talking femmes, Archie getting some (implied) action, Wolfe finally figuring things out. A pretty good one.

I enjoyed this one with Archie mostly working alone on an unusual problem. He has the best one liners of about any character in fiction, but the women, ah the women. They get reduced to the gossip, the femme fatale and the damaged one that needs protecting. Why is it that the only woman with any sense is the one Archie dates and never marries?

Nero Wolfe’s latest client is a Wall Street engineering firm where a rumor is circulating about the death of a former employee. The authorities are satisfied that the death was an accidental hit-and-run, yet a member of the firm insists the man was intentionally murdered. Archie goes undercover in the firm to find out if the rumor is true. It’s a perplexing case that almost stumps Wolfe, until a last-ditch effort flushes out the truth.

This book was less satisfying than most of the other series books I’ve read to date, mainly because so many elements of the murder were withheld until an information dump at the end of the book. Wolfe usually figures out what must have happened before the police or anyone else has a glimmer of show more understanding, and then he collects the evidence that proves it. In this case, Wolfe spent most of his time trying to persuade suspects/witnesses to tell him what they know, and he was less impressive than I’ve come to expect. show less

Too Many Women (1947) (Nero Wolfe #12) by Rex Stout. Wolfe is hired by an engineering supply company to look into a hit and run death of one of their employees. It happened four months prior and the police have yet to solve it, nor are they likely to. But the son of one of the founders, now a senior exec in charge of a large department, has made a claim of murder. It is up to Wolfe, meaning Archie Goodwin, to prove or deny the claim.
Archie is sent undercover into the headquarters to discover if there is anything to back up the claim. Headquarters consist of two entire floors of executives and secretaries that run the paper operation of this international corporation. Expecting something very different, Archie is faced with a reality of show more having to talk with hundreds of typists, all female (remember this is in the 1940’s) and each seemingly more attractive than the last. What’s a poor boy to do.
The grapevine works swift and sure about the office halls and Archie’s cover is soon blown, as well as the truth to his mission. That makes it both easier and harder to discover the truth. The investigation seems to be going nowhere until Wolfe comes up with a devious ploy, but only after another hit and run occurs, with details that match the first car assault almost perfectly
This is a slick little outing wherein Archie gets to live out some of his fantasies. Some of the story is fluff, but the mystery is well played and the characters well drawn. The reasons for everything are explained and again Wolfe earns his massive fees.
Not the top of the heap of Wolfe stories, but better than 95% of what was being offered at the time. I find reading Rez Stout’s work is like watching one of those great old New York City movies. You get the grit and feel of the city and its peoples, mostly in Black & White, but with splashes of color thrown in to keep it interesting.
And the dialog is just dandy. show less

The backstory: a businessman falls victim to a hit-and-run driver. Accident or murder? The firm, Naylor-Kerr, Inc, where the businessman worked, is convinced it was foul play. The board of directors hire Nero Wolfe to prove it. The only problem is Wolfe thinks the clues to solving the case are hidden in the executive offices of Naylor-Kerr. It is up to wise-cracking and devilishly handsome Archie Goodwin to find the evidence by going undercover in Naylor-Kerr. He starts in the Structural Metals section but gets distracted by the Correspondence Checker, namely the victim's fiancé. In fact, there are too many beautiful women for Archie to handle. He starts dating a few of them to get to the gossip. The best part of his job is show more entertaining the women in the company. Dancing, dining, and drinking to interview them all.
Once his cover is blown, true to form, Archie is still the sarcastic and sharp-tongued sidekick to Nero that we all know and love. When a second man from the same company is found dead in the exact same manner on the exact same street the pressure mounts to solve the mystery. Even though this was a case that was harder than most for Wolfe to solve as Wolfe mysteries, they wrap up Too Many Women like an episode of Scooby Doo with a long narrative about how it all went down. show less

It was the same old rigmarole. Sometimes I found it amusing; sometimes it only bored me; sometimes it gave me a pronounced pain, especially when I had had more of Wolfe than was good for either of us.

This time it was fairly funny at first, but it developed along regrettable lines. Mr. Jasper Pine, president of Naylor-Kerr, Inc., 914 William Street, down where a thirty-story building is a shanty, wanted Nero Wolfe to come to see him about something. I explained patiently, all about Wolfe being too big and fat, and too much of a genius, to let himself be evoked.