厨师太多了 (1938)

Too Many Cooks is the fifth Nero Wolfe detective novel by American mystery writer Rex Stout. The story was serialized in The American Magazine (March–August 1938) before its publication in book form in 1938 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. The novel was collected in the omnibus volume Kings Full of Aces, published in 1969 by the Viking Press.

Plot introduction

"It is not decent to induce the cocaine habit in a man, but it is monstrous to do so and then suddenly withdraw his supply of the drug. Nature plainly intends that a man should nourish a woman, and a woman a man, physically and spiritually, but there is no nourishment in you for anybody; the vapor that comes from you, from your eyes, your lips, your soft skin, your contours, your movements, is not beneficent but malignant."

Wolfe, a knowledgeable gourmet as well as a detective, attends a meeting of great chefs, Les Quinze Maîtres, at a resort in West Virginia, and jealousies among them soon lead to strife; then, one of the chefs is murdered. Wolfe sustains his own injury in the course of finding the culprit but also obtains the secret recipe for saucisse minuit.

Plot summary

Nero Wolfe accepts an invitation to address Les Quinze Maîtres ("The Fifteen Masters"), an international group of master chefs, on the subject of American contributions to fine cuisine. The group is meeting at the Kanawha Spa resort in West Virginia (possibly based on the famous actual resort The Greenbrier).) To attend, Wolfe must suppress his loathing of travel and trains on the 14-hour train ride from New York City. As a courtesy to Wolfe, Archie has been invited to the gathering by Marko Vukcic, Wolfe's oldest friend and one of Les Quinze Maîtres, so that he can accompany Wolfe.

During the trip, Vukcic introduces Wolfe to Jerome Berin, another member of Les Quinze Maîtres and the originator of saucisse minuit. Wolfe tasted the sausage once and has coveted Berin's closely guarded recipe for years. Berin is flattered, but he scorns Wolfe's offer of $3,000 for the private use of the recipe. In the course of this discussion, Berin angrily denounces Philip Laszio, another Maître, who serves an inferior substitute for saucisse minuit in his restaurant. Laszio also stole Vukcic's ex-wife Dina from him and the position of Head Chef at New York's Hotel Churchill from Leon Blanc, another Maître. His passion inflamed, Berin threatens to kill Laszio.

The next night, at a welcoming dinner for Les Quinze Maîtres, Philip Laszio insults the host, Louis Servan, another Maître, and his head chef when he criticises the cooking. Tensions are further increased when Blanc refuses to tolerate Laszio's company and Vukcic begins to succumb to the charms of Dina, who appears to be seducing him. After the dinner, a tasting test is held, based on a challenge made to Laszio. Laszio prepares nine numbered dishes of Sauce Printemps, with each dish missing a different vital ingredient. The other nine Maîtres present, and Wolfe, are challenged to taste each dish and write down which dish is missing which ingredient. Blanc, of course, does not participate in the tasting.

Wolfe is the last contestant to taste the dishes, but halfway through, he summons Archie into the private dining room where the tasting is taking place; Philip Laszio has been murdered, stabbed in the back and hidden behind a room divider. The authorities are called, led by Barry Tolman, a local prosecutor who happened to arrive on the train with Wolfe and Goodwin. At Wolfe's suggestion, Tolman examines the results of the taste testing on the theory that the murderer, either tense before committing murder or shaken afterwards, would be unable to determine accurately the missing ingredients. Jerome Berin has the lowest score and, based on Wolfe's theory, is subsequently charged with murder. This drives a wedge between Tolman and Constanza Berin, Jerome's daughter, who have been developing a romantic attachment.

The next morning, Wolfe receives a visit from Laszio's employer at the Churchill, Raymond Liggett, and Laszio's assistant Alberto Malfi; they want Wolfe's help in securing a replacement for Laszio at the Churchill. Although Wolfe is scornful of Liggett's request and refuses his employment, when Berin is arrested, he is skeptical that Berin could be the murderer. Seeing an opportunity to get the master chef into his debt, Wolfe decides to investigate Laszio's murder and exonerate Berin. Wolfe learns from Lio Coyne, the wife of one of the guests, that she saw two men in waiter's uniforms in the dining room around the time of the murder, with one of them hushing another.

Consequently, Wolfe gathers together the African-American kitchen and serving staff and questions them. In contrast to the racist and abusive attitudes of the local authorities, Wolfe is courteous, respectful, and civil to the men, but they are nevertheless skeptical and uncooperative until he appeals to their sense of equity and justice. He argues that if they shield the murderer solely because of his skin colour then they are “rendering your race a serious disservice” and are “helping to perpetuate and aggravate the very exclusions which you justly resent." Impressed by the speech, Paul Whipple, a waiter and college student, admits that he was one of the men in the dining room that night. But the other man was not African-American; he was wearing blackface. It is also revealed that Laszio himself had switched around the sauce dishes before Berin's turn to humiliate him; this explains Berin's low score.