Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
New York : Bantam Books, 1971. New Bantam edition, broschiert,
188 S.
Description
A bidding war for his services interrupts Nero Wolfe's attempts to solve the case of the businessman who died in his love nest--a case in which the police seem oddly uninterested.
User reviews
LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
A darker Nero Wolfe mystery than most, with Stout attempting a tone that doesn't suit him - or Archie Goodwin, his narrator. As the blurb on the back of my yellowing 1960 copy reads: "love locked out ..." This is a very crude study of desire, where the sexual double standard is almost as central to
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the story as the characters: an 'oversexed' man who sets up a 'bower of carnality', to quote Wolfe, or a love nest, to get from a series of women what his wife won't or can't supply is described by Wolfe - and thus I suppose by Stout - as a romantic, with a trace of the literary 'flute strain' in him. But when one of his mistresses is a married woman, also oversexed and running rings around her husband, then she must be put in her place, and her husband congratulated on doing so. Similarly, an amorous actress can be pawed, but cannot make the first move. I'm not sure what this book says about Stout's attitude to women - from implicitly condoning (if not commending) domestic violence and physically repelling a woman's advances, Archie transforms into a knight errant, defending the pride and morals of a family caught up in the 'satyr's murder. Not a bad mystery, despite the dubious subtext, but the A+E episode is an improvement, with the wrinkles in Archie's behaviour smoothed out. Show Less
LibraryThing member MrsLee
This is the book where I fell in love with Fred.
LibraryThing member antiquary
I must admit that I enjoy this one for the "preposterous bower of carnality" as Wolfe calls it, which the victim had maintained --an apartment lined with satin and pictures of nude women. Wolfe actually expresses a certain sympathy for the arrangement leading to speculation about his younger days.
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One negative point is that Goodwin, and maybe Stout, sees to feel some sympathy for a man who reacts to discovering his wife had been there by beating her up. Show Less
LibraryThing member TomDonaghey
Too Many Clients (1960) (Nero Wolfe #34) by Rex Stout. When Thomas G. Yeager, vice president of Continental Plastic Products dropped in on Archie Goodwin to talk a small case, things seemed on the up and up. Yeager was being followed. He wanted to know by whom. Together he and Archie set a trap for
Simple.
But when the trap is sprung, there is no tail spotted. For that matter, Yeager doesn’t appear either. Confounded, Archie learns more about Yeager and soon finds out that Yeager was already dead and dropped in a ConEd project hole on 82nd street hours before the meeting. Someone else had played Yeager.
An interesting premise, but it follows that there is no client to pay the bill for finding out just what was happening. Archie soon uncovers a tenement building with a Yeager built love nest on the top floor adjacent to where his body was found. The rooms are designed for just one thing and it is not to play ping-pong.
Before you know it there are multiple players vying to have Wolfe and Goodwin investigate for them. They include the Continental Plastics company as an entity, and the president of the company as a person, the wife of the dead man, even the super of the love shack building and his wife.
This is a complicated little mystery that sees our detectives one step ahead of the police and one step away from complete ruin if the cops discover what is going on with them.
This is a fun romp with the usual stolid Goodwin surrounded by more beautiful women than should be possible in such a sordid mess. Wolfe as always plays the mountain of wisdom, breaking down the wall of anonymity set by the false Yeager. Goodwin is dashing and charming and ruthless, and brilliant in his role. A great little read for passing the shuttered days and nights.
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later that evening. Yeager was to leave his apartment and take a taxi to a place on 82nd street. Goodwin would be in another cab and spot the tail.Simple.
But when the trap is sprung, there is no tail spotted. For that matter, Yeager doesn’t appear either. Confounded, Archie learns more about Yeager and soon finds out that Yeager was already dead and dropped in a ConEd project hole on 82nd street hours before the meeting. Someone else had played Yeager.
An interesting premise, but it follows that there is no client to pay the bill for finding out just what was happening. Archie soon uncovers a tenement building with a Yeager built love nest on the top floor adjacent to where his body was found. The rooms are designed for just one thing and it is not to play ping-pong.
Before you know it there are multiple players vying to have Wolfe and Goodwin investigate for them. They include the Continental Plastics company as an entity, and the president of the company as a person, the wife of the dead man, even the super of the love shack building and his wife.
This is a complicated little mystery that sees our detectives one step ahead of the police and one step away from complete ruin if the cops discover what is going on with them.
This is a fun romp with the usual stolid Goodwin surrounded by more beautiful women than should be possible in such a sordid mess. Wolfe as always plays the mountain of wisdom, breaking down the wall of anonymity set by the false Yeager. Goodwin is dashing and charming and ruthless, and brilliant in his role. A great little read for passing the shuttered days and nights.
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LibraryThing member Nodosaurus
Starting slowly, Nero Wolfe needs clients to support his lifestyle. Archie is to find some. The mystery begins when Archie meets Thomas Yeager, the president of Continental Plastic Products. Thomas is concerned and wants to be able to make a clandestine meeting in a less-than-desirable part of town
Archie arranges to watch him in controlled conditions so that he can make his meeting safely, but he doesn’t show. The next day Thomas Yeager turns up dead outside of the meeting location, but it isn’t the man that Archie met.
This is a good mystery, but Archie still doesn’t have a client. He proceeds with an investigation, staying both just ahead of the police and keeping out of jail for interfering.
At the address that Thomas gave, Archie finds an apartment set up as a private love nest done out in style. He manages to get several clients, the owners of the love nest, the directors of the Continental Plastics Company, and the wife of Thomas Yeager, each of whom is looking for a different outcome. He and Nero Wolfe have to keep the clients separate, feed them the information they are entitled to and feed the police what is necessary and not raise too much suspicion.
It’s a fun read and a good mystery.
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without being followed.Archie arranges to watch him in controlled conditions so that he can make his meeting safely, but he doesn’t show. The next day Thomas Yeager turns up dead outside of the meeting location, but it isn’t the man that Archie met.
This is a good mystery, but Archie still doesn’t have a client. He proceeds with an investigation, staying both just ahead of the police and keeping out of jail for interfering.
At the address that Thomas gave, Archie finds an apartment set up as a private love nest done out in style. He manages to get several clients, the owners of the love nest, the directors of the Continental Plastics Company, and the wife of Thomas Yeager, each of whom is looking for a different outcome. He and Nero Wolfe have to keep the clients separate, feed them the information they are entitled to and feed the police what is necessary and not raise too much suspicion.
It’s a fun read and a good mystery.
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1960-10-28
Physical description
188 p.; 17.8 cm