In Rex Stout's novel, Too Many Clients, a man approaches Archie, introduces himself as the vice president of a large company and asks Archie to follow him to a certain address at a certain time that night, in order to determine whether or not he, the vice president, is being followed by someone else. Archie keeps his part of the bargain, but the man never shows up to be tailed; instead, his body is found some time later underneath a tarp on a construction site across the street from the address to which the vice president was headed - except that body is not the person with whom Archie met. So who was that man, and why did he impersonate the vice president? Did he know the vice president was about to be killed? Did he have something to do with it? Before Archie can even begin to look into those questions, he investigates the place to which the man had been heading, and finds a very sumptuous love nest, with evidence of the presence of dozens of women there, albeit one at a time. And then Nero Wolfe is approached by a number of different entities, including the widow of the deceased, the company's board of supervisors, and the janitorial couple belonging to the building with the hidden boudoir - truly, he has too many clients!.... As ever, Archie is sarcastic and competent, Nero is pettish and grumpy, and the pair of them together manage to keep ahead of Inspector Cramer and the rest of New York's finest. The story is nicely complicated with numerous twists and turns, and it all ends in a satisfactory manner. Recommended!
Nero Wolfe finances in the beginning of the novel:To make it worse, this guy is about to come:So Archie Goodwin tried to find a client:The result of his search? He found this many:The investigation led Archie to a millionaire's love nest: Sorry, I try to keep my review rated PG. Anyway, this is the brief synopsis of the novel with minimal spoilers. In the words of Archie himself, "When I go dig for the client, I really do my job well". So Wolfe's finances are saved, the culprit is brought to justice - Wolfe's style - and Wolfe's household got paid and became happy. The end. The main thought in my head during the reading was, "It is good to be a millionaire". Well, except for the murder part that is. Considering this book was first published in 1955 being a millionaire does not cut in anymore, but having billions is still as good as having millions was in the good old fifties. So in conclusion this book is on the level of practically all stories of the series which means highly entertaining with usual great character interaction and good mystery with surprising culprit.
What do You think about Too Many Clients (1955)?
Stout, Rex. TOO MANY CLIENTS. (1960). ***. Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe’s trusted personal assistant, was reviewing the state of their finances one afternoon and was appalled at the discrepancy between their income and their needs. Wolfe, of course, couldn’t be bothered by such details, but Archie has to drum up business somehow. Now his office is visited by a man claiming to be business executive Thomas Yeager. Yeager tells Goodwin that he thinks he is being followed, and hires him to find out who it might be. An elaborate scheme is developed to do this, but everything backfires when a man – positively ID’d as Yeager – is found dead in a street excavation in front of Yeager’s alleged business office. Now Archie is beginning to pick up clients ike crazy – as you will soon see. There are a lot of red herrings in this plot – and even, occassionally, a blue one. A lot of the action is telegraphed, so there aren’t many surprises left by the end. But even a not-so-good Wolfe novel is better than most of the others out there from other authors.
—Tony
Too Many Clients by Rex Stout is a Nero Wolfe novel. I like Nero Wolfe novels, because there's almost always a plausible bit in the middle where they're all completely stumped and are just desperately flailing around hoping to get that one last piece of information that will lead to the solution. Sometimes they get lucky, sometimes they have to go fishing for it, and sometimes it's just a matter of sending the minor characters off-screen for three chapters to ask someone's Mom on the other side of the country for that one vital clue. And for this book specifically? Of all the Nero Wolfe novels, this is one of them. Honestly, like any large franchise, they all start to feel the same after a while, and you either like them all or you don't. I like it, but there isn't a lot to recommend it specifically over any other Nero Wolfe.
—Daniel Brandon
Archie Goodwin takes the center stage more than usual in this solid entry in the Nero Wolfe canon.Nero Wolfe series - A man who identifies himself as Thomas Yeager asks Archie to ascertain whether he is being followed when he visits a certain address. When the real Yeager's body is found near that address, Archie crosses the threshold and finds a fantastically appointed love nest where Yeager secretly entertained many women. The case becomes more complicated when the daughter of the building superintendent is later killed; her novice attempts at blackmail provide Wolfe with critical evidence needed to solve both murders and earn a large fee, shoring up his low bank balance.
—Ed
