Preview of Too Many Cooks Summary:

Nero Wolfe is the most truly philosophical of fictional detectives. His famous eccentricities, already wellestablished by the preceding novels in the series, stem from the same preoccupation that motivates him in Too Many Cooks: a quest for the Good Life. Having formed his opinions regarding how one ought to live, he defends them with ferocious integrity. His disagreements with Archie Goodwin, a man of equal integrity, arise from their differing views on what constitutes the Good Life and how one should go about seeking it. His clashes with others result from their moral, ethical, and aesthetic confusion, and their efforts to impose on Wolfe.

The novel opens with a journey by train, which Wolfe grimly endures because he is the guest of honor of Les Quinze Maitres, a group of famous chefs who gather once every five years.

He accepts on general philosophical grounds, out of reverence for...