Too Many Clients

Infobox Book |
name = Too Many Clients


image_caption =
author = Rex Stout
cover_artist = Bill English
country = United States
language = English
series = Nero Wolfe
genre = Detective novel
publisher = Viking Press
release_date = October 28, 1960
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages = 183 pp. (first edition)
isbn = NA
preceded_by = Three at Wolfe's Door
followed_by = The Final Deduction "Too Many Clients" is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1960, and collected in the omnibus volume "Three Aces" (Viking 1971).

Plot introduction

A man who identifies himself as Thomas Yeager, head of Continental Plastics, asks Archie to ascertain whether he is being followed when he visits a certain address in one of New York's worst neighborhoods. When Yeager's body is found at an excavation site in the vicinity of that address, Archie crosses the threshold and finds a fantastically appointed love nest where Yeager secretly entertained many women.

Reviews and commentary

*Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor, "A Catalogue of Crime" — Good treatment of the love-nest theme, integral as well as central, which implies good characterization. Several new touches prevent the reader from taking Wolfe as a cliché. The sole reservation to be made is that the villain is not well enough concealed, perhaps because he is so well cast.Barzun, Jacques and Taylor, Wendell Hertig. "A Catalogue of Crime". New York: Harper & Row. 1971, revised and enlarged edition 1989. ISBN 0-06-015796-8]

Adaptations

"A Nero Wolfe Mystery" (A&E Network)

"Too Many Clients" was adapted for the second season of the A&E TV series "A Nero Wolfe Mystery" (2001–2002). Directed by John L'Ecuyer from a teleplay by Sharon Elizabeth Doyle, "Too Many Clients" made its debut in two one-hour episodes airing June 2 and 9, 2002, on A&E.

Timothy Hutton is Archie Goodwin; distinguished character actor Maury Chaykin is Nero Wolfe. Other members of the cast (in credits order) include Colin Fox (Fritz Brenner), Bill Smitrovich (Inspector Cramer), Conrad Dunn (Saul Panzer), Trent McMullen (Orrie Cather), Fulvio Cecere (Fred Durkin), Bill MacDonald (Austin Hough), Marty Moreau (Cabbie), Jeannette Sousa (Maria Perez), R.D. Reid (Sergeant Purley Stebbins), Saul Rubinek (Lon Cohen), Alex Poch-Goldin (Cesar Perez), Lucy Filippone (Mrs. Perez), Kari Matchett (Meg Duncan), Christine Brubaker (Julia McGee), James Tolkan (Benedict Aiken), Debra Monk (Mrs. Yeager) and Dina Barrington (Dinah Hough).

"A Nero Wolfe Mystery" is available on DVD from A&E Home Video. ISBN 076708893X

Release details

*1996, USA, Books on Tape, Inc. ISBN 0736634002 May 31, 1996, audio cassette (unabridged, read by Michael Prichard)
*1990, USA, Bantam Books ISBN 5552552660 July 1990, paperback

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0394823|title=A Nero Wolfe Mystery — "Too Many Clients"'
* [http://www.nerowolfe.org/nwm/nwm_s2_episodes/tmc-home.htm "A Nero Wolfe Mystery" — "Too Many Clients"] at The Wolfe Pack, official site of the Nero Wolfe Society
* Scott, Carolyn Patricia, [http://www.nerowolfe.org/nwm/nwm_reviews/rvw-lat.htm "Nero Wolfe is back, with "Too Many Clients"] ; "Los Angeles Times", June 1, 2002