History Literature / TooManyCooks

* UngratefulBastard: Jerome Berin is less grateful than one might think [[spoiler: towards a man who got him off a wrongful charge of murder, reacting with indignant outrage when Wolfe demands the recipe for his sausages as payment. Wolfe basically has to remind him that honor is now in play here, that this is the least he can do, and that if Wolfe can't have the sausages he'll have the world knowing that Berin is this trope instead as compensation.]]

** Berin's sausages. While chasing an enemy agent in World War I, Wolfe stopped off for lunch at a French country inn and had the sausages made by the house cook, the innkeeper's son. They have stuck with him ever since. He wanted to meet Berin then, but had to pursue his target. He's since made multiple attempts to reverse-engineer the sausages, purchasing originals and then getting other chefs and, once, a chemist, to try to figure out what made them so good. No one's been able to figure it out. Berin thinks they're serious business, too, proclaiming he threw an enemy's imitation of then onto the carpet, and bragging that he has never shared the recipe with anyone, even when he was took sick to work. Wolfe's major motivation to be at the meeting of ''Les Quinze Maîtres'' is to try to buy the recipe from Berin.

** Berin's sausages. In the aftermath of World War I Wolfe followed him across half the country trying to track him down for the recipe, and getting it in the present is one of his main priorities in the story.

* MinorInjuryOverreaction: Played with, since a gunshot isn't exactly a ''minor'' injury, but it is noted that when someone shoots at Wolfe later in the story, his wound is essentially a fairly minor scratch that won't even scar. Wolfe, however, makes a big deal of it to a deeply unimpressed Archie.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Downplayed, since it wasn't exactly considered politically incorrect at the time, but considering that Stout was critiquing those attitudes: [[spoiler:the murderer dons {{Blackface}} in order to disguise himself as one of the serving staff]].

* AssholeVictim: Even among the plentiful examples of this trope within Rex Stout's body of work alone, let alone crime and detective fiction in general, Phillip Laszio stands tall. The man appears to have made it his hobby to betray, backstab, insult, steal from and otherwise annoy as many thin-skinned, hot-tempered egotists as humanly possible, to the point where it's barely a spoiler to identify him as the victim. The scene where Jerome Berin meets Wolfe and begins to rant about him is basically establishing why not just Berin but practically every other supporting character in the novel has a motive to whack him. [[spoiler: Somewhat ironically, however, the murder has nothing to do with any of these more-or-less petty grievances, and is instead an act of cold-blooded murder.]]

** Nero does it himself early on, describing some American dishes in glowing, poetic terms to refute Jerome Berin--who'd said America hadn't contributed anything to *haute cuisine*. He's eloquent enough to make a reader catch a craving.

* AssholeVictim: Even among the plentiful examples of this trope within Rex Stout's body of work alone, let alone crime and detective fiction in general, Phillip Laszio stands tall. The man appears to have made it his hobby to betray, backstab, insult, steal from and otherwise annoy as many thin-skinned, hot-tempered egotists as humanly possible, to the point where it's barely a spoiler to identify him as the victim. The scene where Jerome Berin meets Wolfe and begins to rant about him is basically establishing why not just Berin but practically every other supporting character in the novel has a motive to whack him. [[spoiler: Somewhat ironically, however, the murder has nothing to do with any of these more-or-less petty grievances, and is instead an act of cold-blooded murder.\\

* AssholeVictim: Even among the plentiful examples of this trope within Rex Stout's body of work alone, let alone crime and detective fiction in general, Phillip Laszio stands tall. The man appears to have made it his hobby to betray, backstab, insult, steal from and otherwise annoy as many thin-skinned, hot-tempered egotists as humanly possible, to the point where it's barely a spoiler to identify him as the victim. The scene where Jerome Berin meets Wolfe and begins to rant about him is basically establishing why not just Berin but practically every other supporting character in the novel has a motive to whack him.

* AngryBlackMan: A proto-example; as it's West Virginia in the 1930s, this is deeply hidden underneath layers of enforced politeness and servility, but Paul Whipple, who is studying anthropology on top of working as a waiter, is clearly ''not'' happy to be spending his working days waiting hand and foot on a lot of wealthy, intolerant white people. His fellow wait-staff, while not exactly disagreeing with his broader points, view him as being not only hot-headed and provocative but also rather condescending towards ''them'', as he tends to assume that he's the only one who resents the way he's treated and is capable of doing anything to resist it. Wolfe earns his respect through acknowledging his resentments and also being willing to speak to him as one man to another, rather than as a white man expecting servility from a black man.

* ImmigrantPatriotism: While it's been hinted in previous novels that Wolfe spent a lot of time running around the globe having adventures before settling down to his current lifestyle, this novel is the first time it's directly confirmed that he is an immigrant to America. It comes as he's making a monologue hailing America for the openness and opportunities it has provided him to the African American serving staff, while still acknowledging that it's far from perfect:

** Wolfe himself brings up his own immigrant background when interviewing the African American service staff, because he's trying to establish a similarity between them. He doesn't say it in as many words, but the implication is that he has faced similar hostility, racism, and prejudice to them because he was not a born American.

* PassiveAggressiveKombat: This initially comes up in the discussion between Wolfe and the African American serving staff (and is heavily implied to be the norm at Kanawha Spa, though it goes unnoticed by the majority of the white people around); they're very consciously respectful to him, but in a way that clearly articulates their mistrust of him and that their respect is largely a result of the racial expectations of the time. Paul Whipple, in particular, makes it clear that referring to Wolfe as "sir" is like having his teeth pulled. Wolfe cuts through the BS and earns their genuine respect simply by talking to them as men rather than as a white man expecting deference from his racial "inferiors". For example, he responds to Whipple being forced to refer to him as "sir" with:

* FoodPorn: Naturally, given the setting an guest cast. In particular, the penultimate chapter describes the ''Maîtres''' feast in great detail.

** According to Archie's sardonic narration, everyone in the brownstone acted like Wolfe's train journey from New York to West Virginia for a three-night weekend vacation was akin to him setting off for a years-long trek across the entire continent of Africa by foot. (For those unaware and curious, it's a fourteen hour train journey of about five hundred miles -- not insignificant, but also not requiring the preparations and emotional investment that those other than Archie were putting into it either.)

* NotSoDifferent: A key theme of the novel is race relations in America, but while the racism faced by the African Americans present at Kanawha Spa is the most obvious example of this, there are also some other threads subtly woven through the story that suggest that many others have experienced similar problems:
** Lio Coyne, the Chinese wife of one of the chefs, is a key witness to the murder, but when confronted admits to Wolfe and Archie that she's afraid to go to the police because she's Chinese and has faced prejudice from them.
** When Raymond Liggett and Albert Malfi, Laszio's assistant, attempt to hire Wolfe to solve Laszio's murder, Liggett makes a crack about Malfi's violent temper which Malfi, a Corsican, feels moved to downplay. It's also revealed that Albert changed his name from Alberto, presumably to avoid his immigrant background from stymying his career prospects.
** Wolfe himself brings up his own immigrant background when interviewing the African American service staff, because he's trying to establish a similarity between them. He doesn't say it in as many words, but the implication is that he has faced similar hostility, racism, and prejudice to them because he was not a born American.

* SmallRoleBigImpact: Saul Panzer (for this book only, not the main series, where he's a regular character) only shows up for the end of the story, but has gathered evidence (from a line of inquiry Wolfe thought worst pursuing) which helps nail the killer.

* AssholeVictim: Even among the plentiful examples of this trope within Rex Stout's body of work alone, let alone crime and detective fiction in general, Phillip Laszio stands tall. The man appears to have made it his hobby to betray, backstab, insult, steal from and otherwise annoy as many thin-skinned, hot-tempered egotists as humanly possible, to the point where it's barely a spoiler to identify him as the victim.

* NiceToTheWaiter: Wolfe makes a key breakthrough in the case when he gathers the black kitchen staff together to request information with significantly more respect than they're accustomed to hearing from white guests.

* AbortedArc: Archie strikes up a friendship with the spa's house detective and gives consideration to the mans request to try and get him the job as House Detective at the luxurious New York hotel where Laszio worked at, reasoning that having someone who owed him a favor there would be useful in the business. This subplot doesn't receive any closure, though, possibly because [[spoiler:the New York hotel manager turns out to be the murderer, and thus unlikely to endorse any friend of Archie's for a job. Archie hints that he's just blowing smoke to keep the house detective on-side anyway, since the house detective is notably lazy, shiftless and weaselly throughout the story]].

* CrowningMomentofHeartwarming: The final dinner of the Fifteen Masters is made to show off American examples of haute cuisine, and it was prepared by the African-American kitchen staff of the Kanawha Spa according to the direction of Louis Servan, the head chef and the dean of the Masters, and Nero Wolfe, the guest of honor of the meeting. The assembled Masters glut themselves on oysters, turkey, and turtle soup (among other things), and each course comes with the member of the staff who prepared the dish so his handiwork could be known and recognized. The Masters are open and unashamed in their admiration of the skill and craftsmanship displayed by the black chefs, and line up to shake hands and give praise.