Too Many Clients
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| Author | Rex Stout |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Bill English |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Nero Wolfe |
| Genre | Detective novel |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
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Publication date
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October 28, 1960 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 183 pp. (first edition) |
| OCLC | 36962356 |
| 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).
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 the real 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. 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 account balance.
In short order, Wolfe and Archie find themselves beset by prospective clients:
In the novel, Archie jokes that he’s going to send out Christmas cards signed “Archie and Mehitabel,” implying that his wife’s name is Mehitabel. He isn’t married, and he’s making a reference to Archy and Mehitabel, a series of satiric essays and poems written by Don Marquis and originally published in the 1910s and ‘20s. Archy, the supposed writer of the pieces, is a cockroach, and his best friend is Mehitabel, a cat.
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; 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). Michael Sarrazin is uncredited in flashbacks as murder victim Thomas Yeager.
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