Too Many Women

Nero Wolfe #12

by Rex Stout

Celebrated sleuth Nero Wolfe is renowned for cracking tough cases -- and never leaving his New York apartment where he quaffs beer and cultivates orchids. For legwork, Wolfe employs a fast-talking, wisecracking assistant named Archie Goodwin, who also serves as our narrator.

In "Too Many Women," Wolfe and Goodwin are charged with investigating the mysterious goings-on at a big engineering supply company. The death of one of their employees a few months ago, seemingly accidental but the hit-and-run driver was never found, developed into an issue for their Board of Directors requiring the talents of the best private detective in New York.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Detective, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Ebooks

168 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 20, 1947

About the author

Rex Todhunter Stout (1886–1975) was an American crime writer, best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe, described by reviewer Will Cuppy as "that Falstaff of detectives." Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the detective genius from 1934 (Fer-de-Lance) to 1975 (A Family Affair).

The Nero Wolfe corpus was nominated Best Mystery Series of the Century at Bouchercon 2000, the world's largest mystery convention, and Rex Stout was nominated Best Mystery Writer of the Century.

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An internal report sent to the C.E.O. of the engineering firm Naylor-Kerr suggests that the hit-and-run death of one of their employees may have been a murder instead. Archie goes undercover as an independent consultant to the "stock" department...which employs 500 lovely and charming women. Is this really a case of murder? If so, can Archie and Wolfe root out the culprit? And there is one perhaps more important question: surrounded by "too many women," will Archie keep his mind on his work?

One of the better Nero Wolfe mysteries.

[Jack Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars. You may wonder about the title. I did. Is it a man's condescending remark about the rising role of women in American society during and after the second world war? No. Will readers from the 2020s have to wade through business and social norms from another era? That's true for almost all 75 year old novels. But it's not that. Those who have read earlier entries know that Nero Wolfe's assistant detective, the 33-year-old Archie Goodwin, falls in love at the drop of a hat. Here he's directed by Wolfe to work undercover at an engineering supply company. His office is next to the stenographers pool! The President of the firm, Jasper Pine, had asked his senior staff why turnover was so high. The form coming back on Waldo Moore said the reason for his departure was, 'Murdered!' Everyone thought it was a hit-and-run accident. Archie is 'forced' to deal with a number of interesting women; let's see, there's Rosa Bendini and her dangerous ex-husband, Hester Livesey, the aggrieved former fiancée of Mr. Moore, Cecily Pine, she offers him Yankee tickets, and the beautiful Gwynne who can't spell. Is that too many for Archie? (Ja2024/May2025)

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 3 out of 5]

All of the Nero Wolfe mysteries are narrated in the first person by Wolfe's assistant, Archie Goodwin. It's really hard not to like Archie. Yes, he's flip and smart alecky. Still, I don't think he is a character you have to grow accustomed to to appreciate.

His voice matched his appearance. The voice was a thin tenor, and while he was not a pygmy they had been all out of large sizes the day he was outfitted. Also they had been low on pigments. His skin had no color at all ...

I will admit that at first I didn't think this one was so good. Perhaps it was just me, though, because as I read it got better and better. The interplay between Archie and Wolfe is just too good!

Other than Wolfe's office the setting is primarily that of a large office in downtown New York City. The corporation has hired Wolfe to investigate a months old hit and run accident that recently had been called a murder by one of the firm's employees. Archie goes undercover to begin the investigation. Archie's breath is almost taken away when he walks into that huge room full of young women. Oh my! He surely wondered where to begin interviewing all those skirts!

Oh, and the mystery is pretty good, too. I just followed along, sometimes understanding Wolfe's thinking, but mostly not. I continue to enjoy this series, even though there is no way I expect even one installment to be thought of as great. They are the almost perfect interlude and for that reason I will return again and again. Still, it's just a Strong 3-stars for this one. (If capitalize Strong does that make it better?)

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jasper Pine, president of Naylor-Kerr, Inc., wants to hire Wolfe to look into the death of a former employee named Waldo Wilmot Moore. His death had been attributed to a hit-and-run but Pine was looking into employee turnover and he had sent a form to department heads asking for details on employees who left the previous year. The form for Waldo came back from the head of the Stock Department and under "Reason for ending employment" there was only one word. Murdered. He wants to hire Nero Wolfe to find out if there is any truth to the supposition that Waldo was murdered.

Archie Goodwin, Wolfe's right hand and leg man, goes undercover in the Stock Department of Naylor-Kerr, where 500 women are employed as typists and stenographers. Paid to sit there all day and Archie free to roam around and talk to them. "It was an ocean of opportunity". Of course there was gossip and it doesn't take long before the ladies know that he is a detective and not a personnel expert.

This was a fun, and rather nostalgic, read. Part of what makes these stories so enjoyable is the interaction between Wolfe and Archie. The dialogue. Often as not they are bickering about something or other. In this story Wolfe wants a noiseless typewriter for Archie to use. Archie on the other hand wants Wolfe to buy a new car. So a little time away from the brownstone on West 35th Street may be a good thing. In the end Archie manages to get a few dates and Wolfe, of course, gets his man.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: It was the same old rigmarole. Sometimes I found it amusing; sometimes it only bored me; sometimes it gave me a pronounced pain, especially when I had had more of Wolfe than was good for either of us.

With Rex Stout, it's merely a matter of determining if I liked a book or loved a book. There was never a question of if I would like it at all. For I've never read a Nero Wolfe mystery that I didn't at least like. There's just something enjoyable and wonderful about the detective team of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. I love and adore both characters. In Too Many Women, Archie is the dominant character. While Wolfe is present in the novel, to a certain degree, it is Archie who is doing most of the work. (Now Archie would probably be the first to point out that he's always the one doing all of the work.) Too Many Women sees Archie Goodwin going undercover (well, at least at the start) at a company. He's been hired to investigate a death. One of the company's employees was killed in a hit and run accident. A few fellow employees at least feel that this was intentional and no accident. So Archie's job is to talk with just about all the employees--well, the ones who had dealings with the victim--and find out if it was murder, to catch the murderer if he is to be found. (The premise of this one reminded me of Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers, in that mystery the detective, Lord Peter Wimsey goes undercover at an agency to find a murderer.)

Was it enjoyable? Yes. Definitely. I never regret spending time with Nero and Archie.
Was it the best, best, best Wolfe mystery ever? Not really. I mean it was a good book, a good mystery. I think for those who like to see Archie flirt with women--he does have a way with women--this one will appeal. For those looking for great banter between Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, well, this one isn't as good as some of the other novels I've read.

[Colleen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to say that this is my least favorite book in the Nero Wolfe series. In this novel, Rex Stout breaks precedence and has Archie carry most of the plot and story line. Archie takes a job in a company, undercover, to learn if a murder was actually committed or not.

The few times Rex Stout changed the main structure of the story, it hasn't worked well. You really don't hear a lot from Nero except when Archie checks in.

Also, I don't know what Rex Stout was thinking in this book...he has women throwing themselves at Archie in the most ridiculous ways (ex. they won't answer Archie's questions unless he throws his arms around them and kisses them first- these are women he barely knows) I mean...come on....So Archie will humor them and hug and kiss them so he can get his questions answered.

I would say this is the worst novel out of all the Nero Wolfe novels

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

2018 review of audiobook edition:
It was a lot of fun listening to Archie's encounters with the many young women in engineering firm Naylor-Kerr. While I certainly was not able to figure out the culprit before Wolfe, I thought that this one didn't show off Wolfe's personality as well as some of the other books in the series.

Michael Pritchard does a decent narration and his voice for Nero Wolfe is particularly good.

[Steven Walle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a big fan of the Nero Wolf books by Rex Stout. I recommend them to all who love great detective novels.
Enjoy and
Be Blessed

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rare dud in this series. I love Stout in almost all outings, but this one felt forced and not very funny.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel is a rare thing for me—a Nero Wolfe mystery that I didn’t like. Perhaps the problem is that it didn’t read like a Nero Wolfe mystery. Wolfe has a very small part in the novel—especially in the first half. Also, we don’t even know that there was a crime for the first 50% of the book—not, in fact, until a second crime is committed and starts to heat things up a bit. The first half reads like scene setting as Archie goes sort-of-undercover mostly because Wolfe is piqued with him and seems to want him out of the house for a while.

And the great endings that we’ve come to know and love—we don’t get one in this book. There is a great final confrontation but it’s not the normal affair and it doesn’t lead to a satisfying ending. So Wolfe is smart and figured it out. It has no impact, so who cares?

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Bryan Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another back to one story per book tale. I find I enjoy the longer form stories better since it allows for more complexities in the plot and more time to guess at the real villain. In this one Archie must take a job at a large company in an office off the stenographer pool room, filled with nothing but women. He learns that the unofficial motto of the company is "protect your women" and has to contend with multiple femme fatales (all with unique objectives that may or may not be related to the murder he and Nero are working on), and with the men who all have various reactions to seeing Archie among all those women (Again with unique motives that may or may not be related to the murder).

The only reason I didn't give this four stars was that with Archie out of the office so much I missed the usual level of interplay between Archie and Nero with Fritz and Theodore mixed in occasionally. Much of the dialog was at the company, and Archie would leave conversations Nero was having to go to the work site to gather more information.

Lilly Rowan was mentioned once in a sentence explaining why she wasn't around to be jealous. And post-war New York City has a refreshing and vibrant air about it.

All in all this is a solid entry into the Nero Wolfe stories and I enjoyed rereading it.

[Pamela Shropshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This case is almost too difficult for Wolfe, but Archie is at the top of his game! They have been hired by a large employer to investigate the death of one of their employees. It appeared to have been a hit-and-run accident, but the son of the company founder claims it was murder. Archie gets a job there working undercover, to listen to company gossip and see if he can turn up anything.

He is given an office in the stock department, near the typing pool. Yes, that’s right; this story is set back when every large company had a large number of stenographer-typists, nearly all of whom were young and single and female, and since it is New York, most are fashionable to boot.

The problem is that gossip works both ways - it isn’t long before everyone knows he isn’t there to study employee turnover. Not that it helps or hurts the investigation. Wolfe finally has to rely on trickery to solve the mystery and collect his fat fee.

I laughed out loud at the final scene. Even after the mystery is solved, some of the ladies are calling Archie for a date. He makes a date with 3 of them - all are to meet him at the same time and same place. I wonder if he made it out alive? 😂😂😂

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Waldo Wilmot Moore, a copy-checker with the engineering supply firm Naylor-Kerr, is found dead on a Manhattan street, the evident victim of a hit-and-run accident. When an anonymous statement months later on an internal company report challenges the NYPD’s findings, however, the firm’s board hires Nero Wolfe to discover the truth. Posing as a consultant, Archie Goodwin goes undercover to identify the statement’s author and determine the truth, an assignment that soon brings him into contact with several attractive women who were involved with Moore. Any one of them could be the murderer . . . or perhaps it was one of the men in their lives who resented the appeal Moore enjoyed with them. But can Goodwin stay focused enough on the job to discover the truth, or will the women’s allure prove too distracting for him?

Reading the twelfth novel in Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe series proved more challenging than I anticipated. Until this book I had been able to rely upon my local library, which had copies of the 1980s Bantam editions of the previous eleven volumes in their collection. That this one was missing, and that copies were relatively difficult to come by elsewhere, left me wondering whether the unavailability was because the book had not aged as well as Stout’s other works. Fortunately that proved not to be the case, as the story was no less enjoyable as his previous ones. Goodwin’s undercover assignment offered a new twist on the standard Nero Wolfe plot, and Stout demonstrates quickly why it’s one we haven’t seen until now. His character’s fallibility in that regard is part of the story’s charm, and it complicates rather than aids Wolfe’s ability to get to the bottom of a difficult case. While the novel may not rank among the best of Stout’s series, it does not deserve to be forgotten, either, especially for those who are entertained by Goodwin extended interactions with the “fairer sex.”

[Niki · Rating 2 out of 5]

were I mean, i'd say 1.5 - this was a disappointment – I’m a big fan of whodunits of what is called the « golden age », but this one just didn’t do it for me –
i like a lot Nero Wolfe and his sidekick Archie Goodwin, especially the tv series ; unfortunately I found the style of the book rather boring

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid and fun with much more Archie than Wolfe in this one.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Likely one of my least favorite of the Wolfe books. Archie's antics with numerous women became quickly tiresome and the investigation was slow. Wolfe was hardly present and elaborate meals were somehow nonexistent. Not the best installment.

[thefourthvine · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Note for me: this is not the one with the horrible domestic violence scene. Included because I get confused between this and Too Many Clients, which is.)

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

“What’s your opinion of her in ten thousand words?”

Archie Goodwin shines in this, the 12th Nero Wolfe novel.

As Wolfe’s leg man, Archie is relied upon to enter the world of 1940s Manhattan to interview people, suspects, collect clues, and coordinate visits to Nero Wolfe’s brownstone on West 35th St. This because Wolfe won’t leave his house except in extreme situations.

Here, a hit-and-run death of a worker in a large corporation may be more than it seems. Archie has to “go undercover” by working at said corporation to interview suspects and find out more.

“Obviously, if a man was incompetent that settled it; nothing else about him mattered one way or another. But it appeared that he was willing to concede that even a competent man must eat.”

As the plot unfolds, many female characters become enamored with Archie (tall, handsome, charming as he is) and he has to navigate this web of office rumor, office romance, and heaps of lies to lead his boss, Nero Wolfe, to the truth.

I liked a number of unusual features of this story. It had an unusual framing (Archie being employed for weeks to collect clues). A profusion of romances. Wolfe seeming to be stumped, but then takes a major risk and leap of faith, which is uncharacteristic. All super fun.

“One of my favorite rules is never to let a woman start an argument about what she said or what I said.”

I’ve been reading these in publication order, but this is one that is quite accessible to a first time reader. And it is hilarious.

“It was by no means the first time I had been responsible for putting someone’s pursuit of happiness in jeopardy, but this was something special.”

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is intense--the sexual politics are enough to write a Master's thesis on. The mystery is unsolvable, but compelling, but this is really about something else, I think. The murderer isn't even the most twisted character. Your assignment: who IS the most twisted character? Extra point if you choose Archie.

[Robyn]

I've been taking my time with the few remaining Wolfe books that I never read, because once I've read them all, I will never again get to read a Rex Stout Nero Wolfe book for the first time. I honestly thought I had read this one before, but definitely hadn't. It's not a top choice, but it's the better half of the series.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading about Archie and Nero and Fritz. This time Archie attempts to go undercover yet doesn't quite do it

[Roy Schreiber · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best Nero Wolfe books

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun tweak to the formula with Archie indulging in some real leg work.

[Hobart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like The Silent Speaker, this one gets re-read more than others in my collection, and is still fun to read every time.

The president of the large engineering supply corporation, Naylor-Kerr, comes to Wolfe with an interesting problem. During a recent survey of departments about employee turn-over, an employee of the company is listed as "murdered." Which is a pretty good reason to no longer come to work, but the idea that one of their employees has been murdered (particularly when the police think he was just a victim of a hit-and-run) is a bit too scandalous for such a fine and upstanding company, and could Mr. Wolfe please rid them of such rumors? Wolfe takes the case, mostly to get Archie out of the office for awhile--they're getting on each other's nerves and could use some space. So Archie poses as a personnel consultant and goes undercover.

The first thing Archie notices on his arrival at the offices is that there are a whole lotta women (clerical staff, on the whole) working at this company (see quotation below), enough to ensure that he's got plenty of incentive to stick around and do a thorough investigation. He's not there too long before he begins to find evidence that the murder accusation might be well founded after all--and before you know it, there's another body (shock!). The first victim was some sort of lothario, who didn't like to go far for his pray, so the suspect list is pretty large. Archie bounces around from attractive female suspect to attractive female suspect, questioning, wining and dining, and all other sorts of verbs, until his boss puts all the pieces together.

This is a breezy novel with plenty to recommend it in matters of style, humor, fun characters and plot quirks. Whether it be the petty bickering between the two stars, the patter between Archie and the women, or Archie having to put up with one individual's health food nuttiness; the interplay between various characters is definitely more than enough to draw the reader in.

I can't help but note, each time I read this, how much books like this disprove many of the assumptions we have about this time period--particularly those propogated by groups wanting to imagine the mid-20th century as some sort of moral oasis

I could reproduce pages and pages of Archie's descriptions of the staff of Kerr-Naylor to give Stout a chance to strut his stuff, but will leave them to their proper context, just listing two here for a sample:

...as far as space went, it was a room about the size of the Yankee Stadium, with hundreds of desks and girls at them. Along each side of that area, the entire length, was a series of partitioned offices, with some of the doors closed and some open. No stock of anything was in sight anywhere.
One good glance and I liked the job. The girls. All right there, all being paid to stay right there, and me being paid to move freely about and converse with anyone whomever, which was down in black and white. Probably after I had been there a couple of years I would find that close-ups revealed inferior individual specimens, Grade B or lower in age, contours, skin quality, voice, or level of intellect, but from where I stood at nine-fifty-two Wednesday morning it was enough to take your breath away. At least half a thousand of them, and the general and overwhelming impression was of--clean, young, healthy, friendly, spirited, beautiful and ready. I stood and filled my eyes, trying to look detached. It was an ocean of opportunity.

She was not at all spectacular...but there were two things about her that hit you at a glance. You got the instant impression that there was something beautiful about her that no one but you would understand and no one but you could help her out of. If that sounds too complicated for a two-second-take, okay, I was there and I remember it distinctly.

[Alison C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too Many Women, a Nero Wolfe novel by Rex Stout, was published in 1947; when I started the project of reading the entire series, I was unable to find it. As a result, I've just read it out of chronological order in that as of this writing, I'm up to books in the series published in 1958. However, since neither Wolfe nor Archie, nor any of the other characters for that matter, ever changes or grows in the series, this is not really a problem. Archie is asked to take an office job at a large corporation where one supervisor, the son of one of the two founders, is insisting that what appears to be the hit-and-run death of an employee some months earlier was really murder. Initially Archie is to be a personnel officer looking into employee matters, but that cover is soon set aside and he is able to do the real work for which he has been hired, determining the truth or falsity of the supervisor's assertion. Of course this being a Nero Wolfe book, soon there is another death, this time definitely murder, and Archie and Nero finally have something to go on.... The title of the book refers to the fact that hundreds of women are working as transcriptionists in this company, and Archie in his pre-Lily days is quite the cat set amongst the pigeons here. Somewhat more sexist than the average Nero Wolfe tale, this is still quite a fun read, although I had a pretty good idea as to the identity of the murderer fairly early on. As usual, recommended.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

This, while rather slow-paced since the action doesn't really pick up till halfway through the novel when Archie and Wolfe stop working against each other, is an example of the kind of time-travel which can be achieved reading books written/set in the past. References to cinema as the "flat-face opera", to the number of people who not only don't lock their cars, but actually leave their keys in them, and most particularly the sheer dissonance of two men walking into a room full of secretaries and one remarking to the other: "Not a virgin among them".

While the remarker is intentionally depicted as an eccentric and nasty little man, the social considerations which come with that remark - that women are either virgin or married and if married will be off being wives instead of secretaries - is one which makes you first blink, then be immensely grateful that now is not then.

Unfortunately this book never really recovers from the "spinning the wheels" feel of no progress, even when things start happening, and it is one of those books where all the characters we meet are so difficult to like that it becomes hard to care what happens to them - and Archie's character is also dragged down by "too many women". Not an enjoyable read.

[Patrizia (Pat72) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questo è il primo romanzo di nero Wolfe che leggo e devo dire che mi ha stupita positivamente.
Come nei romanzi della Christie, ad esempio Poirot, c’è il personaggio principale, Nero Wolfe, non particolarmente simpatico e poi il personaggio secondario, come Hasting che nello specifico è Archie Goodwin.
Ovviamente le dinamiche sono differenti, Nero Wolfe rimane sempre nel suo studio o nel giardino a curare le sue orchidee e risolve i casi mandando Goodwin a indagare, interrogare le persone, a raccogliere indizi ecc.
Sono interessanti anche i personaggi che aiutano nelle indagini, come panzer, sono investigatori privati pagati per raccogliere informazioni anche con metodi non troppo ortodossi.
In questo romanzo, un omicidio porta i nostri ad indagare e un secondo omicidio infittisce il mistero, le “troppe donne” del titolo sono in effetti tutti i personaggi femminili coinvolti nella storia, che di tanto in tanto distraggono Goodwin dal suo scopo principale.

[astaliegurec · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ho-hum. Yet another excellent Nero Wolfe book by Rex Stout ("Too Many Women," the 12th in the series, first published in 1947). This one's particularly lively since Archie is basically rolling in clover throughout it. The usual excellence in writing. The one thing that bothers me a bit is Stout's continuing caricaturization of Inspector Cramer. In the earlier works, Cramer was very competent and occasionally got a bit miffed with Wolfe. In this one, Cramer's still competent, but he's in permanent volcano mode every time he meets our protagonists. That's particularly irritating since Wolfe saved his bacon in the previous book. Still, it's a minor thing and I'm keeping my rating of an Excellent 5 stars out of 5.

[Έρση Λάβαρη · Rating 4 out of 5]

Αν και σαν πλοκή δεν ήταν στην ουσία τίποτα το ιδιαίτερο, το Πάρα Πολλές Γυναίκες είναι σίγουρα από τα καλύτερα μυθιστορήματα (και όχι μόνο στην κατηγορία της αστυνομικής λογοτεχνίας) που είχα την τύχη να πιάσω στα χέρια μου. Ο χειρισμός της γλώσσας εκπληκτικός, η ατμόσφαιρα τέλεια ισορροπημένη και όπως ακριβώς πρέπει, με χιούμορ και βαρύγδουπες δηλώσεις σε όλα τα κατάλληλα σημεία, η ιστορία δεν σου επιτρέπει να την αφήσεις πριν την ολοκληρώσεις για τα καλά. Αν και ήμουν επιφυλακτική στην αρχή, μιας και ήμουν αβέβαιη ως προς την ανάγνωση μιας ιστορίας μυστηρίου γραμμένης σε άλλη εποχή, ο Ρεξ Στάουτ με εξέπληξε ευχάριστα και το κείμενό του με συνεπήρε και με ενθουσίασε. Και είμαι σίγουρη πως την ίδια εντύπωση θα δημιουργήσει και σε όλους τους λάτρεις των καλών νουάρ.

[FM · Rating 3 out of 5]

My husband is reading all the Nero Wolfe books in order on his iPad, but he had to get this one out of the library on paper. I took advantage of it sitting on the table to pick it up and read it myself. I've enjoyed hearing him talk about these books and the Unite States of 80 years ago, but also enjoying them as "mystery novels." Even though I haven't read the first ones yet, I knew enough from our discussions of the series to be familiar with the context and the characters. This book was fine and an interesting glimpse into sexual roles and stereotypes that were prevalent then (if not now, but that's another story). I tend to like the old British mysteries more than the American ones (I love Sayres, Allingham, Tey, etc.) but this one was fun, too.