This note contains spoilers for the book.

The fifth Nero Wolfe story. The funny summary is that he solves a murder to get a sausage recipe.

He's invited as a guest to the regular meeting of the "15 masters", a group of superior chefs. He's even invited to give a speech, which he does (trying to convince them of the merits of some American food).

One of the ways he gets key information is to convince a group of the black employees of the resort this takes place at (in the south) to trust him enough to tell him. He does this by treating them as humans. Clever trick, really; somebody should have thought of it sooner. Archie doesn't really see this coming, either. And of course the Sheriff doesn't approve.

It seems to me there's a dangling issue about the sauce printemps being used in the challenge during which the murder is committed being over-salted. That should be a clue to something; several characters comment on it. But it's never resolved.