As everyone knows, Nero Wolfe is, among other things, a gourmet and this time he is guest of honor at the annual Congress of the Masters of Haute Cuisine. The investigator participates in a competition involving "printemps" sauce. But where Nero Wolfe is, crime cannot be missing. In fact, the investigator will not be able to taste the famous salsa due to the murder of its inventor Laszlo. Police suspect Berin but Wolfe will try to clear him for a very special fee: the secret recipe for "midnight" sausages.
—Baldinotto da Pistoia