Too Many Cooks at Stage West

It’s 1932 in Niagara Falls, Canada, where the rum-running business is at its peak.

In the aftermath of the crash, Irving Bubbalowe and his daughter, Honey, have risked everything they have to open a new restaurant. When their star - the renowned singing chef François LaPlouffe - fails to appear, tonight’s grand opening is suddenly placed in jeopardy. When unemployed chef Frank Plunkett wanders in looking for work, Honey persuades him to masquerade as the missing LaPlouffe. The beleaguered Bubbalowe, also has to contend with Chicago gangsters who have come looking for an illegal shipment of booze that, unbeknownst to Bubbalowe, has found its way into his basement. In addition, they must keep at bay the hot-blooded Immigration Officer Veronica Snook, on the trail of the vanished chef, as well as a suspicious Mountie who is ready to arrest Bubbalowe for both murder and bootlegging.

Madness ensues and Bubbalowe and the others create a hornet’s nest of fabricated stories and identities as they try valiantly to save the restaurant - and themselves - from both the gangsters and the law.

Authors

• Frank Craven