MURDER GOES ROUND AND ROUND

by Hugh Pentecost ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1988

For the umpteenth time, Pentecost addles the tony Hotel Beaumont with a terrorist, a kidnapping, and a plot so sloppy that even its impeccable housekeeping staff can't straighten it out. Hired for a two-week appearance at the hotel nightclub, singer/impressionist Toby March's debut is quickly followed by his disappearance, the disappearance of his manager, and a flamboyantly bloody redecorating of their adjoining suites. To complicate matters, no one has ever seen Toby without the mask he wears on stage (his face was horribly disfigured in an accident years ago). A tour of the hotel turns up a body in the basement--a Scotland Yard Inspector who, for some reason, was tailing Toby. Soon, then, March's good friends Colonel Archibald Watson and Mrs. Millicent Huber pop by, to assist if they can; hotel-manager Chambrun stalks an interloper on the penthouse roof and is shot in the head (recovering with a speed that room service would do well to emulate); a call is received from, supposedly, the missing entertainer's manager; and quicker than you can mutter implausible, almost a dozen English children are incarcerated in a basement down the block. A demand is made for three million dollars and the release of certain Iranian terrorists, but Chambrun finds the kids (don't ask how--Pentecost forgot to say), his secretary is kidnapped (every other book, it seems), then rescued, the wizard of the Beaumont is trying Toby's skill at impersonations, and the case is solved. A disgrace, coming as it does from a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, and a very sorry addition to the long-running (21 books) series.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dodd, Mead

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1988

Categories: FICTION