The Hotel Detective by Alan Russell

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The Denver Post
By Tom & Enid Schantz

Another exuberantly entertaining look at the lighter side of crime is Alan Russell’s The Hotel Detective set at the grand old Hotel California in La Jolla.

Its assistant general manager, a gracefully aging ex-surfer named Am Caulfield, is suddenly appointed acting security director, a move that generates an amazing crime wave within the hotel.

First an unethical divorce attorney and the straying wife he represents are murdered by her husband, a striper starts missing her underthings, a guest falls to his death from a balcony and hundreds of desserts are stolen from a locked kitchen.

Am takes it all in stride. He’s also having to deal with a convention of the Bob Johnson Society, 160 strong and all bent on solving the crimes, to the dismay of the actors who are trying to stage a murder mystery weekend for their benefit.

And there are the day-to-day challenges of dealing with larcenous or destructive guests, an attractive intern who may not be exactly what she claims to be, a volatile chef who has a little surprise in store for his diners and a temperamental 1951 Ford station wagon with real wood sides that refuses to head inland.

What makes the book really special, though, is Russell’s intimate knowledge of hotel management. Until recently, he was the manager of a luxury hotel. Am does genuine detective work using his familiarity with hotel routine.

Kansas City Star
By Leslie McGill

Am Caulfield, assistant general manager of the Hotel California, grande dame of La Jolla, is less than pleased when he’s told to take on security duties. His image of a hotel detective is “a smarmy sort, someone as likely to be looking through a keyhole as protecting a guest from someone doing the same.”

But he has little time to ruminate. In short order, he has to handle a suicide, a double homicide, and various thefts: two size 58 FF bras, a bag of truffles and $3000 worth of “designer desserts.” To make matters even crazier, the Bob Johnson society is having a “Murder Mayhem Weekend” retreat at the hotel, having registered 125 rooms under their identical name. (“Be good,” they say in parting. “Be Bob.”)

Not content to merely pack The Hotel Detective with hilarious situations, Alan Russell delves into all the workings of an independent, old-fashioned hotel. Although it is very reminiscent of Arthur Hailey’s Hotel, it is a good start to a promising series.

The Orange County Register

Want a madcap, mysterious holiday from the world’s cares that’s lighter than air, brighter than a day at the beach and funnier than a tag team of comedians? Well, check out The Hotel Detective, an over-the-top exercise in slapstick recommended with absolutely no reservations.

The News, Southbridge, Massachusetts

This witty novel is the next best thing to spending a weekend in a posh hotel.

The San Diego Union-Tribune

This richly comic thriller, crammed with guffaws and spiced with a soupcon of gore, calls for a sequel. Many mystery novels written today seem far too long. It is a measure of Alan Russell’s talent that, at 300-plus pages, The Hotel Detective seems far too short.

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

Cleverly crafted and enormously enjoyable.

Mostly Murder

One author the reader won’t soon forget is Alan Russell, who has drawn on his many experiences in the hotel trade to create his zany mysteries. Russell’s prose style is flawless, his adept handling of humor sublime. He tells the tale without embellishment, letting the facts speak for themselves. A gift for dialogue allows his characters to sound like real people in a surreal world, for in Russell’s madcap world chaos reigns supreme despite surface appearances of normalcy.

Want to take a vacation without leaving home? Invite The Hotel Detective and The Fat Innkeeper for the weekend.

North County Times
The Fat Innkeeper’s story line is always imaginative, often funny, and takes more unexpected turns than President Clinton’s foreign policy.

Starred review Kirkus Reviews

The Fat Innkeeper is ebullient and irresistible.