Random Killer

Pierre Chambrun Mystery #14

by Hugh Pentecost

The night before an interview with a terrorist, a reporter is killed at the Beaumont HotelFor a madman with an itch to kill someone famous, there could be no better venue than the Beaumont Hotel—Manhattan’s headquarters for the international elite. The omniscient manager Pierre Chambrun oversees the landmark, with the help of his press man, Mark Haskell. When the rich and famous arrive, Chambrun and Haskell can help them hide from the limelight or bask in it. But it’s difficult to keep a low profile when death comes to call. Geoffrey Hammond is one of the world’s most respected—and loathed—television journalists. A fearless questioner of presidents and kings, he is in New York preparing an interview with an infamous Middle Eastern terrorist. But when the room service waiter comes to collect his breakfast tray in the morning, the journalist has been strangled. It will take all Chambrun’s powers to solve this mystery—especially since the future of the Middle East is at stake.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

223 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1979

About the author

Hugh Pentecost was a penname of mystery author Judson Philips. Born in Massachusetts, Philips came of age during the golden age of pulp magazines, and spent the 1930s writing suspense fiction and sports stories for a number of famous pulps. His first book was Hold 'Em Girls! The Intelligent Women's Guide to Men and Football (1936). In 1939, his crime story Cancelled in Red won the Red Badge prize, launching his career as a novelist. Philips went on to write nearly one hundred books over the next five decades.

His best-known characters were Pierre Chambrun, a sleuthing hotel manager who first appeared in The Cannibal Who Overate (1962), and the one-legged investigative reporter Peter Styles, introduced in Laughter Trap (1964). Although he spent his last years with failing vision and poor health, Philips continued writing daily. His final novel was the posthumously published Pattern for Terror (1989).

Reviews

[Bev]

Most days, everything runs like clockwork at the Hotel Beaumont in NYC. That's thanks to Pierre Chambrun, manager extraordinaire, and his loyal army of hotel employs. But today is different--in the morning, in Suite 3406, the breakfast table was set for two, but Geoffrey Hammond, one of the world's best and sometimes most hated television journalists, doesn't get to sample the culinary delights from the kitchen. When the waiter returns to retrieve the serving cart, he finds Hammond strangled to death...with picture wire. Chambrun and Mark Haskell, Chambrun's right-hand man, are just getting things calmed down when another guest is found strangled. Joanna Frasier, women's lib advocate, had laid out all the accoutrements for a cocktail tête-à-tête but who as her unexpected guest?

In each case, the victims' secretaries had no record of an expected breakfast or cocktail partner. And there was no struggle, so Hammond and Frasier must have been comfortable enough with the other person to turn their backs on him or her. At first, it looks like the Beaumont just has a psycho roaming the halls, killing famous acquaintances at random--and the Beaumont is full of famous personages. But as Chambrun, Haskell, and Lt. Hardy begin digging, they find a connection to a similar murder a couple of years ago at a ski lodge in Colorado. Sharon Dain had been accused and convicted of strangling her lover with picture wire. There were many who thought Dain was innocent and both Hammond and Frasier were approached to lend their influence to help the defense. Both turned the suggestions down for difference reasons. When others are killed in connection with the Dain case, it becomes clear that someone has taken it upon themselves to eliminate those who didn't help Sharon "enough" (whatever that means in the killer's mind).

Chambrun is convinced that someone in the hotel must have seen something...but will he find out who and what before it's too late?

I have to say--I don't care how exclusive, how nice the Beaumont is. It's one of the last fictional hotels I'd want to stay in. Considering how many books are in this series, the odds of getting knocked off are about as high as if you were visiting Jessica Fletcher in Cabot Cove (or anywhere in her vicinity wherever she is). Probably higher, because the Beaumont tends towards multiple murders and Jessica seems to run to one per episode. Why on earth you'd want to stay at a hotel where the guests drop like flies is beyond me. But...setting aside that little thought...is this a good mystery?


Yes. It's actually one of the better clued and better plotted mysteries in the Chambrun line-up (not that I haven't enjoyed the others I've read). You have to fill in some blanks and work off of things that are implied--but you absolutely can get there from what Pentecost gives us on the page. Just remember...you've got to mistrust what people tell you. The one quibble I have is how Pentecost tends to recycle plot points. The ending of this one and Murder in Luxury (my most previous read--though it appears two books further in the series) are almost identical: Killer knows Chambrun is on to them. Killer takes hostages and insists on escape vehicle. Chambrun comes up with plan to nab the killer on the way to the escape vehicle that will keep the killer from killing the hostages. But that's a small quibble for an other-wise very good mystery.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.

[Libbeth]

I collected loads of this Keyhole Crime series when I was young. They are numbered and take up a lot of shelf room, albeit they now live on a shelf in the attic. Many times over the years I have been tempted to just give the whole lot away but I'm glad I kept them, especially as I see they have become a bit of a collectors item. One day I will treck up to the attic and look at the summaries on the backs, as that is the only way I will remember what each one was about, and log them on Goodreads. Most of them are so old that no summary is offered on Amazon etc.

Hugh Pentecost was the pseudonym of Judson Philips (1903-1989), an American writer who also wrote thrillers under his own name.

[Susan]

I really enjoy this series- I like the characters and the hotel setting. The only hiccup with this one was there was no follow-up on interviewing the elevator operator in the hotel who would have faced the mysterious killer when he entered the elevator. The operator who was ‘Zorba’s’ relief operator was questioned about physical characteristics but said the man was behind him in the car- anyway, good series- I would actually rate this a 3 ½ rounded up.

[Teresa]

This one was just ok. Lots of characters to try and keep track of and a surprise visit out of state and away from the Beaumont - which was only a little interesting.