The Cannibal Who Overate

Pierre Chambrun Mystery #1

by Hugh Pentecost

The first appearance of Hugh Pentecost's most important and original detective, Pierre Chambrun, manager of New York's premier hotel. A fine puzzle and the inner workings of a major hotel combine with witty and somewhat satiric portraits of his characters to produce a lively, amusing novel.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy

191 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first of the Pierre Chambrun mysteries set in the Hotel Beaumont. The Beaumont is the most luxurious of the luxury hotels in New York City and everything runs like clockwork, thanks to Chambrun's exquisite managerial skills. It even runs like clockwork when Aubrey Moon, the superrich, sadistic own of one of the Beaumont's rooftop suites tries to disrupt everything and everybody with the planning of his annual birthday bash. He doesn't want much--just exotic foods and flowers flown in from all corners of the globe, the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera to sing "Happy Birthday," and to-the-second timing on every single item on the agenda. It's enough to make most men tear their hair out--but not Chambrun.

But, then a high-class call girl commits suicide in one of the hotel's suites and it's revealed that she was under pressure to kill Moon. Not that anyone would weep at his passing. Moon has made a life out of destroying those who annoy him--driving men and women to suicide, ruining careers, and bankrupting his foes. Apparently he has pushed one of his victims too far because someone with a lot of money to spend is throwing it at people in the "Moon Club"...those who have a reason to want Moon dead. Now they have an added incentive (beyond their hate and thirst for revenge) of $10,000 to put themselves and all of Moon's victims out of their misery.

Chambrun doesn't care for Moon any more than anyone else and really wouldn't mind much if someone did the vicious man in, but he does care about the Beaumont and doesn't want any unpleasantness to mar its reputation. So he sets to work trying to discover the person behind the murder plot. Working with Jerry Dodds, his chief of security at the Beaumont, and Lt. Hardy of the NYPD, he helps to catch the mastermind in the act.

Not a bad beginning to the highly successful series. The characters aren't quite fully realized and Chambrun is not nearly as central to the story as he will become later in the series. I did realize fairly quickly where the plot was headed, but this was an enjoyable afternoon's read and a series that I do recommend overall. I'm not generally a bloodthirsty sort, but I was very annoyed that Moon did not get killed off. He's a most despicable man.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

A booked published by a man in 1962 is not without its flaws. There is a lot of homophobia, misogyny, and racism here (not as much of the latter two as I expected). This made it annoying to read at some points. This book, however, is the first of its kind to feature a murder in a hotel with a wide and varied cast of characters. It's this book that led to murder mysteries like Only Murders in the Building, The Mystery Guest, and The White Lotus. Seeing the origin for all of that is really interesting and unique, and it's nice to see The Library of Congress preserving these lesser known crime stories. 4 stars for the story, with points knocked off for the bigotry.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 stars for the mystery, 2 stars for the corny, misogynistic language.

[David Mccracken · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first Chambrun novel was extremely enjoyable. I think it is one of the best in the series. I read this book after reading later entries to the series and this one works very well. The use of the interweaving stories really works in this book. Chambrun is very much Poirot like character swooping into certain sections of the books for observations. This particular book it gives the clues to solve the mystery which I always enjoy! The characters get very developed in this one, which sometimes does not always happen in this series. All the books in the series are highly enjoyable, they are like an old comfy blanket for sure. I really enjoyed the plot in this one, with it almost being a tell-all book/papparzi type character who has is blackmailer, but his life is threatened. You also a first crack at characters that will be staples down the line in the series, such as Mrs. Haven. One of the things I love most about this series the attention to detail on the world of the Hotel business, it really is fascinating and especially in this one with the book being from the 60's. It really was a different world. If you love comfortable mystery reads you'll enjoy this series.

[Jenn Foley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book may be over 60 years old, but a good murder mystery is timeless. That being said, I did find myself reading with an inflation calculator beside me to give myself more context for the dollar values that were being thrown around. This book is not only a captivating murder mystery, it is a self-contained murder mystery, where all the action of the story occurs under the roof of the Hotel Beaumont.
It is a short, quick read, and fast-paced, diving right into the action of the book. There is enough time spent on characters and setting to provide the context of the backstory, but not so much that it takes away from the action of the plot.

[Aura C · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid, old-school mystery that was fine but didn’t fully pull me in. The hotel setting was interesting and had that classic, almost theatrical feel, and the premise itself was intriguing enough to keep me turning pages. That said, it definitely shows its age in pacing and character depth. The mystery was fairly easy to predict, and I never felt deeply invested in the outcome or the characters involved. It wasn’t bad by any means, just a little flat and forgettable for me. An okay read if you enjoy vintage detective stories.

[Kathy KS · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Although this is a short, quick read, I found the employees at the hotel to be interesting, and our "villain" inspired me to hope his death would be soon within the first 10 pages! He was utterly loathsome! I'll be checking out the next of Pierre Chambrun's cases.

Written in 1962, some readers may not be accustomed to this style of amateur "detective" novel, but I've always enjoyed them.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good first introduction to Chambrun - I like the series that features him. I was surprised to see someone other than him referred to as “The Great Man,” and there were other details that set up the rest of the series.

[Chris Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a pleasant surprise this was, not my normal taste at all, but a fun read with some really wonderful characters.

[Eydie sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this!Going to check out the rest of the series!

[Heather Terrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounded down. Fun mystery.