The Hotel Detective — Alan Russell

Acclaimed for his previous tough, hard-boiled whodunits, Alan Russell now introduces a new series in a more lighthearted vein featuring a wry and sly hotel detective with a decidedly offbeat approach to his job. Boyish, blond-haired ex-surfer Am Caulfield is assistant general manager of the posh Hotel California, on the Golden State's riviera. Or rather, he was assistant manager until his boss, Manager Raymond Kendrick, informs him he's now going to be acting security director as well. (Am isn't quite sure the appointment is a vote of confidence in his talents. In fact, he strongly suspects it's more like revenge for his all-too-accurate imitation of Kendrick at a recent staff party.). No sooner does Am don his gumshoes than he's up to his knees in trouble. Someone is stealing personal items from the room of a well-endowed female guest. Two hundred scrumptious entries in a pastry contest have mysteriously disappeared from a locked kitchen. And a man has fallen to his death from a seventh-floor balcony. Is it suicide - or did he have help? But these problems are a snap compared to solving the double murder in room 605 when a lawyer and his paramour are stabbed with a hotel carving knife. Just to make Am's investigations more difficult are the one hundred and sixty members of the Bob Johnson Society - all named Bob Johnson - who have just checked in for a Murder Mayhem Weekend. An ordinary detective might be fazed. But although Am is new to sleuthing, he knows how to keep tabs on guests. Despite a tempermental chef on a rampage, a permanently lost bellhop, and an attractive intern-assistant with her own hidden agenda, Am, in his own unhurried way, cuts through the chaos to prove himself worthy of his title: the Hotel Detective.