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היכנס לעולם אינסופי של סיפורים

תקשיב ותקרא

Hugh Pentecost

At New York's stateliest hotel, the manager has a revolution on his hands. 

When the leading lights of international society come to New York, no place will do but the Beaumont Hotel. And inside the famous halls of this Manhattan landmark, manager Pierre Chambrun holds every key. Suave, charming, and unflappable, he is as comfortable with the kitchen staff as with the hotel's most luminous guests. And now he has a murder to solve. 

 

For longer than anyone can remember, white-haired gentleman Murray Cardew has lived in the Beaumont, his presence lending the debonair class of a bygone era. But when the dapper old fellow is found murdered in his room, suspicion falls on Digger Sullivan, a rakish playboy who was recently caught trying to rob his ex-lover's suite. And as Chambrun and his press man, the indefatigable Mark Haskell, investigate Sullivan's past, they find a tangled conspiracy of murder and intrigue with roots in one of the deadliest conflicts the African continent has ever seen.

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The Pierre Chambrun Mysteries

The Shape of Fear

A spy marked for death finds a corpse in his hotel room. 

George Lovelace has spent more than two decades in the shadows. Shielded by an array of forged passports, he has battled Nazis, Communists, and anyone else who might harm the United States. He has enemies on every continent, and one is planning to kill him. When a series of threats convinces the aging spy that he is about to be retired permanently, Lovelace comes to the Beaumont hotel. If he must die, he prefers to do it in style. 

 

The manager of this most exclusive establishment is his old friend Pierre Chambrun, a former resistance fighter who promises to protect him with the full resources of the hotel. But when an unknown guest is found murdered in Lovelace's room, it becomes apparent that the assassin has already penetrated the Beaumont's walls. Someone wants Lovelace dead, and only the world's greatest hotel manager can save him.

The Golden Trap

It's fashion week at the Beaumont, and Chambrun must investigate a haute couture killing. 

Barrel-chested and twinkle-eyed, Nikos Karados is one of the jet-set's most charming figures. A Greek shipping magnate with a philanthropic bent, Karados has a Midas touch that turns charities into gold. For the sake of cancer research, he comes to New York to stage a fashion show at the stately Beaumont Hotel. Beaumont press agent Mark Haskell is admiring the models when he sees Karados collapse and perish from an apparent heart attack. Inspecting the body, the house doctor discovers that Karados's medication has been replaced by placebos. 

 

To avoid a high-fashion panic, Beaumont manager Pierre Chambrun has Haskell quietly investigate the murder. Among the models, designers, and photographers lurks a killer, and Chambrun and Haskell will see to it that this unscrupulous fashionista spends next season wearing pinstripes.

Girl Watcher's Funeral

Against its manager's wishes, the Beaumont Hotel shelters a killer. 

When the Chinese Revolution exploded, General Chang was one of the most vicious military leaders, committing atrocities so savage that even his comrades in the Red Army feared him. Decades later, the aging killer has become a respected diplomat, and is on his way to New York for a United Nations summit. Although the State Department doesn't like it, Chang's status demands the finest treatment. And in New York City, there is no place finer than the Beaumont Hotel. 

 

Providing hospitality for the unhinged general falls to Pierre Chambrun, the Beaumont's unflappable manager. Finding enough rooms for the diplomatic party is a headache, but the more pressing challenge is protecting Chang from Neil Drury, a onetime character actor whose parents were tortured to death by the general. Drury has a new face, a false identity, and possibly a room in the hotel. Chang could have no better bodyguard than Chambrun, for within the Beaumont's walls, the manager is more powerful than Red China itself.

Birthday, Deathday

Soon after the Beaumont is sold, its new owner is found dead in Suite 912. 

When crushing debts force the proprietor of the world-famous Beaumont Hotel to offload his prized possession to the ruthless tycoon J. W. Sassoon, hotel manager Pierre Chambrun and his staff brace for change. But the threat isn't J.W., it's his son, Johnny-baby -- a cigar-puffing playboy whose bright ideas for 'modernizing' one of Manhattan's most elegant destinations amount to nothing more than sleaze. When he suggests that the Spartan Bar's cigarette girls go topless, Chambrun quits, leaving the hapless wannabe to fend for himself. 

 

Chambrun retires to his penthouse to write his memoirs, waiting for the inevitable crisis to force his return. It comes in the form of a dead body, Johnny-baby's father, who is found in Suite 912 with a tap on his phone and a call girl's underwear on the floor. To save his hotel, Chambrun is happy to come out of retirement -- and clean up Johnny-baby's mess.

Bargain with Death

When its manager vanishes, the Beaumont Hotel spins towards disaster. 

For decades, Pierre Chambrun has maintained the enormous mechanism that is the Beaumont Hotel. He breakfasts in his office at nine, and spends his days and nights ensuring that the various problems that inevitably occur in a large hotel do not disrupt its overall operation. But one morning, the suave old hotelier does not appear for breakfast. Panic sets quickly once it is clear that Pierre Chambrun is missing, and his staff must manage without him. The first crisis comes before lunch: A socialite has been murdered in her suite. 

 

Investigating the killing falls to Chambrun's security chief, his secretary, and Mark Haskell, his indefatigable press man. Together they must find the assassin and search for Chambrun, all the while trying to keep the Beaumont on the rails. For whether their boss is dead or alive, nothing must bother the guests.

Death After Breakfast

The night before an interview with a terrorist, a reporter is killed at the Beaumont Hotel . 

For 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.

Random Killer

In the pool of the Beaumont Hotel, a teenager is found murdered and faceless. 

Manhattan's charitable circles know no finer place for a fundraiser than the stately Beaumont Hotel, whose brilliant manager Pierre Chambrun will do whatever it takes to make Good Samaritans feel at home. This means that after popular singer Stan Nelson has completed his annual twenty-four-hour telethon for cancer research, Chambrun is loath to wake the crooner from his well-earned sleep. But there has been a murder in the hotel's pool, and that means no good deed will go unpunished. 

 

A young man is found floating in the water, his face a bloody mess, his pockets empty of everything but a telethon pledge card bearing Stan's autograph. The star swears he doesn't recognize the corpse, but as Chambrun and his team dig into the secrets behind the charity, they discover a tangled plot involving sin and religion, and the deadly consequences that can come from doing good.

With Intent to Kill

A group of thugs storms the Beaumont Hotel, and only Pierre Chambrun can stop the chaos. 

There has been trouble in Central Park. Free concerts given on the great lawn have been ending in upheaval as gangs of toughs maraud through the crowd with bats, chains, and knives -- taking what they want and crushing those who stand in their way. During a performance by red-hot diva Donna Ward, the park is peaceful. But afterward, the horde descends on the Beaumont Hotel, smashing the bar and storming the elevators in search of beautiful things to steal or destroy. 

 

In the chaos, someone takes three shots at Victoria Haven, the onetime beauty queen who has, for decades, occupied the penthouse. After the throng is expelled from the premises, manager Pierre Chambrun tries to discover who would want to kill this harmless old glamour girl. But his investigation is about to be upended -- for the riot is only the beginning of his trouble.

Remember to Kill Me

A lost boy draws Pierre Chambrun into an international conspiracy. 

Guy Willis knows that if he is ever in trouble at the Beaumont Hotel, he can trust Pierre Chambrun. The manager of this world-famous Manhattan institution, Chambrun owes his life to young Guy's father -- an Air Force intelligence operative who once rescued the unflappable Frenchman from a gang of terrorists. When Guy's parents disappear during a stay at the Beaumont, a priest turns up and approaches the boy, claiming to be an old family friend sent to take care of him. Guy doesn't trust the phony padre -- or the pistol in his shoulder holster -- one bit, and screams for Chambrun to help. 

 

Chambrun dispatches the ersatz priest, but finding Guy's parents will be more than a matter of visiting the lost and found. Major Willis has been kidnapped, and if he is not recovered, it will be more than just a mishap for the hotel -- it will be a catastrophe for all of the United States.