Customer Reviews

The Hotel Dick (Five Star First Edition Mystery)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1948 at the barber shop in the Lakeshore Towers Hotel in Milwaukee, someone entered and killed customer J. Adam bark, THE HOUSE DICK. Homicide detective Lieutenant Joe Burgess leads the investigation, but has a difficult time with who the barber Damon Barbara insists killed Bark; Spencer Tracy does not seem like a cold blooded killer nor why would he murder Bark.

Still he has the department check where Tracy is even as he begins searching Bark's office for clues. He soon realizes Bark had a lucrative business with a few cops as they would bust in on unmarried couples illegally using a room. Heeding his wife Lizbeth's suggestion that one of those victims sought revenge, Joe begins to make inquiries in that direction, but soon Greer Garson and Veronica Lake are shot.

This is a great regional historical police procedural starting with the insistence of the eye witness that Hollywood Spencer Tracey killed THE HOTEL DICK and never slowing down until the final spin. The story line is character driven mostly by Joe and the late Bark. This is one brand of a detective that the audience will want more of as 1948 Milwaukee comes to life in a superb whodunit.

Harriet Klausner

A good period piece, a Maltese Falcon kind of feel. Milwaukee in the late 40's is an interesting setting. Brand gets all the details right. Let's hope Joe will be around a long time.

I don't read many mysteries but this one was fun. The setting (Milwaukee) was new to me, and the time (1948--before DNA was invented) gave it a pleasant noir feeling. Also, the club--I won't reveal of what--was intriguing. Makes you wonder if such a group of people really exists. Also, a surprisingly satisfying ending for us feminist types.

In The Hotel Dick, Axel Brand has done something special: written a fresh mystery/detective story with a fresh setting (Milwaukee, Wisc. in 1948) and a wry, plodding detective (a "lunchbucket cop") named Joe Sonntag...a character we can hope will reappear in a future Brand novel. Brand has a touch that can be compared to the best mystery writers working today. He is headed toward an Edgar Award. Keep an eye on Axel Brand.