Murder at the Universe: A Five-Star Mystery

Journey to the center of the Universe, a luxury hotel to end all luxury hotels, in this sparkling debut from Opus Hotel general manager Craig. New York’s Universe Hotel attracts celebrities, social climbers, tourists and controversy, and provides the ambitious Trevor Lambert, director of rooms, a reason to exist. Lambert’s dedication to hotel owner Willard Godfrey and his “Universal Promise: to provide an escape from the outside world” leaves him devastated when he discovers Godfrey’s body in the hotel garage the morning after the staff holiday party, apparently the victim of an inebriated hit-and-run driver. Making things astronomically worse, radical antibooze crusader Brenda Rathberger is at the hotel for a Victims of Impaired Drivers conference, and sleazy TV journalist Honica Winters of Borderline News airs a critical segment about Godfrey’s suspicious death. Lambert’s wry turn as an accidental house detective puts Craig’s erudite whodunit solidly on the map. (Sept.)