First published in 1967; published by MysteriousPress.com/Open Road on September 25, 2012
Although it was first published in 1967, The Golden Trap doesn't feel dated (except that a suite in a New York hotel can no longer be had for $50). It is the fourth in a series of twenty-two novels that prolific author Judson Phillips, writing as Hugh Pentecost, set in the Beaumont, New York's finest luxury hotel. The Golden Trap could be called a "hotel procedural," an interesting variation on the police procedural with hotel personnel playing the detective roles. The behind-the-scenes look it offers into hotel management is convincing and the detailed atmosphere is realistic.
Mark Haskell handles public relations for the Beaumont. The day John Smith is shot dead in suite B on the tenth floor is a busy one for Haskell. While Haskell is helping a wealthy cougar named Marilyn VanZandt organize a charity ball, George Lovelace checks in. Marilyn recognizes him as a former lover. Lovelace, a man of many names and nationalities, claims Marilyn is mistaken. We soon learn that someone has been trying for months to kill Lovelace and that the killer has tracked him to the hotel. Fortunately for Lovelace, his best friend is Pierre Chambrun, the hotel's manager. Chambrun resolves to keep Lovelace alive and enlists the help of Haskell and Jerry Dodd, the Beaumont's head of security.
In the tradition of "red herring" mystery plots, several guests are staying at the Beaumont who might have reason to welcome Lovelace's demise. It is an improbable coincidence that so many people from around the world who have reason to kill Lovelace are staying in the same New York hotel at the same time, but it is a forgivable coincidence because it makes the story better. Lovelace's chance meeting with Marilyn is improbable enough -- of all the gin joints ... er, hotels in New York, she happens to be in the Beaumont just when Lovelace checks in -- but again, the coincidence is central to the romance that drives a key subplot and I was willing to accept it for the sake of enjoying the story.
The novel's most intriguing question is whether Lovelace is worth protecting. He sees himself as a patriot who killed to protect his country. Others see him as a trigger-happy gunslinger who left an unnecessary trail of bodies in his wake ... or as something even worse. The truth is concealed for most of the novel, leaving the reader (and the hotel staff) to wonder whether Lovelace deserves empathy or death.
The solution to the mystery is clever. Enough clues are planted to give an astute reader a chance to identify the killer (as a less than astute reader, I didn't solve the mystery). Characters are sharply defined. Pentecost's prose style is capable and professional: it never soars but it doesn't get in the way of the story. While there is nothing truly remarkable about The Golden Trap, there's also nothing to dislike about it. It is a solid, enjoyable murder mystery with elements of a spy thriller and a dash of romance that encourages the reader care about the characters.
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