Nightmare Time

Pierre Chambrun Mystery #21

by Hugh Pentecost

When a major in Air Force Intelligence disappears from New York's Beaumont Hotel, his 11-year-old son comes to hotel-manager Chambrun for help. The boy knows only that his father had knowledge of "Star Wars" plans. It soon becomes plain that the major was kidnapped by enemy spies, who try to get young Guy Willis in their clutches as a way to make the major talk. Chambrun guards Guy, resisting even Air Force officials who want to use him as a decoy. Then Chambrun's assistant Betsy Ruysdale also vanishes, there's a bomb scare in the hotel and Chambrun must use some extraordinary outside help in solving the case. As usual the plot is mildly complicated, the pace is stately and readers may spot the villain early, but they won't be disappointed.

Genres: Mystery

182 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1986

About the author

Hugh Pentecost was a penname of mystery author Judson Philips. Born in Massachusetts, Philips came of age during the golden age of pulp magazines, and spent the 1930s writing suspense fiction and sports stories for a number of famous pulps. His first book was Hold 'Em Girls! The Intelligent Women's Guide to Men and Football (1936). In 1939, his crime story Cancelled in Red won the Red Badge prize, launching his career as a novelist. Philips went on to write nearly one hundred books over the next five decades.

His best-known characters were Pierre Chambrun, a sleuthing hotel manager who first appeared in The Cannibal Who Overate (1962), and the one-legged investigative reporter Peter Styles, introduced in Laughter Trap (1964). Although he spent his last years with failing vision and poor health, Philips continued writing daily. His final novel was the posthumously published Pattern for Terror (1989).

Reviews

[David]

I read lots of Hugh Pentecost books during the 1970s. At this point, I remember almost nothing of any of them. This is one of his last. It continues the character of Pierre Chambrun. Evaluations speak of Pentecost's straightforward diction, his clear plotting, and his unwillingness to pull the wool over the eyes of his readers--not that he has no suspense, but that there's no sense of him trying to trick readers. I suspected the identity of the principal bad guy quite early in this one. Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much. I don't know if that's a weakness or a strength. In many ways, it harks back to the 'noirs' of the 40s and 50s. It certainly didn't feel like an 80s novel, and the central military secrets involved being related to Reagan Star Wars initiative seemed almost unbelievable when expressed in that 40s style. I enjoyed it, but it didn't make me want to go back and reread all the ones I looked at 50 years ago.

[Monica Willyard Moen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young boy reports his parents missing while staying in a luxury resort. They have apparently been kidnapped, and it is up to the staff of the hotel to protect the child and figure out what has gone wrong. This is a fast paced mystery written by the master of locked room and other seemingly impossible mystery’s.

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the Pierre Chambrun Mysteries

I have read almost all of the Pierre Chambrun Mystery books, and there hasn't been one that I didn't enjoy! Although the series are old, I still enjoyed each scenario that happened at the "Beaumont" hotel.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very poorly structured plot and the characters were not well developed. Boring!

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another pretty good mystery in the series. Again, a little dated but holds up well enough.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tension runs high in this familiar Hugh Pentecost series, featuring Pierre Chabrun and his staff of one of New York’s most exclusive hotels.

A high ranking Air Force intelligence officer and his wife are kidnapped as they walk from their hotel room to take an elevator to the nightclub below, leaving their 11 year old son watching TV and promising they will return in an hour.

But when they fail to return, their son, panicked, turns to Pierre Chabrun, the hotel manager, the person his dad told him to contact if he ever needed help.

What has happened to the Air Force intelligence officer and his wife? Are they still alive? And when the kidnappers demand the son, and Chabrun’s secretary and lover is also kidnapped, suspense runs rampant till the last pages of this unforgettable thriller mystery.

[Michele bookloverforever · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah! The Reagan years...A good plot with lots of paranoia to go around.