Book Review #3

Title: Murder at the Universe

Author: Daniel Edward Craig

Classification: Mystery

Characters:

• Trevor Lambert- Director of rooms at The Universe Hotel. Finds the body of Mr. Godfrey.
• Willard Godfrey- Owner and manager at The Universe Hotel.
• Shanna Virani- Director of sales and marketing at The Universe, girlfriend of Mr. Godfrey.
• Matthew Drummond- Former astronaut, part of the management team, becomes general manager after Mr. Godfrey's death.
• Brenda Rathberger- The executive director of VOID, an anti-impaired driving organization that is holding a conference at The Universe, finds the body of Mr. Godfrey with Trevor Lambert.
• Nancy Swinton- Duty manager at The Universe, Trevor Lambert's love interest.
• Gaetan Boudreau- Front office manager, is involved in a scandalous homosexual affair in the book.
• Cynthia Godfrey- Daughter of Mr. Godfrey, known for being a party-girl.
• Mona- The automated elevator system in The Universe.
• Honica Winters- A pushy reporter compared with being a younger Barbara Walters.
• Cassandra (Sandy) James- Director of human resources, suspected of killing Mr. Godfrey.
• Roger Weatherhead- Friend and lawyer for Mr. Godfrey.

Summary:
      All seems to be going well at the Universe Hotel, a huge conference is coming in, bringing bonuses for the employees at the hotel. Mr. Godfrey is happy and the holiday party the night before was a huge success. Just as the hotel is about to become home for the Victims Of Impared Driving (VOID) members, Mr. Godfrey is found dead in the hotel parking structure. Now Brenda Rathberger, the executive director of VOID, is questioning whether the hotel is right for her conference, especially since the owner of the hotel, has been found dead, apparantly killed by a drunk driver. Perhaps even worse is that the murderer is suspected to be one of the hotel's employees. The hotel seems to be falling to pieces as employees struggle to find answers, to questions that only Mr. Godfrey seemed to know the answers to. Now that Mr. Godfrey is dead, who takes over? Why was Mr. Godfrey scheduling to meet with all the members of the hotel's management team? What really happened to the seemingly beloved hotelier? What is the fate of The Universe? What happened to Sandy James that would have left her with scraped knees and palms, and a damaged truck, the day after the hotel holiday party? Why was Sandy acting so suspicious? Did she have it in her to hit a man and then simply drive home to her husband and children? If not Sandy, then who hit Mr. Godfrey and just drove away?

Review:
      Murder at the Universe is one of 4 books written by Daniel Edward Craig. In the first twenty-one pages we learn a little about the hotel industry and how it works, and we discover the dead body of Mr. Willard Godfrey, owner of The Universe Hotel. From here the story becomes even more intriguing
when one of the hotel’s own employees is found not only to have received a DWI on the night of the murder, but to have sustained damage to her right front fender on that same night. It seems the story ends here, the evidence against Sandy James is overwhelming, the police question her frequently, her home life is falling to pieces, and she has been condemned by many of her coworkers. However the story takes a surprising turn when it is discovered that a disguised woman was both at the party where Mr. Godfrey died, and was seen driving out of the parking garage at the time that he was believed to have been hit. Even more surprising is the police’s realization that Mr. Godfrey had not been the accidental victim of a drunken hit and run, but had been hit by the car, and then beaten to death by the driver. So who was the mystery woman? Why did she want Mr. Godfrey dead? And would The Universe Hotel be able to survive the shocking murder of its creator?