Alibi Baby

Gil Vine Hotel Detective Mystery Series, Book 4

By: Stewart Sterling

Narrated by: Michael Vasicek

Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

One too many alibis proved fatal for the glamorous heiress...

Gil Vine is the quick-thinking, compassionate chief security officer at the fashionable Plaza Royale Hotel. While investigating a routine disturbance complaint in the Tower apartments, Gil finds himself enmeshed in a deadly struggle for control of a fabulous fortune in oil.

The intrigue involves the beautiful, naïve Kierze sisters Sari and Maylene, ruthless T. Baker Barrow, king of the Wildcatters, suave Monsieur Armand Lejourd, and the inscrutable Ras Daklin. When Maylene Kierze, a girl who will tell any lie to alibi herself out of trouble, is murdered, Sari Kierze, her sister, inspires Gil, who believes her not only innocent but in danger, to outdo himself in detection. Two more people will be murdered before the fight over control of the oil fortune is ended.

As always in the Gil Vine mysteries, life behind the scenes of a large hotel is painted for the listener in fascinating detail. Vine is at his best in this installment of the series as the hotel detective does his best to protect the Plaza Royale's reputation and also stop the series of murders. He will have to risk not only his life but his job if he hopes to untangle the web of intrigue and violence that holds the luxury hotel in its grip.

©1955, 2019 Deerstalker Editions (P)2019 Deerstalker Editions

Fast-paced, gripping 1950’s hotel mystery

I am quite impressed with this classic mystery by Stewart Sterling coupled with excellent narration by Michael Vasicek. I had previously read and thoroughly enjoyed “The Body in the Bed” in this same Gil Vine series, and this “Alibi Baby” is just as great. Gil Vine is the intelligent and compassionate head detective at the Plaza Hotel in NYC in the 1950s. In this book, one female guest accuses a rich male guest of rape, but not all the details add up. Gil has his hands full finding the truth while staying alive in this twisty high-stakes mystery. The book is written in the first person perspective.
I was thoroughly entertained, and I hope more of this series gets made into audiobooks. I highly recommend it to fans of procedural mysteries, 1950s mysteries, and noir mysteries. Note: Gil himself is not misogynistic, but it’s the 1950s, so several characters are. Also, there are a lot of minor characters, so be prepared to remember some names. I found the names and characters to be distinctive enough to remember them all.
I loved Michael Vasicek’s performance and his gravelly Midwestern voice for Gil. He is marvelous at pacing and action scenes and is effective at women’s voices. I loved his performance and thought he captured Gil Vine and the people around him. His southern accents are rather weak, but I think that the rest of the accents were very good.
I requested and received a free copy from the publisher, and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.

entertaining mystery

This one got me , and I didn't expect the duplicity that transpired and was brought to light. It was unfortunate that detective Gil took some "hits" during his work on solving the crime. He got to the bottom of the crime through perseverance and karma found the collusion. I enjoyed it . I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a great job bringing it to life.