Sam Sunday and the Mystery at the Ocean Beach Hotel
He saunters through its rooms tersely questioning the guests, who are all unconvincingly disguised. The perspective alters from page to page, first at eye level, then from a balcony, then from ground view. It seems that Sam is literally studying the case from all angles but also that this is a world a bit askew and certainly not quite what it used to be. Will creates these characters as remnants of a faded aristocracy, benign but displaced, who solve the mystery when they erupt in celebration of Sam¹s birthday. The clues that Sam missed - the Victrola, basket of food, and bouquets of flowers - come together in a warm friendship that restores a glow to the old hotel.
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The appeal of Robyn Supraner’s tongue-in-cheek mystery lies not in its suspenseful drama but in its delightful spoof of the detective genre. In a trenchcoat that could have been borrowed from Columbo, the bear detective Sam Sunday responds to a mysterious phone call and drives through rain to a hotel of faded grandeur.
 Starting From Sketch Inside the Picture Book of Will Hillenbrand
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Reviews
From Booklist , August 19, 1996 The detective notices that a number of the guests look vaguely familiar, but he looks surprised when the story ends in a birthday party thrown by his disguised friends. Children young enough for this picture book won't recognize the detective novel conventions mocked in the story, but they'll enjoy the vivid, stylized quality of both the writing and the illustrations. The animal characters add a childlike touch to this quirky but likable picture book. Carolyn Phelan Copyright© 1996, American Library Association. All rights reserved
From Kirkus Reviews , July 1, 1996 One by one, Sam tracks down the suspicious-looking guests and assembles them in the parlor. But now the duck has disappeared, and when he returns to the parlor, ``Good night, Louise! It was empty! The suspects had vanished like soap bubbles.'' Smelling a flimflam, Sam steps into an unlit ballroom. The lights go on, his friends throw down their disguises, and ``SURPRISE!'' This Dashiell Hammett parody is on the money, and the genre-bending ending adds an entertaining twist. The illustrations, in graphite, oils, and oil pastels, feature a memorable cast of characters: The world-weary goat, the self-conscious mole, and the bear, whose trench coat hangs exactly like Bogey's, are rendered with a truly refined sense of humor. Supraner and Hillenbrand employ mockery and mimicry on a grand scale, creating a minor hard-boiled masterpiece. (Picture book. 3-8) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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