The Prince of Paradise

The True Story of a Hotel Heir, His Seductive Wife, and a Ruthless Murder

By: John Glatt

Narrated by: Shaun Grindell

A millionaire playboy

Ben Novack, Jr., was born into a hotel empire, Miami's lavish Fontainbleau. But his luxurious, celebrity-studded lifestyle would ironically end in another hotel room - where the police found him bound up in duct tape, beaten to death.

A history of violence

Seven years earlier, police found Novack in an eerily similar situation - when his ex-stripper wife Narcy duct-taped him to a chair for 24 hours and robbed him. Claiming it was a sex game, he never pressed charges and never followed through with a divorce.

A family murder mystery

Prosecutors believed Narcy let the killers into the room and watched them brutalize Novack. They also suspected she was involved in the death of Novack's mother, who took a fatal fall months before. Strangely, it was Narcy's own daughter who implicated her to the police - in this twisted case of passion, perversion, and paradise lost....

©2013 John Glatt (P)2019 Tantor

Find an Abridged Version

***3.5 Stars*** Narration - very distracting accent that made me wonder about some of the words. I never got used to it even after twelve plus hours. Storyline was interesting enough. Enjoyed the history lesson on the hotel and the family and the murder but there were parts that just rambled on making me want to hit the fast forward button. Had I had the actual book in my hand, I would’ve been skimming through and skipping pages. Find an abridged version of this one.

Highly detailed

Lots of history, highly detailed. Interesting story, but feels a little daunting midway through. Narration is distracting. Listened to it at 1.1 speed and it helped. 

The second half of the book was good

The first half of the book was long and drawn out. The narrator had an accent and mispronounced many words.

Narration is Cringe

The narrators proper French pronunciation of the word Flountainbleu is so obnoxious and distracting that I began to cringe every time he says it.. I guaranteed that 99% of the people of the era just pronounced it “Fountainblue” so why not just spare us the cringe and say it that way.. it was a hotel in America.. we are an English speaking country.. our inflection, though not correct is still how it was (and is) pronounced in real life. Foun… tain……………..bleu

Could be shorter

Liked the book, however I think it could have been just a little bit shorter while still giving you all the information.