After a night of hard partying, four British tourists fall asleep on a pleasure boat off Mallorca. The next morning, however, three of them, Sheard, Kirsty, and Cara, slowly realize that the fourth, Lewis, is no longer there. Inspector Alvarez is disturbed by a phone call during his leisurely breakfast ordering him to find the missing man. As Alvarez quickly discovers, though, Lewis was no ordinary tourist. Even though his twentieth adventure takes him away from his beloved Mallorca to mainland Spain and to Paris, Alvarez still finds plenty of time for nips of brandy, long midday meals, and even a siesta or two, as he attacks this latest impossible crime with his usual sleepy and sun-soaked vigor.

This edited collection explores the pivotal role of the hotel industry in building Western Europe’s tourism economy during the 20th century. The book brings together ten contributions focused on the same period, 1900-1970, to offer comparative perspectives from across the region including Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain and Britain. Drawing on historical case studies, chapters illuminate the different factors linking hotels and the broader tourism system including interventions of the public authorities and the State, the importance of private involvement, commercial strategies, the medium-term development of private hotels, hotel entrepreneurship, and the impact of economic crises and wars. By placing differing national approaches taken to the growth of the hotel industry in comparison, the book aims to fill a gap in the historiography of European hospitality and shed light on the wider impact of hotels and tourism on economic development at both a national and regional level. It will be of interest to a range of scholars, including in economic and business history, tourism studies, the history of tourism management, and social history.