When Henry Franken’s father dies from a heart attack, it tears an emotional hole into his life. His widowed father had raised him. As a boy, Henry did not fully understand that his father amassed his wealth through real estate development in New York and New Jersey. Only in college did he learn what other people thought of his dad.
Two weeks after his father’s death, attorney Judith Guncheon, Henry’s godmother and his father’s closest friend, calls Henry to tell him he needs to return to New York, thus ending his life in Los Angeles. Henry will now lead his father’s company with Judith’s assistance. He lives in the penthouse of L’Hermitage, a recently renovated building that his dad owned and loved. When the building’s manager, Charlotte Marbury, sees Henry approaching the lobby desk, she assumes that he is the new doorman sent by the employment service. Charlotte upbraids Henry for his tardiness and mumbling as she hands him the paperwork for the doorman job. Henry completes the forms under a fake name of Franklin Hanratty.
Thus begins Doorman Wanted, Glenn R. Miller’s delightful and funny debut novel. It is a gentle read about the perceptions and misperceptions of what money can and cannot do. As Franklin becomes a beloved and excellent doorman, the never-seen and mysterious “Henry Franken” of the penthouse becomes a bewildering irritant to Charlotte and a frustration to Judith.
Maureen Millea Smith is a retired librarian and a Minnesota Book Award winning novelist.
