Goodhumored novel, with a private eye style

[Jorge Perez]

I'm looking for a SF novel that possibly was written in the seventies. The only clues I have is that it's narrated in first person by a private eye type and with a good dosis of humor. There's a scene where he meets a heavy gangster type in a private room of a club where there's a German festivity taking place, with lots of polka dancing, and every time a waiter opens the door "the oompha, oompha, oompha of the tubas introduce themselves"...
I'm guessing its by a well known author because I read the Spanish translation, and most SF translations are of well known novels.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Harry Dresden, as a guess?

 

[Jorge Perez]

Don't know about Harry Dresden, but after looking it up in Wikipedia, I don't think so. The novel I read is not really a detective fiction story, just that it follows that style of narration. And the protagonist is not a private eye, just some poor guy involved involuntarily in what eventually developes into an interplanetary adventure.

 

[dask]

Maybe something Harry Harrison wrote?

 

[Jorge Perez]

Yes, it really feels like something by Harry Harrison, but I haven't been able to pinpoint the exact book, if any (I've read a few of his noels, but not that many). And, having read this in Spanish, the English titles don't ring a bell with me.

 

[Jorge Perez]

Well, I found it: the novel is Stargate, by Stephen Robinett. It's not the 'Stargate' in which the TV series is based, though. It's from 1978 and its Spanish title was Puerta a las Estrellas (Door to the stars. approximately).

 

[dask]

The author of "Helbent 4", great story, one of my favorites the year I read it.