The Poet's Funeral - Hardcover

Daniel, John M.

3.04

28 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 159058144X ISBN 13: 9781590581445

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Pr, 2005

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During the annual American Booksellers Association Convention in Las Vegas, everything begins to go wrong, from Julia Child's cooking demonstration blowing up the Random House booth to the theft of invitations to an exclusive publisher's party, but things go from bad to worse for Guy Mallon when his former lover, famed poet Heidi Yamada, turns up dead, and a photographer from Publisher's Weekly is kidnapped.

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Product Description:

Rare Book

Review:

Perhaps it's not a new trend, but I'm noticing how many recent crime novels eschew a linear unfolding of plot in favor of a shuffle-and-deal approach.
"The Poet's Funeral," by John M. Daniel, is a case in point.

The novel opens with the obituary of Heidi Yamada, a poet with more talent for self-promotion than for writing poems. Narrator Guy Mallon reveals the
events leading up to Yamada's death. Interspersed are eulogies, each from another character with a motive for murder.

In a flashback from years earlier, Yamada shows up and wheedles Mallon into hiring her to work in his Santa Barbara bookstore. In short order, she
seduces him ("Short men fall in love too easily") and informs him that he is going to publish her book of poems. "How difficult can it be?" she asks,
undeterred by the fact that he's not a publisher and she's never written a poem. A week later, she presents Mallon with "And Vice Versa." By the time
he publishes it, Yamada has moved on to her next amorous conquest and publisher.

Somewhere in the middle of the book, during a private party at an American Booksellers Association convention in Las Vegas, Mallon discovers Yamada
dead of a drug overdose in the bedroom of the Elvis Presley Memorial Mansion, where else but in a "king-sized, King-sized bed."

Never mind that, at times, this plot seems to unfold like a game of Clue -- was it author Maxwell Black in the bedroom, or book review editor Taylor
Bingham in the ballroom? And so what if the story sometimes seems to skitter forward like a needle on a scratched record? This is a very readable novel
with a sendup of the publishing industry, toldfast and loose by an appealing narrator. Dead poets never had so much fun. -- Boston Globe 5.29.2005

To paraphrase W.C. Fields' favorite irreverence, "Godfrey Daniel, this boy is good!" The Daniel here is John M., who knows how to take the shenanigans of a book convention and turn one of those basically dreary (and often depressing) occasions into a bright, funny, brain-twisting mystery.

Daniel swears that the real 1990 American Booksellers confab in Las Vegas was nothing like this. But his narrator, Santa Barbara bookstore owner Guy
Mallon, will have none of that. For one thing, poet Heidi Yamada, who winds up dead (apparently of a drug overdose) on her hotel room bed, was not only
Mallon's lover but also the writer who made him a successful publisher.

The high point of Daniel's exercise in suspenseful satire is the series of eulogies delivered at Yamada's service by a wide and woolly collection of
recognizable book-industry types--from agents to collectors of overpriced first editions. Lots of scores are settled here, and we get to share in the
nasty fun.
-- Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune (5-1-2005)

The annual trade show of the American Booksellers Association draws a colorful crowd--bookpeople who work the convention floor by day and attend
myriad parties by night. Though some may find Daniel's wacky characters over the top, previous attendees of the ABA (now Book Expo) show will chuckle in recognition. In fact, Daniel, a publisher himself, peppers his story with numerous references to real-life authors and publishers, and sets the action at the real-life 1990 ABA convention in Las Vegas. Publisher Guy Mallon narrates the story, which chronicles the life and untimely death of poet
Heidi Yamada, whose talent for manipulating men far eclipsed her writing skill. Part of the story is set in the present, and focuses on Guy's investigation into Heidi's death--which the police are calling an accidental drug overdose. Daniel ladles plenty of tasty publishing tidbits into his narrative stew but never at the expense of the suspenseful plot. An
affectionate look at the publishing industry from one who clearly knows that world.
-- Jenny McLarin, Booklist

*STARRED REVIEW*

Daniel (Play Melancholy Baby) turns the 1990 Las Vegas ABA convention (now known as BEA) into a murder site in this delicious sendup of the book trade.
The meteoric rise of beautiful poet Heidi Yamada begins with the conversion of Guy Mallon, Santa Barbara bookstore owner, into Guy Mallon, publisher.
Clever, blatant and aggressive self-promotion wins Heidi a critic here and an agent there. Add a major publishing house and a star is born. But instead
of receiving a major literary award, Heidi winds up dead at the ABA (""of an apparent drug overdose,"" according to Publishers Weekly). In their eulogies,
her mentor, her agent, her various publishers and the critic who first hailed her, among others, reveal the Heidi they knew. Each adds a piece of the puzzle that Mallon will eventually decipher. The author lampoons
everything from the overstuffed ""collector's editions"" to the self-importance of critics and the self-interest of publishers and agents as he parades a growing list of suspects in Heidi's demise. Daniel's sharp, sardonic wit and insider's view of book industry foibles are sure to make this bibliomystery a hit.
-- Publishers Weekly 2005-03-14

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