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John M. Daniel
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The Poet's Funeral (Guy Mallon Mysteries Book 1) Kindle Edition

by John M Daniel (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.5 out of 5 stars 5 ratings

"Daniel's sharp, sardonic wit and insider's view of book industry foibles are sure to make this bibliomystery a hit."—Publishers Weekly STARRED review

At the annual convention of the American Booksellers Association Convention, everything goes wrong. Julia Child's cooking demonstration in the Random House aisle blows up and catches fire. A top New York editor catches a pie in the face. Invitations to the most exclusive publisher's party are stolen and all the wrong people show up. Worse, Heidi Yamada, the world-famous poet, is found dead, spread over the late Elvis Presley's king-sized bed. It's all caught on film by a busy photographer from Publishers Weekly, a woman soon kidnapped. When the Las Vegas Police shrug their shoulders, Guy Mallon, Heidi's first publisher (and a discarded lover) wonders what to do.

Poor Guy. He's a bookman from Santa Barbara who, despite Ross Macdonald and Sue Grafton, never felt inspired to be a sleuth, but he feels he owes it to Heidi. Besides, catching her killer may be his only chance to leave Las Vegas alive....

The Poet's Funeral is a romp rich with poetry, publishing, book collecting, and literary gossip. Its cast ranges from smalltime players to the famous Rock Bottom Remaiders. It's a story of ego, love, art, and murder during four hot days at the 1990 ABA.

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  1. Print length
    253 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Poisoned Pen Press
  4. Publication date
    September 8, 2006
  5. File size
    3.0 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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. (May 9)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

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
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07VPH7PBV
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Poisoned Pen Press; US Trade Ed edition (September 8, 2006)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 8, 2006
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.0 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 253 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 159058144X
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.5 out of 5 stars 5 ratings

About the authors

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  1. John M. Daniel

    John M. Daniel

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    John M. Daniel was born in 1941 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and raised in Farmers Branch, Texas. He was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in Creative Writing at Stanford University (1967-68) and a Writer in Residence at Wilbur Hot Springs (1980-82). He has taught fiction writing at UCLA Extension and Santa Barbara Adult Education and was on the faculty of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference for nearly twenty years. He has also taught classes and led writing workshops for the Klamath Falls Writer's Conference, the Golden Triangle Writers' Conference, the Dallas/Fort Worth Writers' Workshop, the Pima Writers' Workshop, and elsewhere.

    Daniel contributes regularly to the literary magazine BLACK LAMB. His stories and articles have appeared in dozens of literary magazines. His published books include Play Melancholy Baby, Perseverance Press, 1986; The Woman by the Bridge, Dolphin-Moon Press, 1991; One for the Books: Confessions of a Small Press Publisher, Fithian Press, 1997; Structure, Style and Truth--Elements of the Short Story, Fithian Press, 1998; Generous Helpings--Six Stories of California, Calamity, and Love, Shoreline Press, 2001; The Ballad of Toby and Lark, Fithian Press 2009; and the Guy Mallon mystery series The Poet's Funeral (2005) and Vanity Fire (2006) (Poisoned Pen Press) and Behind the Redwood Door (Oak Tree Press). His newest book is Hooperman: a Bookstore Mystery (Oak Tree Press 2013).

    Available on Kindle, four novels: Geronimo's Skull; Elephant Lake; Promises, Promises, Promises; Swimming in the Deep End.

    John M. Daniel has worked as a bookseller, a free-lance writer, an editor, an entertainer, a model, an innkeeper, and a teacher. He is now a small-press literary book publisher and free-lance editor in McKinleyville, California, where he also teaches creative writing.

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  2. John Daniel

    John Daniel

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Customer reviews

3.5 out of 5 stars
5 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • L. J. Roberts
    3.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable book.
    Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2005
    This is a book probably most enjoyable to those who publish, write, sell or collect books. Even so, there are delightful, realistically quirky characters, and a unique style of telling the story. I liked Guy and the relationship with his partner of both business and pleasure, Carol. It's light, fun and quite good.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Cynthia Chow
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Booklover's Delight
    Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2005
    This is a mystery for anyone who's ever seen image, marketing, and hype overshadow talent in the publishing business.

    Guy Mallon was the owner of a small bookstore until he hired Heidi Yamada as his assistant. When the ambitious former professor's assistant decided that she would like to be a poet - despite her knowing nothing about poetry - she determined that her lover Guy would be her publisher. Their relationship lasts only as long as it takes to print her book, but her sudden popularity is assured as she stepped on a multitude of publishers, writers, and agents on her way up.

    Years later, at the 1990 American Booksellers Association, Heidi's career is on the flux and resentment from her colleagues is high. When Guy discovers her body - lying is Elvis Presley's bed - there's a surplus of suspects, including her current lover, the bartender she transformed into a cowboy poet, a fanatical book collector, the publisher to whom Heidi has yet to turn in her overdue manuscript, and numerous lovers she used and discarded to aid her career. As Guy looks into the death of the woman he could never forget, he is both aided and hindered by a dubious photographer from Publisher's Weekly and he encounters huge egos, disillusioned writers, and manipulative publishers. All in a day's work.

    This is a hilarious peek into the crazed world of publishing, and Guy is a delightfully diminutive detective. Eulogies for Heidi by the suspects provide an ironic lead into their connections with Heidi, a woman who stomped over everyone she met as she promoted her talentless prose. The assortment of characters satirize the worst and best personalities in the book field and provides a light-hearted glimpse into an ego-driven profession. John M. Daniel has created a mystery that is sure to entertain everyone who's ever opened a book and wanted to know more than just what appears on a page.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • A. G. Lester
    5.0 out of 5 stars I Bought Two!
    Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2005
    I got so engrossed in this comic and complex whodunnit that, to avoid a quarrel with my wife over who got it at bedtime, I ordered a second copy. Daniel has transformed the hard-boiled format into the omelet. Guy and Carol are the kind of characters you hate to say goodbye to, so we're hoping they are the beginning of a series. The other characters are clearly drawn from life, but...whoizzit? The dialogue is crisp and witty, the pace constant, the references to real life people tantalizing. Come on JMD, more "short" stories, please!
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars tongue in cheek amateur sleuth who-done-it
    Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2005
    In 1977 Guy Mallon wanders into a used bookstore wheere he finds a signed copy of Kerouac's first book, which he hides. He buys the store and sells the Kerouac book at auction. Not long afterward, teaching assistant Heidi enters his store and persuades him to hire her, have sex with her, and publish her poetry though she has not written anything yet and he is not a publisher.

    In 1990 Guy and his beloved partner Carol Murphy attend the American Book Association (ABA) convention in Vegas. He finds a dead Heidi on the Elvis bed apparently form an overdose. Guy is shocked, but has doubts that someone as egotistical as Heidi would do drugs. Carol wonders if her too short (she is eight inches taller than he) and too young (five years younger) cherished Guy still carries the torch for Heidi. When LVPD Detective Plumley closes the case as accidental due to drugs, Guy is unable to resist investigating Heidi's death.

    This is a tongue in cheek amateur sleuth who-done-it that readers will enjoy. Perspective changes with a different participant taking center stage with each chapter although Guy is consistently in the forefront and ergo the focus of the plot. The story line is amusing and contains several cameos from the famous and though the death occurs toward the middle, the inquiries are handled deftly so that the audience obtains a solid mystery. The big Guy and his woman are a dynamic duo and the support cast enables the reader to obtain a deep look at what happens at an ABA convention. THE POET'S FUNERAL is a unique super tale.

    Harriet Klausner
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