Murder in the Museum of Man

This is a wonderful and hilarious book. More satire than murder mystery, it is a precisely accurate send-up of academic over-reaching, in the tradition of Kingsley Amis (Lucky Jim) and Richard Russo (Straight Man). Also, Norman Detour (sic) is a beguiling hero; you cannot help but love him. I will buy more of his mysteries, though now that his adventures with Elsbeth are somewhat resolved, I can only imagine where he will go next. Thank you, Alfred Alcorn (a pen name?) for a wonderful reading experience!

One of the best mysteries I've read. Not for the John Grisham set, but if you like subtle prose, deft characterization and wry humor, you'll love it. Poor Norman de Ratour wants nothing more than to return to his orderly life, discharging his duties as Recording Secretary at the Museum of Man and fending off attempts by the rapacious Wainscott University to absorb the Musuem. But when the Director of the Museum is found dead, under circumstances indicating that he's been the main course at a gourmet cannibal feast, the only way Norman can get his life back is to solve the murder--and get a new life in the process. You'll enjoy catching the literary allusions and laugh at the satirical descriptions of University politics and political correctness. One of the best bits is the absolutely right-on caricature of Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Professor of Law. I hope Alcorn goesn't stop with this one--it deserves a sequel.

This book is only nominally a murder mystery. But that's OK. In fact, that's wonderful--because Alfred Alcorn has written one of the wryest, dryest, funniest send-ups I've ever read. With cleverness, wit, and something akin to slapstick, Alcorn skewers the pretensions of academia, the 1960s, elitist culture, multiculturalism, bureaucracy . . . you name it, he's got its number! I laughed out loud reading this book, and you will, too.

I love nothing more than a good skewering of the intelligentsia. This novel is laugh out loud funny in its relentless and irreverent atttacks on academia in all its self-absorbed importance and megalomania. The discovery of a human corpse done up in a variety of gourmet dishes that apparently has been served or eaten by the murderer sets us off on a tour of creepy and absurd goings-on at the Museum of Man. As an added bonus, throughout the novel there are is hysterical puns and allusions to contemprorary fiction and great literature. Pay attention to the odd names of the characters and you may find a few anagrams. My favorite is the scene in the Skull Collection Room when Norman, while holding the skull of Rick Royrick (!), a deceased food critic, says: "I knew him, Alger. He was known to be a man of infinite digestion." ) This book was superb and often surprisingly poignant.

This was a delightfully funny and well-written book. A sinister genetics lab, an equally suspicious Primate Pavillion, and the horrible possiblity of a new Neanderthal diorama complete with P.C. animatronic neanderthals. And only one traditional Recording Secretary trying to reestablish order. A must for all anthropologists, museum curators, graduate students and anyone who has ever been exposed to board meetings or grant proposals.