The Poet's Funeral

by John M. Daniel

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.

Genres: Mystery

257 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2005

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John M. Daniel is a freelance editor and writer. He has published dozens of stories in literary magazines and is the author of ten published books, including three mystery novels: Play Melancholy Baby, The Poet’s Funeral, and Vanity Fire. He and his wife, Susan, own a small-press publishing company in Humboldt County, California, where they live with their wise cat companion, Warren.

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fair mystery that moves as a brisk pace for a quick, entertaining read. I had two major issues with the book. First, a lot of characters are all introduced rather quickly, which makes it difficult to keep track of who is who and the relationships among characters. Second, the ending is just not satisfying. The motives for each character are not fully explained and the justice meted out is questionable.

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Poet's Funeral (2005) by John M. Daniel is a somewhat odd little book. It is narrated by Guy Mallon, one-time used bookstore owner and now indie publisher of poetry books. But each chapter begins with a eulogy given by one of the characters about the titular poet, Heidi Yamada. Heidi's book was the first Guy ever published--and the last one he ever published of hers. She was also his lover at one time. She, Guy, several of her other lovers--past and present, many of her rivals and fans, and several hundred other book-related people have all gathered in Las Vegas for the annual American Booksellers Association Convention. And everyone of them, except Heidi, will make it safely home.

Heidi has managed, throughout her sometimes stormy rocket ride to the pinnacle of poetry fame, to tick off an large number of people. And most of them are at the convention. When she is found dead in the late Elvis Presley's king-sized bed at the site of one of the many parties associated with the convention, the police (who don't want no trouble in their town) quickly sweep the incident under the carpet as an accident--a drug overdose. But Guy is convinced it's murder and goes to some trouble to find out who did it. He's threatened several times and there's someone out there willing to kill to get their hands on a certain packet of pictures that make their way into Guy's possession. But his inexperience and small stature non-withstanding, Guy is ready to take on the bad guys in order to get to the truth. And he turns one of them into a cactus pincushion when push comes to shove in the final showdown.

This book had quite a lot of potential. Guy is a likeable character. I enjoyed his interactions with his current business partner and love of his life, Carol. I thought the way he worked his way through his unresolved feelings for Heidi and negotiated his relationship with Carol was realistic. I liked him as an amateur detective. The tension between watching the characters actually interact with Heidi and then reading their eulogies (full of fake feelings and a false sense of loss) was interesting. But in the end, it didn't really come together. There weren't a heck of a lot of clues to go on--so no fair play in the mystery plot--and I didn't particularly care for the cops attitude of "nothing happened," "move along," "nothing to see here" which resulted in no tangible consequences for the murderer. Guy seems to think he'll be able to dole out a punishment of sorts through the publishing world, but it's not really justice. A fairly disappointing book with a few bright spots.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Nancy]

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.(less)

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE POET’S FUNERAL (Amateur Sleuth-Las Vegas-Cont) – G+
Daniel, John M - 2nd mystery
Poisoned Pen Press, 2005- Hardcover
Guy Mallon is a small publisher of poetry books. While attending the annual ABA conference, the first author published by Guy, and former lover, turns up dead. The police decide it's an accident, but Guy thinks it's murder.
*** Those who publish, write, sell or collect books will probably most enjoy this.. 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.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so much fun ro read! The author has the whole sorry publishing industry nailed down. I know it's fiction, but as a retired librarian I always wondered about that sudden interest in cowboy poetry...! Recommend it to literary types, academics, small press, members of the poetry sub-strata, they will all see themselves. Oh, and the mystery part is excellent, too, almost like a Clue game, who was in the Elvis Presley bedroom, everyone but the murderess, it seems. And Nipton as a destination (currently the hotel has been spiffed up, it's on the Web)--quite a revelation.

[Karen Fyke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odd sort of book. Not bad, but not really good either. I was intrigued by the setting: American Bookseller's Association conference in Las Vegas. Fairly good characterizations, the who-done-it part was all right, but I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone I know.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read set in the 1990 Las Vegas ABA convention. The description of that world makes a case for the rise of publish-it-yourself books. Competently written and probably a good laugh for anyone in the publishing business.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't bother

[Kaethe · Rating 1 out of 5]

seems to be about the short guy getting some; yawn

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more by this author.