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Homer Evans #1
The Mysterious Mickey Finn
"It has the delicious irresponsibility of a Wodehouse plot. . . . It's one of the funniest books we've read in a long time. It contains a great deal of shrewd satire."—The New York Times
Multimillionaire and philanthropist Hugo Weiss is known in every capital of the Western world as a munificent patron of the arts. When Weiss suddenly vanishes while on a visit to Paris, his disappearance sets the stage for this uncommonly witty and urbane mystery. Homer Evans, an intrepid American detective, turns his keen intellect and remarkable intuition toward solving the puzzle of the financier's disappearance. Assisted by his sharpshooting girlfriend, a cowgirl from the American West, Evans plunges into a maelstrom of kidnapping, art forgery, tax evasion, murder, and a plot to restore the French monarchy.
Set against the backdrop of bohemian Montparnasse, the story hurtles along at a breathless pace and in a tone of relentless good cheer, despite the rising body count. The first installment in a popular series that parodies the famous Philo Vance stories of S. S. Van Dine, this novel offers sophisticated humor amid a madcap romp as well as a challenging mystery.
Multimillionaire and philanthropist Hugo Weiss is known in every capital of the Western world as a munificent patron of the arts. When Weiss suddenly vanishes while on a visit to Paris, his disappearance sets the stage for this uncommonly witty and urbane mystery. Homer Evans, an intrepid American detective, turns his keen intellect and remarkable intuition toward solving the puzzle of the financier's disappearance. Assisted by his sharpshooting girlfriend, a cowgirl from the American West, Evans plunges into a maelstrom of kidnapping, art forgery, tax evasion, murder, and a plot to restore the French monarchy.
Set against the backdrop of bohemian Montparnasse, the story hurtles along at a breathless pace and in a tone of relentless good cheer, despite the rising body count. The first installment in a popular series that parodies the famous Philo Vance stories of S. S. Van Dine, this novel offers sophisticated humor amid a madcap romp as well as a challenging mystery.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1938
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61 people want to read
About the author
Elliot Paul
62 books9 followersElliot Harold Paul was an American journalist and writer.
See also Brett Rutledge.
See also Brett Rutledge.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 29, 2014
This 30s divertissement features a missing millionaire (Otto Kahn) in Paris, a devilish art scam and a heroic American flaneur. Slapstick and satire. The author cautions, "The characters had to be toned down for the family trade." Inspired moment: a ditzy art scribe sipping away at the Dome in Montparnasse, after visiting La Coupole, the Select and the Rotonde, drops dead. No one notices. Vive la difference! One reason, among many, why the French charm me.
Elliot Paul, a worldling whose books include "Life and Death of a
Spanish Town," an indictment of Franco before Hemingway got there, ventured into comic whodunits. He also ventured into 3 wives, a nervous breakdown and assorted boogie-woogie. An American Original (now extinct). Idling in Montparnasse he notes that Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas were drinking brandy & soda. Gert had the brandy, Alice the soda.
Elliot Paul, a worldling whose books include "Life and Death of a
Spanish Town," an indictment of Franco before Hemingway got there, ventured into comic whodunits. He also ventured into 3 wives, a nervous breakdown and assorted boogie-woogie. An American Original (now extinct). Idling in Montparnasse he notes that Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas were drinking brandy & soda. Gert had the brandy, Alice the soda.
June 6, 2015
Dover has re-issued this quirky 1950's mystery which is a cross between a Marx Brothers comedy and the Pink Panther.
I am a great fan of classic mysteries, comic novels, and any book featuring Paris in "the good old days." This book contained all the elements to both engage and entertain me, but unfortunately it failed to do either. I don't do this often, but I gave up on this book. Silly is fine with me---and this had plenty of that, but the mad-cap story was so darn convoluted (without anything really happening) that I got both confused and bored.
Netgalley was gracious to provide me with a complimentary copy of this ebook in return for an honest review. I would love to see a movie of this book, but just didn't enjoy reading it.
I am a great fan of classic mysteries, comic novels, and any book featuring Paris in "the good old days." This book contained all the elements to both engage and entertain me, but unfortunately it failed to do either. I don't do this often, but I gave up on this book. Silly is fine with me---and this had plenty of that, but the mad-cap story was so darn convoluted (without anything really happening) that I got both confused and bored.
Netgalley was gracious to provide me with a complimentary copy of this ebook in return for an honest review. I would love to see a movie of this book, but just didn't enjoy reading it.
September 10, 2017
If you like outrageous slapstick comedy with buckets of nonsense, an improbable mystery and far too many corpses, this is the book for you. I have to admit that parts of it were quite clever but the silliness gets a bit much at the end.
Homer Evans is an American in Paris who seems to be able to do anything that he desires well ... he just doesn't have the inclination to do any one thing as a career. The book opens with Evans having stayed up all night and ready to hunker down for a couple of zzzzzs. Instead he is bedeviled with a couple of problems of friends and acquaintances, including a Norwegian painter-sailor whose patron has come to Paris. It is a crucial time for the artist as he is rapidly drinking through his patronage and has thrown away all but three of his paintings created over a year. What does he have to show his patron?
Evans solves the problem without blinking twice but he can't let his actions be found out. He is successful, the patron shows up at the artist's studio reviews apparently 50 works by the painter, purchases one and goes off happily to be honored by France's Society of Artists. Only he never makes it and the alarm goes out that something has happened to the wealthy patron of the arts.
The Paris police are unable to figure out the situation and to make up for their confusion, arrest all the guests and artists that had been in the artist's studio, as well as any miscellaneous shopkeepers, etc. Evans and his gal Friday, Miriam, are the only ones running free and with his mind running wild and free, Evans is on the hunt for the solution to the disappearance and about a dozen other crimes. Definitely wild and wacky.
If you like to let your imagination run free and like broad satire, this may be the book for you.
Homer Evans is an American in Paris who seems to be able to do anything that he desires well ... he just doesn't have the inclination to do any one thing as a career. The book opens with Evans having stayed up all night and ready to hunker down for a couple of zzzzzs. Instead he is bedeviled with a couple of problems of friends and acquaintances, including a Norwegian painter-sailor whose patron has come to Paris. It is a crucial time for the artist as he is rapidly drinking through his patronage and has thrown away all but three of his paintings created over a year. What does he have to show his patron?
Evans solves the problem without blinking twice but he can't let his actions be found out. He is successful, the patron shows up at the artist's studio reviews apparently 50 works by the painter, purchases one and goes off happily to be honored by France's Society of Artists. Only he never makes it and the alarm goes out that something has happened to the wealthy patron of the arts.
The Paris police are unable to figure out the situation and to make up for their confusion, arrest all the guests and artists that had been in the artist's studio, as well as any miscellaneous shopkeepers, etc. Evans and his gal Friday, Miriam, are the only ones running free and with his mind running wild and free, Evans is on the hunt for the solution to the disappearance and about a dozen other crimes. Definitely wild and wacky.
If you like to let your imagination run free and like broad satire, this may be the book for you.
October 15, 2015
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.0 of 5
It must be fun to work for Dover Publications and dig up some of these older books and offer them up for sale again. Many of their reissues are absolute treasures ... but treasures that I hadn't been familiar with beforehand. This is just such a case.
Originally from 1939 comes the satirical mystery, The Mysterious Mickey Finn, by Elliot Paul. The book features amateur detective Homer Evans, a man who takes great pleasure in doing as little as possible. He's in France, so of course art takes on a role, and here we have a Norwegian friend, Jansen, of his who's been paid by an American millionaire, Hugo Weiss, to spend a year in Paris to learn and paint. The year is almost up, the money gone, Weiss is in France, and Jansen has almost nothing to show for his time.
Evans concocts a scheme to help Jansen, but when Weiss goes missing after meeting with Jansen and the authorities get involved, things get out of control and the normally laconic Evans has to get busy to protect his friends and discover what really happened to Hugo Weiss.
There's a fair amount of humor here. It's not always laugh-out-loud sort of humor (though I did do that a few times), but it's satire. Think M*A*S*H by Richard Hooker , or Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, or even A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. These are all books considered humorous, but are typically satire, providing a biting commentary on a personal, social, or political aspect. Now toss in a mystery, and you have The Mysterious Mickey Finn.
This is not the easiest of reads, but I've often found satire to be challenging to read. You must pay very close attention to pick up on the humor, meaning that the reading goes much slower than normal (for me, leastwise). But for the astute reader, it pays off.
I saw a fair amount of Hawkeye Pierce and Yossarian and even Ignatius J. Reilly (M*A*S*H, Catch-22, and A Confederacy of Dunces, respectively) in the character of Homer Evans, though perhaps given the publication dates, it safer to say that a little bit of Homer Evans is in each of the above named characters. Ultimately, it is Evans who makes this story worth reading.
Looking for a good book? Mixing satire and mystery, The Mysterious Mickey Finn, by Elliot Paul, is a fun read, though you might have to work at it a little bit.
I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
It must be fun to work for Dover Publications and dig up some of these older books and offer them up for sale again. Many of their reissues are absolute treasures ... but treasures that I hadn't been familiar with beforehand. This is just such a case.
Originally from 1939 comes the satirical mystery, The Mysterious Mickey Finn, by Elliot Paul. The book features amateur detective Homer Evans, a man who takes great pleasure in doing as little as possible. He's in France, so of course art takes on a role, and here we have a Norwegian friend, Jansen, of his who's been paid by an American millionaire, Hugo Weiss, to spend a year in Paris to learn and paint. The year is almost up, the money gone, Weiss is in France, and Jansen has almost nothing to show for his time.
Evans concocts a scheme to help Jansen, but when Weiss goes missing after meeting with Jansen and the authorities get involved, things get out of control and the normally laconic Evans has to get busy to protect his friends and discover what really happened to Hugo Weiss.
There's a fair amount of humor here. It's not always laugh-out-loud sort of humor (though I did do that a few times), but it's satire. Think M*A*S*H by Richard Hooker , or Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, or even A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. These are all books considered humorous, but are typically satire, providing a biting commentary on a personal, social, or political aspect. Now toss in a mystery, and you have The Mysterious Mickey Finn.
This is not the easiest of reads, but I've often found satire to be challenging to read. You must pay very close attention to pick up on the humor, meaning that the reading goes much slower than normal (for me, leastwise). But for the astute reader, it pays off.
I saw a fair amount of Hawkeye Pierce and Yossarian and even Ignatius J. Reilly (M*A*S*H, Catch-22, and A Confederacy of Dunces, respectively) in the character of Homer Evans, though perhaps given the publication dates, it safer to say that a little bit of Homer Evans is in each of the above named characters. Ultimately, it is Evans who makes this story worth reading.
Looking for a good book? Mixing satire and mystery, The Mysterious Mickey Finn, by Elliot Paul, is a fun read, though you might have to work at it a little bit.
I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
August 30, 2014
I recently read Paul's The Last Time I Saw Paris which was one of the best memoirs I've read about Paris in the 1920s. So I expected to like this mystery, but I didn't. Paul writes well but I didn't care for the type of book it was, I guess a kind of tongue-in-cheek, totally unbelievable mystery. I think his inspiration might have been Maurice Leblanc's Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Thief, which I didn't like very much either but at least I could FOLLOW that one a little bit. This one just had me run in circles and made me dizzy.
July 2, 2015
In the introduction, the author tell us not to expect dead bodies in the first pages, but he would like to built up the characters first. And what a merry chase it is, very entertaining it is, your really have to be quick to follow all the twists and turns . Set in Montparnasse the centre of artist and writers in the 20s. The back covers says it is a little Wodhouse - and it is. If you want a gallop through a mystery, with lots of laughs and twist turns, this book wont disappoint
This book was provided in return for a honest an unbiased review.
This book was provided in return for a honest an unbiased review.
October 30, 2017
Ah, Paris between the wars! Handsome, wealthy American Homer Evans finds himself--and a bunch of artists of all nations--in trouble when a millionaire disappears after giving one of their number two extravagant checks. With the help of some sympathetic police and some well-placed bribes, Evans and his new girlfriend foil a plot against the government, although they kill rather a lot of people in the process, and solve what seems to be a mysterious murder. I originally read this long, long ago, as a teen-ager, and shudder to think how much of my world view was undoubtedly shaped by Paul's prose.
June 28, 2018
Entertaining, hilarious and a good mystery. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Want to read
September 5, 2018Synopsis: Evans, an American in Paris, confronts the disappearance of a millionaire. Partly a humourous travelogue.
June 14, 2020
Meant to be a parody and I guess you can’t really call it anything else. But it was rapid-fire stupidity from beginning to end.
Read
September 24, 2022Farcical.
December 3, 2024
I did read the Philo Vance stories, but long enough ago that this spoof of the series didn't hit for me. I could SEE it being funny, but I wasn't amused.
March 9, 2025
Fun read! The beginning was a bit weird -- I felt like I was dropped in the middle of the story and having characters with similar names made it a tad hard to follow at points, but good mystery.
March 9, 2025
An enjoyable and rollicking romp!
July 7, 2015
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was first introduced in 1939. This is a pretty fast paced book about an American detective named Homer Evans looking for a missing millionaire named Hugo Weiss. The book is set in Paris so I really enjoyed the background of what Paris was like in the 30s. There are all sorts of twists and turns until you find out exactly what happened. I never saw it coming. This book would make such a great movie. Its funny, quirky with lots of oddball characters. If you are looking for an old style who done it with lots of laughs and surprises this is the book for you.
This book was first introduced in 1939. This is a pretty fast paced book about an American detective named Homer Evans looking for a missing millionaire named Hugo Weiss. The book is set in Paris so I really enjoyed the background of what Paris was like in the 30s. There are all sorts of twists and turns until you find out exactly what happened. I never saw it coming. This book would make such a great movie. Its funny, quirky with lots of oddball characters. If you are looking for an old style who done it with lots of laughs and surprises this is the book for you.
July 30, 2015
I was given a free copy of this book by Netgallery for an honest review of this book.
I was very intrigued by the sound of this book and had high hopes that I would like it. Unfortunately I found it very dated and indulgent. It read like a farce, and I didn't find it amusing at all, only frustrating and annoying.
I was very intrigued by the sound of this book and had high hopes that I would like it. Unfortunately I found it very dated and indulgent. It read like a farce, and I didn't find it amusing at all, only frustrating and annoying.
November 10, 2015
I wasn't all that thrilled about this book. It did have it's moments but not the type I would read constantly. There are many characters involved such a patron of the arts, a forger, police and of course the good guy.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews