The Counterfeit Murder in the Museum of Man - Couverture souple

"Before one can do justice to Alfred Alcorn's third Norman de Ratour mystery novel, it helps to haul out such adjectives as smart, sharp, fresh, sly, wise, original , and wildly funny. Alcorn can keep a story moving with the swiftness of a dirty look and the brilliance of a fine satire. Set in a mythical academic institution (read Harvard)  lucky readers of this novel will meet and get to know characters they won't soon forget--especially Alphus , the most memorable of contemporary philosophers." — Anne Bernays

   Praise for Murder in the Museum of Man and The Love Potion Murders in the Museum of Man:

“The Marx Brothers would be very welcome at this quirky institution. . . . A stylish, fiendish detective story.” — The New York Times Book Review

“An adroit, hilarious send-up.” —The New Yorker

“Readers will be choked with laughter.” — The Boston Sunday Herald

“Delicious details on every page.” — The Chicago Tribune

“Sly and spicy from start to finish . . . a just-right balance of innocence, subtle malevolence and cheeky irony.” — Publishers Weekly

When Norman de Ratour discovers the body of Heinrich von Grümh in a car outside his beloved Museum of Man, he knows he faces a sticky public relations mess. What he doesn’t know is that the gun used to kill the honorary curator is his own Smith & Wesson revolver. Implicated, publicly embarrassed, his life’s work in danger, Norman becomes the prime per- son on a list of unusual suspects.
Along the way, he both lives with and is aided by Alphus, former denizen of the Primate Pavilion and a creature who has an intellect to be reckoned with as well as a low, finely ar- ticulated opinion of the human species. As Norman endeavors to find the villain and clear his name, he learns that more than coins gets counterfeited — that people, from the ravishing merry widow Merissa Bonne to the dour Feidhlimidh de Buitliér, are not always what they purport to be.
Replete with institutional spoofery, a plot hedged like a garden maze, and a literate style that treats the English language like the verbal funhouse it is, this third in the Norman de Ratour murder mysteries series sustains the genre invented by Poe while twisting and bending it into new forms.