Shoot the President, Are You Mad? »

Have you ever heard of the firm of Mandrell Limited? Chances are your answer is 'no.' Do not let it disturb you. Our clientele is decidedly select and we do not advertise. Ours is a service organization. The service itself is rather difficult to describe. If you insist on one of those terse explanations, gross terminology designed for quick reading by your ever so busy executive:

The firm of Mandrell Limited is in the business of insuring that selected individuals move from this life on to the next life not on a schedule arranged by Mother Nature or by mischance but rather on a schedule dictated by an "interested party." Mandrell Limited deals in excellence. The firm, in its own small way, is attempting to restore craftsmanship in a world where this honest term is known in legend only.

This is the final book in the Edgar Award-winning series featuring the irrepressible Augustus Mandrell.

Publishers Weekly

This over-the-top farce, the fourth and final book featuring assassin-for-hire Augustus Mandrell (after 1971's For Murder I Charge More), will likely appeal only to hardcore fans of Edgar-winner McAuliffe (1926-1986). Written in 1975 but deemed still too sensitive 12 years after JFK's assassination, according to a daughter's afterword, this posthumous novel focuses on Mandrell's scheme to murder the U.S. president, an eccentric obsessed with the number 76. From a cliff on the Oregon shore, Mandrell tosses Clifford Waxout, "Northwest Director" of a rightwing group called America's Americans, to his death in order to assume Waxout's identity. The fake Waxout makes his way to Washington, D.C., where he ingratiates himself with Consuela DiMartino, a diva slated to give a recital at the White House. Mandrell uses pseudonyms like Ill Tidings and Arnie Heterosexual along the way to a climax that will leave befuddled readers scratching their heads. (July)