The Poet's Funeral

Praise for The Poet's Funeral...In this delicious sendup of the book trade...theauthor lampoons everything from the overstuffed'collector's editions' to the self-importance of criticsand the self-interest of publishers and agents.-Publishers Weekly starred reviewAt the annual convention of the American Booksellers Association,everything goes wrong. Julia Child's cooking demonstration inthe Random House aisle catches fire. A top New York editorcatches a pie in the face. Invitations to the most exclusivepublisher'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 caughton film by a busy photographer from Publishers Weekly, a womansoon 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 book man from Santa Barbara who, despite thesuccess of fellow residents 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 LasVegas alive....John M. Daniel has worked as a bookseller, a free-lance writer, aneditor, an entertainer, and a teacher. Now a small-press literarybook publisher in California, he has taught fiction writing at UCLAExtension and Santa Barbara Adult Education and is on the facultyof the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. He is the author of severalbooks, including Vanity Fire, the sequel to The Poet's Funeral.www.danielpublishing.com/jmd