Shoot the President, Are You Mad?
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.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.