Title: Louse
Description: In the penthouse of a casino high above America's vast desert, an eccentric Howard Hughes-like mogul, Herbert Horatio "Poppy" Blackwell, has created an insulated world of maids and footmen, physicians, accountants, and engineers - all catering to his nostalgic dreams and paralyzing fear of infection.

Herman Q. Louse is Poppy's valet, unwilling confidant, and unlikely protector. As Louse performs his intricately ritualized and increasingly bizarre duties, he discovers that Poppy's carefully constructed paradise is poisoned by a conspiracy that threatens to destroy it - while giving Louse the opportunity to meet the man he once was.
Subjects: Eccentrics and eccentricities, Fiction, Recluses, Fiction, general