Genius

Following in the tradition of Auntie Mame, bestselling author Patrick Dennis turns his wicked satirical pen on the insane world of fictional film director Leander Starr. Fleeing the IRS, creditors, and jilted lovers, Starr holes up in a Mexico City apartment—Casa Ximenez—with his faithful valet, Alistair St. Regis. Soon others descend on the villa—Starr’s ex-wife, his estranged socialite daughter, a shady Mexican film producer, a tax collector who has chased Starr around the world, and a dim young widow sitting on a fortune in laxative stock. Starr concocts a plan to distract them all: an abbreviated cinematic epic covering the history of Mexico titled Valley of the Vultures, starring them. Will the scheme work?

In addition to Dennis's uproarious novel, this fresh edition includes a long-lost short story of Leander Starr, “’Twas the Night Before Christmas in the Railway Station,” as well as a new afterword by the author’s son.

"A continuous riot"—San Francisco Chronicle

"Zany"—New York Times Book Review

"Irresistible"—Boston Globe

"Wild, imaginative"—Chicago Tribune

"Wonderfully wacky"—Detroit Free Press

"Dennis writes with illustration and structure that lets him catch you before you even know that you’re caught."—Windy City Times

"Such a funny book!...It is perfect summer entertainment."—The San Francisco Book Review

Patrick Dennis the pen name of Edward Everett Tanner III. A celebrated author, and the fictional narrator of Auntie Mame and Little Me, Dennis wrote 16 novels in all, many becoming longtime bestsellers.