book cover of The Secret Life of Algernon Pendleton
 

The Secret Life of Algernon Pendleton

(1973)
A novel by

 
 
"A murderously funny fugue of the macabre ... Grave matters, elegantly dispatched." - The New York Times Book Review

Algernon Pendleton - call him Al - lives by himself in a suburban Boston house loaded with treasures collected by his Egyptologist great-grandfather. His solitary life, punctuated by occasional visits to a shop where he trades artifacts for ready cash, would be lonely if not for his confidential chats with Eulalia, a talking porcelain pitcher. When an old army buddy shows up with a suitcase full of money, Eulalia has some less-than-friendly ideas about separating their houseguest from his fortune. Meanwhile, a professor of archaeology is getting increasingly suspicious about the shop's supply of rare and valuable antiquities. Thanks to Eulalia's advice, Al soon finds himself trapped in a murder mystery that unfolds with ample doses of black humor.

"You have to have a heart of stone not to love Algernon Pendleton, the mad-as-a-hatter murderer ... Curl up with him and your doom is sealed ... Greenan has fashioned an excursion in to the macabre that is in a class by itself." - Saturday Review

"Oddly appealing, a sort of Arsenic and Old Lace approach that really works in terms of entertainment if you have a taste for the fantastic." - Publishers Weekly

Genre: Mystery

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