Murder in Mount Holly

by Paul Theroux

Overview

Paul Theroux, one of the world’s most popular authors, both for his travel books and his fiction, has produced an off-beat story of 1960s weirdos unlike anything he has ever written.

During the time of Lyndon Johnson’s presidency, Herbie Gneiss is forced to leave college to get a job. His income from the Kant-Brake toy factory, which manufactures military toys for children, keeps his chocolate-loving mother from starvation. Mr. Gibbon, a patriotic veteran of three wars, also works at Kant-Brake. When Herbie is drafted, Mr. Gibbon falls in love with Herbie’s mother and they move in together at Miss Ball’s rooming house. Since Herbie is fighting for his country, Mr. Gibbon feels that he, too, should do something for his country and convinces Miss Ball and Mrs. Gneiss to join him in the venture. They decide to rob the Mount Holly Trust Company because it is managed by a small dark man who is probably a communist. There are some complications. Combine Donald E. Westlake with Abby Hoffman, add a bit of Gore Vidal at his most vitriolic, and you will have Murder in Mount Holly.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802155108
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	11/06/2012
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	947,089
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 7.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

PAUL THEROUX is the author of many highly acclaimed books. His novels include The Lower River and The Mosquito Coast, and his renowned travel books include Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari . He lives in Hawaii and on Cape Cod.

Editorial Reviews

First published in the U.K. in 1969, Theroux’s slight caper novel, set in the small American town of Mount Holly, uneasily mixes dark comedy and violence. Herbie Gneiss, who’s quit college at the urging of his hypochondriac, overweight widowed mother, is looking into work at Kant-Brake Toys, a local factory. After landing a job there, Herbie moves to a rooming house run by Nettie Ball, who has another Kant-Brake employee as a lodger, Charlie Gibbon, “a fuddy-duddy, not a geezer,” who later falls for Herbie’s mom. After Herbie is drafted, Nettie, Charlie, and Mrs. Gneiss decide to rob “a communist bank,” to “prove to the world that old folks still had a lot of spunk left.” Bodies soon start to drop. It’s a subpar effort for the prolific Theroux, best known for his travel books (Ghost Train to the Eastern Star). (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Paul Theroux:

“Theroux has established himself in the tradition of Conrad, or perhaps Somerset Maugham.” —The New York Times Book Review

“What makes Paul Theroux so good is what always separates the fine writers from the pack: his ability to look at the familiar in a fresh, original way—and make us richer for it.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Reading Theroux becomes a journey of the unexpected, the comedic, the bureaucratically tangled and the marvelous. It is like all good journeys should be.” —The Plain Dealer

“Theroux is an irresistible storyteller, able to hook you with his first few lines. He dazzles not just with the number of places he writes about but the number he can evoke as if they were home.” —Chicago Tribune

From the Publisher

Nope, no trains and no travel, though one can anticipate Theroux's amusingly acid prose. It's the Sixties, and Herbie Gneiss works at the Kant-Brake factory. When he's drafted, his mother and his colleague, Mr. Gibbon, fall in love and scheme with their landlady to strike a patriotic blow by robbing the Mount Holly Trust Company, whose manager is, they believe, a Communist. Clearly, there's more going on here than your average whodunit has to offer; for mystery fans who like a sophisticated or satiric bent to their work.

Library Journal