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.