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Occasionally, a murder (ahm, a deletion) is wholly necessary. And when that is the case, the staffers at the McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts hope that the aspiring deletist will seek their help. Nothing is worse than failing in the deletion and even attracting the attention of the enemy, i.e. the police.
Cliff Iverson is just one of those aspiring deletists admitted to the top-secret school. In fact, it’s so top-secret even he didn’t know about its existence until he was grabbed by two of its employees and taken there while he was unconscious. That’s not usually the case for students; most have quietly been informed about McMasters and saved up the large sum needed to pay for tuition. Cliff, however, had been the focus of attention by an interested party, someone who sponsored his attendance.
Now, in this excellent volume detailing the McMasters philosophy, Cliff and two other students are profiled as examples of what not to do and what to do when seeking, specifically, to remove their employers from existence. Their respective employers are truly repellent.
Murder Your Employer is a superbly entertaining novel in the form of a guidebook written by the dean of admissions of McMasters. It follows the plans and executions (double meaning intended) of said plans of three characters whose employers have caused them and others a great deal of pain and frustration.
Half the book is set at the school itself, and readers get a taste of daily student life there. Rarely is a chance to teach wasted, so even at special meals students have to watch out for poisons and figure out how they are being delivered. Even so, the campus is quite civilized: it’s a quaint, lovely place with gorgeous old buildings and food prepared by a Michelin-starred chef. Discerning readers will find the wordplay to be smart and diverting, with frequent witticisms usually relating to death but also the school environment. (For example: At a McMasters dance, Cliff writes to his sponsor about a dance, “I’ve willingly tripped the light scholastic with whoever might have me.”) Another paragraph involved a ledge hanging over a ravine and a great reference to a dangling participle. Ahhh. Such satisfying use of language.
The other half of the book is set outside McMasters and takes readers along on the deletions carried out by Cliff and the other two pupils. Their plans are wonderfully elaborate and fiendishly clever. Watching their execution is satisfying and entertaining.
Rupert Holmes has crafted a story that works on a number of levels and indicates just how smart he is. Sure, he’s known the world over for “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” (and no, I couldn’t get that out of my head while reading the book because I kept thinking about him/it…), but that’s just scratching the surface of his talents. I’d love to see another of these. I do particularly relish mystery books that add in the extra element of humor, and this ranks with the best.
Rated: Moderate. Profanity includes 2 uses of strong language, a few instances of moderate profanity, about 20 uses of mild language, and 8 instances of the name of Deity in vain, as well as 6 instances of the British (bl-) curse word. There are several scenes that include some vulgar sexual content but it’s not fully detailed; a few pieces are referred to and the reader is intended to fill in the gaps. There are more somewhat veiled references to sexual harassment and assault by employers, mostly with just enough information for readers to know what had happened or was happening but not a full picture. The story includes a couple of suicides, referred to a few times, and a few murders by various methods. Overall, the author in most respects writes in a way that the vital parts of the plot that are unsavory are understood but not outright described.
