Alfred Acorn's Murder in the Museum of Man, book #1 in the "Norman de Rateur" series, is the most erudite, hilarious send-up of pompous academics and museologists I have ever come across. Main character Norman de Rateur, begins the story as the Recording Secretary of the Museum of Man (MOM), daily mourning the missed opportunity some 30 years in his past of wedding his long-lost love, Elsbeth. Over the course of the unfolding mystery--told through the vehicle of the "unofficial" log in which he meticulously documents the investigation of the murder of two academic deans who are cooked and cannibalized, apparently by some of their colleagues--Norman conquers any number of different obstacles with his intellect, scrupulous morals, impeccable manners, and rapier wit. This book is a splendidly hilarious send-up of the sometimes unmitigated pomposity of academia, as surrounds a mixed anthropology/natural history museum beleaguered by a poorly-conceived and murkily- financed connection to both a Japanese pharmaceutical operation (which may/may not involve unauthorized and likely illegal research on the primates in Pan House) and a prestigious liberal arts college. Doubtless, Alcorn's years of employment at Harvard University's Museum of Natural History has coalesced in his keen eye as relates to the sheer lunacy of Homo academicus and the complex world of museums as both the arbiters and battlegrounds of education and taste. Murder in the Museum is really first-rate stuff, and a novel format (sorry for the atrocious pun) of having the story unfold in the form of a journal. While Norman de Rateur is no swashbuckling archaeologist, he is certainly a Renaissance man who--when his back is against the wall--will engage his less refined instincts in the name of self-preservation and right. I can't wait to see where the story goes and want to give my sister a huge shout-out for an Easter Basket full of books--of which this was one.
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