Deathryde

If you have a taste for slambang satire that plays games with the names of dead celebrities from James Dean to Barbara Stanwyck and a hearse driver with the marvelous name of Coffin Joe, Michael P. Naughton's Deathryde: Rebel without a Corpse (Gilded Hearse Press, $12.95, 183 pages), is your kind of book. It's the story of a gang of criminal undertakers engaged in a caper known as "Harold and Maude" involving a group of Hollywood funeral homes and an ancient but unforgotten mafia heist. Mr. Naughton is a professional screenwriter and you can tell. He is flip and quite often funny and understands the value of brevity as few current writers do. This is the kind of book that can even take your mind off flying as you try to decipher the short takes of the plot. —The Washington Times

Deathryde is funny and fast-paced and hits some surprising twists - it has a similar feeling as the movie Be Cool. —Curled Up With A Good Book

I just finished Deathryde: Rebel Without a Corpse and I truly enjoyed it. Michael Naughton had my undivided attention with his thrill-packed, mystery/adventure. The characters, plot and dialog are absolutely awesome! This book is just dying to be a movie -- it will make a great one! —Shelly Palmer

The natural jump from undertaking to crime? "Deathryde: Rebel without a Corpse" is a gripping mystery about James DeRossa, who leaves his father's funeral home business to embark on a scam that could net him upwards of twenty-five million. Detective Hank Gladwin is on DeRossa's tail about his unsavory endeavors, and their cat-and-mouse chase has twists and turns throughout. An excellent mystery novel for fans of the genre. —Midwest Book Review