The Mark Twain Forum needs a reviewer for the following novel:

   Heck, Peter J.  _Death on the Mississippi: A Mark Twain Mystery_.  New
   York: Berkley Publishing Group, 1995.  Pp. 291.  Paper.  $10.00.  ISBN
   0-425-14939-0.

The back cover reads:

   He was one of the most beloved authors in the history of literature, a
   scribe from a simpler time who captured its spirit and humor like no
   other.  He was Mark Twain.  By the early 1890s, he was one of the most
   famous writers in America--and flat broke.  So the great Mark
   Twain--with all his credentials--suddenly found himself with a new,
   intriguing, and even more daunting title: Detective.

   There was a ghastly murder in New York city--and Mark Twain's address
   was in the dead man's pocket.  Even more alarming was that Twain had
   just received a message sent by an old friend from his riverboat
   days--and the handwriting matched the note found on the corpse.

   So, with his new secretary, Wentworth Cabot, Twain caught a steamboat
   bound for New Orleans.  Onboard were all manner of people--wealthy
   tourists and old river rats, literary amateurs and high-stakes
   gamblers . . . and a determined killer whose only goal was to bring
   Mark Twain's celebrated career to a dead stop. . .

The "Historical Note and Acknowledgments" (p. ix) states in part:

   A reader familiar with the writings of Mark Twain will recognize many
   of the anecdotes and quips herein as being adapted from his work, with
   due allowance given for Twain's own intention to entertain or instruct
   the reader. . . . The novel is set in the early 1890s, when Twain
   needed money to pay off his debts in the wake of several bad
   investments, and might plausibly have gone on the riverboat lecture
   tour described here. . . . In addition to Mark Twain, a few historical
   characters are mentioned in passing: Twain's family, especially his
   wife, Livy; William Dean Howells, Twain's editor and friend; Henry H.
   Rogers, his benefactor; and George Devol, the most notorious of
   riverboat gamblers. . . .

This novel is part of a projected trilogy.  The other titles are (and,
as Dave Barry would say, I absolutely swear that I'm not making these
up): _A Connecticut Yankee in Criminal Court_ (December 1996) and _The
Prince and the Prosecutor_ (December 1997).

As usual, the review must be of publishable quality, and it would be due
within two months of your receipt of the book (i.e., near the end of
February 1996).  The deadline is particularly important; if you are
inclined to procrastinate, please don't offer to review the book.

If you're interested in writing this review, please send me both your
home and institutional mailing addresses and phone numbers.  If I don't
already know you, it would be helpful for you to explain in what respect
you're qualified to write this review.  (If we haven't exchanged e-mail
recently, it might be a good idea for you to remind me of this info.)

I look forward to hearing from you.

Taylor Roberts
Coordinator, Mark Twain Forum