MR. SMITHSON'S BONES

Slapstick prequel to The India Exhibition (1992), again featuring the hapless Henry Scruggs, the low-level State Department employee on loan (i.e., exiled) to the Smithsonian, where he can't find a date but keeps uncovering bodies of museum staff members who've been murdered, then disposed of in rococo ways. All the dead were on the review committee analyzing the work of IPES—the publications exchange department. Could Dr. Rebecca Haas be next? Henry and Smithsonian counsel Phoebe Casey are soon scouring the museum for clues and come up with: Dr. Haas's body. The method of dispatch, however, lacks the panache of the previous four, and Henry concludes that two killers are at work. A visit to the mailroom uncovers more trouble—a narcotics smuggling setup and a fortune in smuggled currency. In unraveling which smuggling scheme belonged to which murderer, Henry will finally free up his time for some serious work—the pursuit of lust. Amiably goofy, with truly inventive body disposals and charismatically nutty characters.