Following in the tradition of Auntie Mame, in 1962 bestselling author
Patrick Dennis turned his wicked satirical pen on the insane world of
fictional director Leander Starr. Rumored to be based on legendary
filmmaker Orson Welles, Starr proves to be outrageous and memorable in
this glamorous comedy of errors. Fleeing the IRS, creditors, and jilted
lovers, Starr holes up in a Mexico City apartment, Casa Ximenez, with
his faithful valet, Alistair St. Regis. To his surprise, the proprietor
is none other than Catalina Ximinez, the leading lady in Starr's early
masterpiece, Yucatán Girl. By accident or intent, others soon descend
on Casa Ximenez--Starr's ex-wife, his estranged socialite daughter, a
shady Mexican film producer, a tax collector who has chased Starr around
the world, and a dim young widow sitting on a fortune in laxative stock.
Starr concocts a plan to distract them all, and possibly stage a
comeback: an abbreviated epic covering the history of Mexico titled
Valley of the Vultures. This fresh edition of Dennis's uproarious
novel is joined by a long-lost short story of Leander Starr, "'Twas the
Night Before Christmas in the Railway Station," which appeared in the
Chicago Tribune Magazine of Books, as well as a new afterword by the
author's son.
