Mesopotamia

"The immortal shadow of Elvis Presley gyrates wildly through this satiric exploration of America's fascination with tabloid journalism." --Publishers Weekly "Thoroughly entertaining . . . A quirky, hard-edged, slightly absurdist thriller from a writer who definitely bears watching." --Booklist "In his paean to the perplexities of dislocation and discovery--both in bohemian life and in life at large--Nersesian makes us eager to see what happens when the curtain finally rises."--The New York Times Book Review, on Unlubricated Things have not been going well for journalist Sandy Bloomgarten. Her job went down the drain and her marriage quickly followed. After a lengthy bender, she awakens one morning to the stark realization that she is flat broke. Nonetheless, she's still a crack reporter and when a tabloid offers her a freelance assignment in Memphis--just a stone's throw from her childhood home in Mesopotamia, Tennessee--she takes it. Though sent there for one story, she winds up tracking down another: someone is killing Elvis impersonators who perform at the annual Sing-the-King festival. The few clues lead her to several unlikely characters: a cheating local minister constantly on the make, a strange band of misfits who only cover Elvis tunes, and a small-town private eye who blew himself up along with his crystal meth lab. As Sandy's investigation closes, she realizes that she is sitting on what could be the story of the century. The only problem is she can never reveal what she has found. Arthur Nersesian's latest novel is a satiric thriller that takes an amusing view of America's predilection with the superficial over the relevant, and celebrity excitement over real news. Arthur Nersesian is the author of nine novels, including the cult-classic The Fuck-Up (more than 100,000 copies sold), dogrun, and Suicide Casanova. He lives in New York City.