No laughing matter

the long version

Tom Sharpe meets Raymond Chandler in No Laughing Matter, a humorous and brilliant debut that will keep readers on a knife's edge of suspense until the bittersweet end. When a naked woman flashes past Nick Madrid's hotel window, it's quite a surprise. For Nick's room is on the 14th floor, and the hotel doesn't have an outside elevator. The management is horrified when Cissie Parker lands in the swimming pool-not only is she killed, but she makes a real mess of the shallow end. In Montreal for the Just For Laughs festival, Nick, a journalist who prefers practicing yoga to interviewing the stars, turns gumshoe to answer the question