Dorothy Parker Drank Here

December 8, 2014
Dorothy Parker may be dead, but in Meister’s fifth novel her spirit still hangs around New York City’s famous Algonquin Hotel bar, bumming drinks and cigarettes from unsuspecting mortals. It’s 2007, and Parker is lonely at the Algonquin—all her literary drinking pals from the Algonquin Round Table era are dead and gone. She, however, gets to stay at the hotel because she signed the old hotel manager’s magical guest book, which grants residence after death (and the drinks are free). Now Parker, looking for an afterlife drinking companion, selects a hotel recluse: cantankerous Ted Shriver, a 1970s literary genius disgraced by a plagiarism scandal, who is dying of a brain tumor. She just needs Shriver to sign the guest book before he dies. Shriver is a mean drunk, determined to die alone in his hotel room without ever revealing the truth about the plagiarism scandal. Meanwhile, Norah Wolfe, a young associate producer of a failing TV show, thinks she can advance her career if she can convince Shriver to appear on her show. Eventually, Wolfe and Parker team up to weaken Shriver’s resolve, and they discover Shriver is not who he seems to be. This is a wacky tale with hilarious cameo appearances by some of Dorothy Parker’s favorite dead celebrities—Robert Benchley, Tallulah Bankhead, Groucho Marx, and Lillian Hellman—and liberally sprinkled with Parker’s signature acerbic humor, wisecracks, and put-downs.

December 15, 2014
The ghost of Dorothy Parker meddles with the lives of mortals in this sequel from Meister (Farewell, Dorothy Parker, 2013). In the heyday of her career, Parker signed a guestbook that promised eternity. Against all odds, the claim turned out to be true, and now she haunts the famed Algonquin, greeting her friends after their deaths. They all go on to the afterlife, but not Dorothy. She'd much rather stay right there at the bar-but things are starting to get lonely. That's where Ted Shriver comes in. A writer whose career plummeted after a plagiarism scandal, Ted is now dying of a brain tumor. If only Dorothy can convince him to sign the guestbook, she might just have some company. But things get a bit more complicated than she imagined. Norah Wolfe, an associate producer for a struggling television show, has her own reasons for wanting to talk to Ted. Neither of them will be able to get through to him unless they can help him tie up some loose ends...and maybe clear his name in the process. Meister's Dorothy Parker is just as sharp, witty and pleasantly mean as fans would expect. Her humanity shines through, though, along with her humor. Her obvious loneliness, along with the dilemmas Ted and Norah face, make this a surprisingly emotional novel. Not even death can keep Dorothy Parker down in this sad and funny story.

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December 15, 2014
Dorothy Parker doesn't want to go toward the light. That's why, years after her death, she's hanging out at the Algonquin, waiting for old friends to pass through. Luckily for her, everyone who's signed the Algonquin Hotel's guest book makes a way-stop at the bar immediately after death. Unluckily for her, they all quickly move on toward that blasted light. Her last hope is her old friend, Ted Shriver, a disgraced novelist now holing up at the Algonquin while he dies of a brain tumor. Norah is a young TV producer whose show is about to be canceled unless she can come up with a killer guest, and she's set her sights on Ted, too. Together, Norah and Dorothy become partners in crime, tracking down clues to Ted's plagiarism scandal, fending off thugs, having the guest book stolen, recovered, and re-stolen. The caper elements of the plot feel too extensive at times, but the novel has reflections on secrets and communication and does a lovely job of imagining the voice of Dorothy Parker with equal parts wit, heartbreak, and practicality.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)