Bogus U.

Paul M. Levitt

When the classical scholar Phineas Ort, Bogus U.’s first choice for president, disappears, the search committee decides to recruit a hit man to keep the fractious faculty in line. Phineas has been abducted by the Robaccia gang, who aim to install their own candidate in the president’s office to cash in on Bogus U.’s well-known corruption.

Christy Mahon, a former member of the Robaccia gang, now on the lam for having crossed its boss, Brooklyn Benny, has landed a job at Bogus U. as a janitor. Listening through a heating vent, he overhears the search committee’s deliberations and decides to interview for the job, which he ultimately lands in a funny and subversive chain of events.

Laura Favoloso, who has her own ties to the mob, works at Bogus U. and provides Christy with an insider’s view of its inner workings and lower depths. Under Laura’s influence and tutelage, Christy reluctantly begins to transform into a new man, and tries to institute rigorous academic standards, raising the ire and exciting the violent tendencies of the student population. But the student body is not the only quarter from which Christy must guard himself from mortal harm—a hit has been ordered on Christy, and he must use his old street smarts as well as his newly acquired political savvy to survive and protect his legacy.

Taylor Trade Publishing

Pages: 304 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-63076-064-9 • Paperback • June 2015 • $17.95 • (£13.99)

978-1-63076-065-6 • eBook • June 2015 • $9.99 • (£7.99)

Subjects: Fiction / Humorous, Fiction / Crime, Fiction / Satire

Bogus U.

Paperback

eBook

Summary

When the classical scholar Phineas Ort, Bogus U.’s first choice for president, disappears, the search committee decides to recruit a hit man to keep the fractious faculty in line. Phineas has been abducted by the Robaccia gang, who aim to install their own candidate in the president’s office to cash in on Bogus U.’s well-known corruption.

Christy Mahon, a former member of the Robaccia gang, now on the lam for having crossed its boss, Brooklyn Benny, has landed a job at Bogus U. as a janitor. Listening through a heating vent, he overhears the search committee’s deliberations and decides to interview for the job, which he ultimately lands in a funny and subversive chain of events.

Laura Favoloso, who has her own ties to the mob, works at Bogus U. and provides Christy with an insider’s view of its inner workings and lower depths. Under Laura’s influence and tutelage, Christy reluctantly begins to transform into a new man, and tries to institute rigorous academic standards, raising the ire and exciting the violent tendencies of the student population. But the student body is not the only quarter from which Christy must guard himself from mortal harm—a hit has been ordered on Christy, and he must use his old street smarts as well as his newly acquired political savvy to survive and protect his legacy.

Details

Taylor Trade Publishing

Pages: 304 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-63076-064-9 • Paperback • June 2015 • $17.95 • (£13.99)

978-1-63076-065-6 • eBook • June 2015 • $9.99 • (£7.99)

Subjects: Fiction / Humorous, Fiction / Crime, Fiction / Satire

Author

Paul M. Levitt has written numerous books, plays, and articles, including radio plays for the BBC and the novel Stalin's Barber. He received his Ph.D. in English from UCLA. He is Professor of English at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He lives with his wife in Colorado.

Table of Contents

Dedication
Acknowledgment
Disclaimer
A Note about the Author
How Phineas Ort Missed His Plane
Brooklyn Benny Explains His Philosophy of Money
How Christy the Chump Heard about Bogus U.
A Day in the Life of Bogus U.
Benny’s Plan Takes Shape
Christy Finds a Job
How Christy Came to Eavesdrop
Of Things Past and Present
Mr. Hasty-Pasty Receives a Disquieting Telephone Call
Mr. Hasty-Pasty Explains
What Christy Learned from Eavesdropping
How Christy Became President of Bogus U.
Why Laura Favoloso Admired Christy the Chop
The Board of Trustees Meets in Camera
Christy Meets the Grand Vizier
The Plotters
The Viziers Express an Opinion
Mr. Hasty-Pasty and Christy Come Face-to-Face
In the Beginning Was the Word
Brooklyn Benny Puts Out a Contract on Christy
Phineas Ort Explicates Antigone
Christy Surveys His Domain
Night School
Christy Looks in the Mirror
The First Day
Meetings, Meetings, Always Meetings
Shakedown (An Extortion of Money by Devious Means)
The Monroe Larson Case
Doubts, Discrimination, and Deceits
Christy’s Recurring Nightmare
Laura Interrogates Shawn
Word Spreads: Christy’s a Marked Man
Christy Tries to Discover the Hit Man
Creon’s Defense
Christy Wines and Dines Troxy
Shawn Keeps a Clandestine Date
Gretchen Edsel Takes a Lover
Christy and Laura Discuss Money
DeeDee Lite’s Novel Begins
Christy Makes a Tenure Decision
Christy Goes to the Gridiron
Christy and Others Discuss Monroe Larson
Bang, Bing, Bam: A Detonation, Not a Chinese Dish
A Break in the Case
Detective Crankshaw Questions the Suspects
Autumn Leaves and Mountain Walks
Shawn and Millicent Go Shopping
Christy Hosts a Dinner for the New Faculty
Laura Reports on Her Findings
A Home Away from Home
The Heart’s a State of Mind
DeeDee Lite’s Novel Takes Shape
Jackie Brown Telephones His Girlfriend
Phineas Learns a Few Scams
The Best Laid Plans ...
Phineas and DeeDee Have a Talk
Christy and Laura Watch a Video
Brooklyn Benny Huddles with the Hit Person
DeeDee Relates Brent’s Sad Tale
The Police Issue a Report
In Flagrante Delicto
Brent’s Escape from Hanoi
One Happy Family
The Spring Is Sprung
On Easter-day, the Expose
Christy and Laura Forge an Agreement
Christy Inks His Name to a Contract
DeeDee Concludes Her Novel
Christy Reforms Bogus U.
Commercial Ventures, Inc.
Epilogue

Reviews

All in all Bogus U. is a sexy, instructive romp through the sins of everyone's alma mater.

— Peter Michelson, Professor Emeritus of English, University of Colorado

Bogus U.

Paul M. Levitt

Bogus U.

ALSO AVAILABLE