Mix up Texas politics, a presidential race, a murder at the Alamo, an Apache medicine man, and then add a dash of former Rhodes Scholar who now goes by the name "Wildcat Willie" and you have the cast of the hilarious new comic novel Michelangelo Schwartz and the Mystery of the Alamo. Dr. Michelangelo Schwartz is a disheveled and disgraced professor who loves literature, booze and women, but not in that particular order. He finds himself in hot water when he heads to Texas to find out what makes the Lone Star State so unique. Along the way he will ride a mechanical bull, go on a rattlesnake hunt, spend time in an Apache sweat lodge and get a glimpse into the inner workings of the Texas oilmen. Hold on to your ten-gallon hat as we ride that bucking bronco called "Texas politics" and solve a crime that will change the history of our country and determine the next president of the United States. PRAISE FOR Michelangelo Schwartz and Mystery of the Illuminati. "Step aside, Robert Langdon, respected, betweeded, Mickey Mouse Watch bedecked, sinecured Harvard symbologist (a term made up by Dan Brown). Here comes Michelangelo Schwartz, in mustard bespattered tweeds, a drink in either hand, disgraced, disheveled, and unashamed! For its energy alone, this novel rates five stars, perhaps six. Dr. McCluskey's scholarship and erudition seed his narrative with unalloyed nuggets of knowledge". Dr. Joel Feimer, author of "Tales of Wonder from Many Lands". "This laugh-a-minute outrageous comedy will keep you enthralled from page one to the end". Bob O'Connor, author of The Amazing Legacy of James E. Hanger, Civil War Soldier "At last, a reader to enjoy paranoia to the full, and without hurting anybody. Five stars"! Dr. Boria Sax author of Stealing Fire. "Schwartz is a slapstick intellectual of a high order". Dr. John Briggs author of Seven Life Lessons of Chaos. "For his first novel, he gives us a winning combination of intellectual history, philosophy, imagination, humor, and sincerity". Dr. Michael Brannigan author of Striking A Balance In McCluskey's (Michelangelo Schwartz and the Mystery of the Illuminati, 2014, etc.) comic thriller, the college professor-turned-amateur sleuth returns to expose the truth behind a bit of Texas history some wish to keep hidden...Author McCluskey certainly knows how to dish out the humor: his story is jam packed with characters spewing hilarious conspiracy theories...Schwartz, even if not the greatest detective, makes a surprisingly good TV host and Texas tour guide. Die-hard mystery fans might be let down, but those looking for laughs will enjoy this rollicking, uproarious tale.- Kirkus Review 2015
About the Author: Dr. Frank Bryce McCluskey took his PhD in German Philosophy (Hegel) at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research, was a National Endowment for the Humanities Post Doctoral Fellow at Yale University and has lectured all over the world. He has published dozens of articles and books on philosophy, linguistics, higher education and semantics. After a career as a university dean and provost, topped off with academic and civic honors, he retired to the tropics. During a tropical storm that lasted all night, Dr. McCluskey found himself in nearly empty tiki bar in the Keys with a slow turning fan. It was there, as the wind howled and the waves crashed outside, he met a stranger on which the character of Dr. Michelangelo Schwartz is based. In that bar, on that island, he met a disheveled and disgraced professor, drinking cheap rum who seemed without shame or remorse. Trapped by the storm, Dr. McCluskey listened to tales of academic madness, professorial misconduct, drunkenness and philandering. What was so remarkable was that this man seemed total at peace with who he was and the life he had led. When Dr. McCluskey asked him why he, time and time again, did wrong when he knew what it would lead to, the professor had a simple answer. "The hotter the water, the stronger the tea". Thus was born the idea of the professor-sleuth, Michelangelo Schwartz, a man who would stop at nothing. And thus, because there is nothing more to say, we will stop here.