The definitive novel about celebrity grave-robbing: completely original, very black, and very funny.
Jay Mason is experiencing a crisis of faith. Disillusioned with his calling as a Deacon in the Anglican Church of Geneva, and estranged from his pregnant girlfriend, he's about to fall into the murky world of celebrity grave- robbing. His church has been bought by the shadowy antiquities dealer Joseph Moholy, who arrives to claim its most interesting asset: the toe bone of Thomas-Becket.
Moholy, it turns out, has a large collection of dubiously acquired relics ranging from the arm of Leonardo da Vinci to the jaw of Suleiman the Magnificent. He is keen to add to his collection and Jay, he decides, is the man to assist him.
Honing his new skills on the last resting places of Elizabeth Taylor's lap-dogs, Jay finds that grave-robbing can be both lucrative and thrilling, however morally troubling for a man of God, and in Switzerland's cemeteries he finds a rich cast to work on: James Joyce, Richard Burton, John Calvin and Charlie Chaplin all receive his midnight attentions.
But Moholy is a ruthless man whose ambitions are perilously high, and as Jay assists him in his search for the holy grail of relics, he puts himself and his loved ones in serious danger.
A blend of mind and word games, slapstick and farce, and raw philosophic reflection on fundamentals, 'Dry Bones' is a tour de force.
