On the House tells the sad but undeniably funny story of The Murder Trust, a group of incompetent would-be criminals who hatch a plot to take out insurance on a third party and then kill him to collect the rewards. The time is 1933 and the setting is a low rent speakeasy owned by the Trust's 'mastermind' Anthony Marino. Their chosen victim is Michael Malloy, a vagrant alcholohlic who passes out on the floor of the speakeasy on a nightly basis. The gist of the book then deals with the Trust's attempts to secure an insurance policy and their multiple unsuccessful attempts to murder the seemingly invulnerable (and unaware) Michael Malloy.

True Crime is not the section of the bookstore I would normally look to for laughs, but I have to say that I chuckled and laughed out loud during several sections of the book. The members of the Trust have no business being criminals. Even the simplest parts of their plan wind up becoming overly complicated, important details would be entrusted to shady characters and schemes would fall apart at regular intervals.

I have to give credit to Simon Read though. While the book is very funny, he also manages to constantly remind you that Michael Malloy was a very real person. Someone who thought of the members of the Trust as his only real friends in the world. He manages to take a low rent, alchoholic cipher of a person (about whom so little is known that he is never able to be connected to any sort of family) and turn him into a sort of tragic character.

I don't read much true crime, but I thought enough of this book to pick up his next one: In the Dark: The True Story of the Blackout Ripper.

I think On the House would make an excellent Coen Brothers movie. If you like quirky crime stories or stories dealing with simple plans gone awry, I'd recommend this book. ( )