The Girl with the Sturgeon Tattoo: A Parody

For this heavy-handed parody of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, the pseudonymous Arffssen, billed as a "bestselling thriller author," renames Larsson's leads and unlikely sleuthing partners as Lizzy Salamander and Mikael Blomberg. Salamander, who heads Manhater Security, which specializes in resolving "Embarrassing Sexual Predator Problems," becomes a suspect when Twig Arssen, an aspiring author, is found dead. Arrsen had just written his father a postcard about a new book of his that he fears "will cost me my life, bring down the ruling government, and lead to the collapse of the Swedish state." Arssen's failed projects include works that sound a lot like J.K. Rowlings's Harry Potter books and Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Bored of the Rings, the brilliant Harvard Lampoon parody of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings this is not, though some Larsson fans are sure to enjoy a chuckle or two. (Sept.)