Elmer McCurdy: The Misadventures in Life and Afterlife of an American Outlaw by Mark Svenvold is a first-rate detective story about one of the most famous American mummies, incompetent train robber, and Wild West outlaw (not!): Elmer McCurdy. 

I have to admit that I approached the book hesitantly, fearing that it would be more fluff than substance. After all, what information could a researcher dig up on a man who died almost 100 years ago? The answer is: much more than you might think--and all of it is fascinating. 

In twelve chapters, Svenvold tells McCurdy's story and, to a lesser degree, his own story as a researcher. The book begins at its most dramatic point: the 1976 discovery of McCurdy's mummified body at the Nu-Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach, California. An autopsy reveals his identity--and then the real fun begins: the book travels back in time to fill in the details of McCurdy's life and afterlife (who was he anyway and how did he end up as a carnival mummy?).

Svenvold tells all: Born in 1880, to an unmarried 17-year-old girl, McCurdy (aka Frank Curtis) was raised by the girl's older brother and his wife in Bangor, Maine. Around the age of ten, when his father/uncle died, his birth mother took over parental duties and informed him of his true parentage. This news apparently came as quite a shock and seems to have begun McCurdy's downfall. He became "unruly and rebellious," began to drink, fought in bars. Eventually, he became a plumber. When he was twenty, his mother died and McCurdy took off and headed west. He got as far as Kansas, where he mined zinc for awhile, then joined the army and was stationed at Fort Leavenworth.

Upon his discharge, he turned to crime--or tried to. He was arrested before he ever began; he simply looked suspicious (of course, he happened to be carrying the parts to a machine gun in his bag). From there, he robbed a train (poorly--it took McCurdy four attempts to blow the safe), a bank (two tries to blow open the safe netted only $150), and a final ill-fated train robbery (he robbed the wrong train). 

His afterlife as a mummy was strictly American entrepreneurship at its best--and worst. When he is finally discovered in 1976, McCurdy's body was painted orange and displayed as a scary dummy in an amusement park ride (by operators who don't even know that he once was human).  

An excellent work about an unusual American mummy, this book will enthrall anyone interested in unusual mummies and/or the history of the Wild West. Seventeen b&w photos, notes, 261 pages. The only thing missing is an index. Highly, highly recommended!