The Ethical Assassin

A 2006 novel written by David Liss

David Liss

David Liss is an American writer of novels, essays and short fiction; more recently working also in comic books. He was born in New Jersey and grew up in South Florida. Liss received his B. A. degree from Syracuse University, an M. A. from Georgia State University and his M. Phil from Columbia...

 that revolves around Lemuel (Lem) Atlick, a door to door encyclopedia

Encyclopedia

An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....

salesman who is caught in the middle of an assassination and becomes a sole witness. The novel is a major departure from the series of economic history adventures Liss had previously written and a venture into black humor and modern satire.