From BooklistSince having seemingly killed off his alter ego, Kinky Friedman, the curmudgeonly singer turned curmudgeonly crime solver of 17 novels, the Kinkster has not rested on his laurels. Instead, he has been busy running for the governor of Texas (he lost with more than 12 percent of the vote); selling cigars (Kinky Friedman Cigars, or, KFC); and writing columns for Texas Monthly. Now, in his latest effort, Kinky proffers advice. Not “direct good advice” but, instead, “lots and lots of common Zen bullshit” on such topics as writing, traveling, “life, death, and everything in between.” Really an excuse to expound again on his favorite obsessions (politics, Hank Williams’ death in the back of a ’52 Cadillac, and his favorite lunatics who’ve gone mad or “stepped on a rainbow”), this compendium allows Kinky to recall his Peace Corp days in Borneo, where he ate monkey brains; explain why he (and other authors) killed off their creations; profile personal heroes of his like Don Imus, Bob Dylan, Jack Ruby, Willie Nelson, and various animals who’ve saved lives; and, most importantly, share his special brand of Texas wit and wisdom again. --Ben Segedin Product DescriptionKinky Friedman, who would be our contemporary Will Rogers if Will Rogers had been Jewish, smoked cigars, and foolish enough to believe he could govern the great state of Texas, returns with this collection of hilariously raunchy, sometimes poignant, and always insightful essays. With fearless wit and wisdom born from many a late night’s experience, Kinky offers both pearls and cowpats that touch on life, death, and everything in between. Considering the current predicament of our nation and the world at large, the question is, “What would Kinky do?” His answers invoke Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Judy Garland, George Bush, and other cultural touchstones; reflect on Texas etiquette, smoking in bars, mullet haircuts, immigration policy, and how Don Imus died for our sins; and advise on how to handle a nonstop talker on a long flight, how to deliver the perfect air kiss, and what to do when a redneck hollers “Hey y’all, watch this!” Whether he’s “the new Mark Twain” (_Southern Living_), “in a class with Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, Will Rogers, and, yes, Henny Youngman” (_The New York Post_), “a Texas legend” (President George W. Bush), or “the Mother Teresa of literature” (Willie Nelson), Kinky Friedman is an outrageously funny and uncommonly smart observer of our common predicament: life and what to do about it. A little friendly advice from “Texas for Dummies” *Get you some brontosaurus-foreskin boots and a big ol’ cowboy hat. Always remember, only two kinds of people can get away with wearing their hats indoors: cowboys and Jews. Try to be one of them. *Get your hair fixed right. If you’re male, cut it into a “mullet” (short on the sides and top, long in the back---think Billy Ray Cyrus). If you’re female, make it as big as possible, with lots of teasing and hair spray. If you can hide a buck knife in there, you’re ready. *Buy you a big ol’ pickup truck or a Cadillac. I myself drive a Yom Kippur Clipper. That’s a Jewish Cadillac---stops on a dime and picks it up. *Don’t be surprised to find small plastic bags of giant dill pickles in local convenience stores. *Everything goes better with picante sauce. No exceptions. *Don’t tell us how you did it up there. Nobody cares.

Kinky Friedman, the original Texas Jewboy, takes us on a rollicking, rock-and-rolling tour of his favorite city: Austin.Maybe you want to know which restaurant President Bush rates as his favorite Austin burger joint. Or maybe you want a glimpse of Willie Nelson's home life (hint: Willie plays a lot of golf). Perhaps you want to get the best view of the Mexican free-tail bats as they make their nightly flights to and from the Congress Avenue Bridge. Or maybe you're itching to learn the history of a city that birthed Janis Joplin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and countless other music legends. It's all here in The Great Psychedelic Armadillo Picnic, the slightly insane, amazingly practical, and totally kick-ass guide to the coolest city in Texas by none other than Kinky Friedman.This ain't no ordinary travel guide, neither. "Like most other busy cities these days, Austin is not very effectively traversed by foot," Kinky explains. "You must understand that 'a walk...

From Publishers WeeklyFriedman sends a slumping, unfulfilled novelist off on a wild criminal adventure with a couple of con artists in his latest, an engaging but erratic caper novel that begins when mid-career fiction writer Walter Snow meets the woman of his dreams, Clyde Potts, at a bank in Manhattan. Potts already has a companion, an oddball named Fox Harris who accompanies Clyde on her various criminal ventures, and the pair quickly take advantage of Snow's lust for Potts to convince him to play a role in a smalltime con at a New York bar. Their next escapade takes them to a mental hospital, where they liberate an African-American acquaintance who believes himself to be the king of an African country. The criminal stakes go up when Potts manages to steal Donald Trump's credit card number, and the trio throws a lavish party for the homeless at a New York shelter, but the plotting turns downright bizarre when Potts and Harris sabotage a major coffee cafe after the company that owns the chain evicts the owner of a dive bar called the Unicorn. Friedman's usual off-kilter charm prevails throughout, particularly in the characterization of Snow, a sincere but befuddled writer who uses his lust for Potts to overcome a continuing case of writer's block. Potts and Harris have their endearing moments, but the criminal subplots range from the solidly effective to the over-the-top wacky, particularly the coffee caper, which is designated "Operation Diarrhea" and involves the trio adding a mix of diabolical chemicals to the local brew. Friedman fans will enjoy the antics, but this falls short of top-shelf Kinky.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalFriedman abandons his eponymous hero for this standalone story about a down-and-out writer whose new buddies introduce him to a life of crime. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A purloined feline from a Madison Square Garden cat show is the tip-off to a trail of murders, South American drug lords and a gang war that only Kinky can unravel. But there's more than one way to skin a cat, and Kinky may soon be wishing for nine lives. Out of print for nearly a decade and never before available in electronic format, When The Cat's Away is the third of Kinky Friedman's internationally acclaimed mystery novels, republished with a new introduction by the author. "His irreverent, bawdy and often outrageous adventures are like no others." (San Diego Union-Tribune) "A surefire cure for the blues." (New York Times) "Kinky Friedman is a hip hybrid of Groucho Marx and Sam Spade." (Chicago Tribune) "How is this mystery writer different from all other mystery writers? We don't read him to find out what happens next, we read him to find out how far he will far he will go." (The Washington Post) "Dear Kinky, I have now read all of your books. More, please. I really need the laughs!" (former President Bill Clinton) "A true Texas legend." (former President George Bush) "Genuinely funny fiction is rare, but genuinely funny crime fiction is rarer still. All the more reason, therefore, to celebrate..." (Sunday Times) From the Author's Introduction: "Mysteries with cats as central characters have become so plentiful and predictable that I can't believe that I've written fourteen and a half of them. ... I would also argue that the cat is not so much a character in my novels as it is a conscience. You remember those. A lot of people used to have them in the Sixties. Back then, consciences were really in style. They were almost as popular as cats. ... In When the Cat's Away, the search for Jane Meara's missing cat, Rocky, leads the Kinkster and his companion Ratso on a voyage of self-discovery not to mention traveling down the tawdry trails of murder, drug rings, gang wars, and the New York publishing business. In the real world Jane Meara was once a favorite editor of mine. Rocky was once a favorite cat of Jane's. Rocky was bugled to Jesus about five years ago but she walks these pages undaunted and graceful as ever. That's part of the reason I'm so pleased that Vandam Press has chosen this particular book to reprint as part of its new Masters of Crime series. It proves that some cats, as well as some books, do have nine lives. It also provides a chance, at least in the casino of fiction, for Jane to find Rocky again.. ..." Vandam Press is proud to be able to make this remarkable novel available to Kinky's old friends and to those readers who are discovering Kinky Friedman for the first time.

Kinky Friedman has always proven himself to be a master of the offbeat and irreverent, and still manages to pull off a helluva whodunit in the process. Now the Kinkster may have met his match in this superbly crafted, fiendishly clever tale of a murderer who's methodically killing off unsuspecting Manhattan men. Gallingly, all clues point toward Kinky.Greenwich Village is the setting for Ten Little New Yorkers, a tale of murder and mayhem as only Friedman can warble it and featuring his usual suspects, including Ratso -- Dr. Watson to Kinky's singular Sherlock Holmes. As the clues and bodies pile up and the cops strong-arm Kinky as their man, he has to jump through hoops to find the real killer, all the while maintaining his outrage and, of course, his innocence. The murderer may be someone close to Kinky, which leads to a shocker of an ending that will surely take Kinky devotees completely by surprise.With a wink and a nod to Dame Agatha (as in Christie), after whic...

The Kinkster is back and in top supersleuth form. In Armadillos & Old Lace, the hip, witty, cosmically cryptic poet returns to once again ponder the imponderables and disentangle a mystery or two, and this time he's temporarily forsaking the mean streets of Manhattan for his old Texas stomping grounds. When Kinky Friedman decides it's time to take a break from big-city murder and mayhem, he transports himself and his cat to Texas to get back to his roots, to commune with his dad, to play with his pet armadillo, and to blow the city soot from his fevered brain. Kinky arrives at his family's combination ranch/summer camp for boys and girls to find urgent messages from Pat Knox, the local justice of the peace (who got that job by beating Kinky in what clearly had to have been a rigged election). It seems Her Honor is a tad concerned that little old ladies in the area are dropping dead at an alarming rate. Fearing something foul is afoot, she persuades Kinky to undertake some sleuthing. Undaunted by the thought of running up against the toughest lady sheriff in Texas and only a little perturbed by a mass of swarming bees, the Kinkster takes off in his talking car to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Several bunches of yellow roses and a faded photograph taken many years ago of ten pretty girls dressed in white and ready for the cotillion are just the clues Kinky needs to finally unravel a devious scheme of revenge for personal wrongs and social snobbery. A colorful Texas story of the cosmic variety, Armadillos & Old Lace is Kinky Friedman at his dead-level best, mixing his irresistible irreverence with a really great mystery.