Oddball Crime Fiction (Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola - Kinky Friedman)

Member Name: cyberem78

Product:	Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola - Kinky Friedman
Date:	14/12/08 (113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, different and absorbing.

Disadvantages: Lots of masculine themes.

When I was at university doing my English degree I had this oddball professor who was a little fatalistic and had a black sense of humour. He opened our first ever class, for instance, by telling us that the most important thing we'd learn during our three years of studying was that we "ought never to have been born"! It was this teacher who assigned this novel by Kinky Friedman as part of a crime fiction module. I sensed, then, that the novel might be a little unusual and, boy, was I right!

I had never heard of Kinky before I'd read this book. Don't make the same mistake as I did and type 'kinky' into your Google search as it will throw up all sorts of naughty links. Friedman is in fact an American singer, songwriter, novelist, humourist, political candidate and the founder of a animal sanctuary. A curious kind of guy, he started writing detective style novels in the 1980's. 'Elvis, Jesus and Coca-cola' is his sixth crime novel and was written in 1993.

This is a smart and funny book and although I keep calling it a 'crime novel' it is about as far removed from your James Ellroy's or your Patricia Cromwell's as you can get. This is a totally different approach to the detective novel and is like some kind of whacked out dream. It actually reminds me in terms of humour and oddness of the novels of Kurt Vonnegut.

In 'Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola' we have a first person narrator, our 'hero' detective who has conversations with his pet cat, locks himself into his loft "like Emily Dickinson", smokes, drinks and in a cry for help starts "farting loudly". The plot involves the death of a character called Tom Baker, a movie maker who'd been working on a film about Elvis impersonators at the time of his death. In attempting to find the documentary reel, which has vanished without a trace, Kinky becomes involved in a complicated mess of murder and mystery.

Kinky's relationships with two women he calls 'Uptown' Judy and 'Downtown' Judy takes on a more serious nature when one of the women dissapears and is presumed murdered and Kinky is certain of her connections with the overdose victim Tom Baker. Just what is going on? Kinky isn't sure either but ponders with his cat on whether God, Jesus, Buddha or Ron L. Hubbard can help figure it out!

An original novel which is bursting with wit and maudlin humour this is a book that will make you fall in love with the Kinkster. The plot is a little out of fairytale land but is fun and the mystery keeps you interested throughout. Some of my uni. classmates sneered and called this novel misogynistic and too offbeat and I admit it might be a little too masculine and oddball for some people's tastes but I absolutely love it!

Summary: A great read, an unusual type of crime fiction.