HOORAY FOR McGOVERN! (Steppin' on a Rainbow - Kinky Friedman)

Member Name: lynn_bex

Product:	Steppin' on a Rainbow - Kinky Friedman
Date:	25/04/02 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Ace Detective (NOT), Running Gags, Familiar Characters

Disadvantages: Dreadful jokes, Bad Language, Precious Little Plot (to quote the author!)

STEPPIN’ ON A RAINBOW

The very least I can do is write an opinion, dooyoo’s Mike having very kindly put all fourteen of the Kinkster’s crime novels up on screen.

-But, in this instance: The last shall be first – because this was a category I requested some months ago, before being overtaken by events …

These crime novels, sometimes described as “Cult Literature,” feature Kinky Friedman himself as the wise-cracking, cigar-smoking, cat-loving sleuth who, with both help and hindrance from his friends, The Village Irregulars, has to date solved every one of his cases.

~~
For anyone new to Kinky Friedman, I should perhaps explain that he was the one-time leader of an outlandish 1970’s country rock band, who later re-invented himself as a successful and best selling crime novelist…
[More detail, should you be interested, can be found in my opinion over in the Music Category]
~~

To fully appreciate the humour in these books, I recommend that you read them in publication date order, thus achieving a manageable level of recognition of both the cast of characters and the inter-related (and frequently repeated) running gags.

That said, each book stands alone, so, having first shuffled the complete set of paperbacks, I will don my genuine “Kinky Friedman Honor America Bandana” and set to reviewing the fourteenth book, “Steppin’ on a Rainbow.”

I bought and read “Steppin’ on a Rainbow” in the summer of 2001, thereafter requesting its dooyoo category, but my thoughts of writing an opinion came to a grinding halt after 11 September 2001…

As even the most casual of the Kinkster’s readers will know, he specialises in bad taste and sick jokes, but nobody could have foreseen the relevance of one of his more innocent quips, appearing on Page 29 of this book, where a Japanese tour
ist on the streets of New York asks where he can find the World Trade Centre and is told, “You found Pearl Harbour, didn’t you?”

[I still get icy fingers up and down my spine, re-reading and reporting this. In fact, it occurred to me that the publishers might have “pulled” the first edition and re-issued it without this reference but I checked in Borders Bookshop at lunchtime today, prior to posting this opinion, and found Page 29 to be unaltered.]
~~

Oops… Nearly side-tracked again… Here comes the review:

“Steppin’ on a Rainbow” opens in the familiar surroundings of our Hero’s loft apartment, where he is alone with the cat, a not uncommon occurrence save that, for the first time in the Kinkster’s memory, all of the Village Irregulars are out of New York. He explains this phenomenon to the cat and, in gauging her response, sees both pity and distaste in her eyes, but is not discouraged, continuing with the kind of scene setting monologue that we devotees have come to expect, because it usually leads to THE TELEPHONE CALL.

Which on this occasion begins “Aloha!” and continues with Hoover, Kinky’s Hawaii-based friend, telling of his concern that the most loveable of the Village Irregulars, Mike McGovern, has gone missing in Honolulu whilst researching his book, “Eat, Drink and be Kinky.”

Initially it is decided that, since childlike creatures such as McGovern come and go as they please but always find their way home, there is no cause for concern but, upon receiving a “MIT-MIT-MIT” [code for “Man in Trouble”] telephone call, believed to be from McGovern, the Kinkster soon reconsiders and enlists the help of his mega-rich friend, John McCall.

McCall decides to join the adventure and, given his financial clout, a private charter jet to Hawaii becomes immediately available. r><br>
Better still, from our hero’s viewpoint, the sweet-natured McGovern is so loved that Stephanie DuPont, the Kinkster’s acid-tongued Muse (and object of his misplaced lust) decides to join the rescue mission to Hawaii, accompanied by her dogs, Thisbe and Baby Savannah.

From the reader’s viewpoint, the hyperactive Baby Savannah is an added bonus, especially when Stephanie uses her much like a ventriloquist’s dummy, all the better to irritate Uncle Kinky.

For example, “Mommy! Mommy!” squeals Baby Savannah, as the plane swoops low over the palm trees, “Look! It’s a beach! Can we play on the beach?”

“No, darling, it’s too late,” replies Stephanie. “…Tomorrow Uncle Kinky will take you and Thisbe out to the beach. After he finds McGovern.”

Meeting up with Honolulu based Hoover, and later joined by the concerned Village Irregular Rambam, the rescue party eventually consists of four middle aged men, one beautiful woman and two small dogs. But finding McGovern proves to be no easy task, despite Stephanie’s assistance in translating the native Hawaiian language by virtue of her “Instant Hawaiian Guide to Key Words and Colorful Phrases,” (a tome that provides a multitude of questionable and mildly foul-mouthed utterances.)

Our investigators soon realise that sinister forces are behind McGovern’s disappearance, but it is some time before they discover whether criminal activity or something supernatural is involved…

With their rich history, the Hawaiian Islands are seething with superstitions and tales of the supernatural, and the mix of fact and fiction within these pages makes “Steppin’ on a Rainbow” an excellent read.

As for McGovern:

Mike McGovern is both a Village Irregular and a real person, so it is safe to assume that he survived his misadve
nture in the Hawaiian Islands.

McGovern was in London with the Kinkster a year or two back, when Lynn_bex had the great pleasure of exchanging a few words with him as well as observing him perform one or two small and un-remarked acts of kindness.

HOORAY FOR McGOVERN (and Yah Boo to any reader who thinks I’ve ruined the book by telling of his survival!)

Happy reading,

Lynn

PS
Irregular readers [my ops are too few and far between to have REGULAR readers] will know that my first £50.00-worth of dooyoo money is pledged to Nanci Griffith’s beloved charity: Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation/Campaign for a Landmine Free World.

Hopefully, this opinion will take me over the halfway mark and I will be able to pay my first £25.00 instalment!

PPS

pje, in his sneaky short opinion, is quite right. It is VERY small print!