1993; 256 pages. New Author? : Yes. Genre: Crime Mystery; Snarky Mystery; Amateur
Detectives. Overall Rating : 7½*/10.
It sounded like an easy favor to carry out,
especially since the person asking it was the father of Kinky's longtime friend, Tom Baker, whose recent passing was the occasion for the wake that Kinky finds himself attending today.
Tom had been working on a
movie at the time of his death – a documentary about Elvis
impersonators. Tom’s dad wasn’t sure
whether the project had been completed, but he did know that it was now missing, and he’d like Kinky to see if
he could locate and retrieve it.
Most likely Tom had set it
down somewhere, and now it’s just a matter of finding where that is, picking it up, and
delivering it to Tom’s father. It’s the
least Kinky could do to on behalf of the Bakerman.
But then an ex-girlfriend of
Kinky’s disappears, followed by an associate of Tom Baker being murdered. The police suspect both are connected to that
missing film, and because both of them left notes with Kinky’s name and
telephone number on them, he finds the cops suddenly viewing him as being a “person of interest”.
Which means it’s time to
assemble the "Village Irregulars", a small group of Kinky’s closest associates,
and do some sleuthing.
What’s To Like...
Kinky Friedman is both the author and the
protagonist in Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola,
and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that setup before. The tale is told in the first-person POV (Kinky's, of course),
and is at times snarky, at times edgy, at times self-deprecating, and at all
times charmingly witty. The writing style reminded
me of Robert Crais, if you’ve read any of his crime mystery novels.
The story is set in
New York City, with Kinky and his companions traveling from one borough to another,
trying to figure out why someone would think a movie showing clips of a bunch of Elvis
impersonators is worth killing for and where it might be presently
residing. I liked the character
development of the Village Irregulars: each one is quirkily unique. Kinky-the-protagonist is a fascinating character as well; it has
to be a challenge to write oneself into a novel.
The book’s title gets referenced
twice, once as the only English words an indigenous and isolated jungle tribe
learned to recognize, and once in a note left at the very end of the
story. The music nods were fantastic:
Elvis (naturally), Bob Dylan, Paul
Simon, Phil Ochs, Jim Morrison, Mike Bloomfield (wow!),
and Mojo Nixon (double wow!). Wavy Gravy (who?) and Don Imus also get nods,
the latter being mentioned on the Acknowledgements page at the book’s beginning.
I liked the phrase “cuddlaribus interruptus”, learned the coded meaning of “MIT! MIT!”, and what it
means to take a “Waylon Jennings Bus Shower”. That last phrase resonated because my wife
was once given a personal tour of Waylon’s tour bus. The slang term “blower”
for the telephone was new to me, and it was enlightening to learn that St. Dymphna really is the patron saint of the
insane.
The ending is logical in a “Sherlock Holmesian” sort of way. Kinky lays out the string of clues along the
way that both we both missed. He and
the police have two completely different theories as to the solutions to the
crimes, and that was also quite Holmesian.
The Epilogue is both brief yet poignant.
It has nothing to do with the storyline itself, but left a lump in my
throat.
Kewlest New Word ...
Stultifying
(adj.) : tending to stifle
enthusiasm, initiative, or freedom of action.
Others: Goniffing (v., Yiddish)
Ratings…
Amazon:
3.9/5
based on 34 ratings.
Goodreads: 3.75/5 based on 1,321
ratings and 88 reviews
Excerpts...
“A snuff film,” I said, “is an illegal,
amoral actual cinematic documentation of a person getting croaked. An actor has to be really desperate to take
the job. There are, of course, no
sequels.”
“Jesus,” said Judy. “Have you ever seen one?”
“No, but I’ve seen a lot of performances
that made me wish the movie was a snuff film.” (pg. 166)
When I stumbled out of the loft that morning
they were waiting for me in the hallway.
If you wanted to be uncharitable, you could say I was taken by
surprise. If you wanted to give me the
benefit of the doubt, you could say I’d known for some time it would
happen. I just hadn’t realized it would
be now. Now is always a bit
sudden, as General Custer remarked to the captain of the Titanic when he
passed by in the night on cloud eight and a half. (pg. 231)
I have always
believed that if you drink enough instant decaf you will cease to exist. (pg. 161)
There are a few quibbles,
but no show-stoppers. First of all, the
256-page length of the book is misleading, because 20 or so of them are blank
“filler” following chapters that end on an odd-numbered page. The chapters are already short – 47 of them cover those 256 pages – so those empty pages shorten the book even further.
Also, Kinky
Friedman is a multi-talented singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician (he received 12.6% of the vote when he ran for governor
of Texas in 2006), and former columnist (for
the magazine "Texas Monthly"), and if you’ve never read or listened to
him, you should be aware that his output in any of those roles is usually edgy, filled with cussing,
and often politically incorrect. If
Allen Ginsberg offends you, Kinky probably will too.
Elvis,
Jesus and Coca-Cola was my introduction to Kinky Friedman’s literary works and
I found his storytelling to be straightforward and amusing, with the mystery-solving aspect being surprisingly well-crafted. Most of the negative reviews appear to be readers disliking the author’s non-PC writing tone, but that probably just means the readers were new to the Kinkster's style. I’ve listened to
Kinky’s music; it is edgy as well. I
expected the same from Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola,
and was not disappointed.
7½ Stars. Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola apparently is part of a whole series of detective novels by Kinky Friedman, featuring a fictionalized version of himself as the central amateur sleuth. I don’t recall seeing any of his books ever being offered at discount prices at Amazon, which means I need to hit the local used-book stores as soon as this pandemic is over.
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