Kinky Friedman: Musical Chairs (USA 2000)

From the Publisher:
It's the last week of December, a brooding time of year even for a hip, sardonic, New York cowboy/private-eye. When an ex-Texas Jewboys guitarist comes to crash, Kinky's gloom turns to horror: his 'housepest' gets savagely murdered in the shower, his loft gets pumped full of lethal gas, a dismembered doll shows up in the mail, and deadly accidents start befalling other members of the guerrilla country-music band. Someone is killing the Jewboys of Texas.

Kinky stalks the killer, armed only with an attitude and a cigar, aided and obstructed by a now-familiar crew: Winnie, the lesbian dance teacher; Cleve, the flipped-out ex-manager of the Lone Star; Dylan, who speaks in song lyrics; McGovern, the herculean journalist; and Ratso, his raffish Watson.

Kinky Friedman: Musical Chairs. Vandam Press, ISBN: 0970238347 (August, 2000), 167 p., $9.95.

Kinky Friedman: Musical Chairs (UK 1999)

From the Publisher:
It's the last week of December, a brooding time of year even for a hip, sardonic, New York cowboy/private-eye. When an ex-Texas Jewboys guitarist comes to crash, Kinky's gloom turns to horror: his 'housepest' gets savagely murdered in the shower, his loft gets pumped full of lethal gas, a dismembered doll shows up in the mail, and deadly accidents start befalling other members of the guerrilla country-music band. Someone is killing the Jewboys of Texas.

Kinky stalks the killer, armed only with an attitude and a cigar, aided and obstructed by a now-familiar crew: Winnie, the lesbian dance teacher; Cleve, the flipped-out ex-manager of the Lone Star; Dylan, who speaks in song lyrics; McGovern, the herculean journalist; and Ratso, his raffish Watson.

Kinky Friedman: Musical Chairs. Faber & Faber, ISBN: 0571196411 (February, 1999), 218 p., £5.99.

Kinky Friedman: Musical Chairs (USA 1991)

From the Publisher:
"Who's better than Kinky? That's a trick question, People, Musical Chairs is the definitive masterpiece from the Dr. Demento of crime fiction. The blues are the truth, and Kinky's got all the chops. You don't like the Kinkster? Next time you see your therapist, get your money back." -- Andrew Vachss

It's the last week of December, a brooding time of year even for a hip, sardonic, New York cowboy/private eye. When an ex- Texas Jewboys guitar-picker comes to crash, it only deepens Kinky's gloom -- which turns to horror when his "housepest" gets savagely murdered in his shower. Then a dismembered doll shows up in the mail, Kinky's loft gets pumped full of lethal gas, and deadly "accidents" start befalling other members of the guerrilla country-music band. Someone is killing the Jewboys of Texas... and launching Kinky Friedman on his fifth mystery in the series People magazine calls "outrageous" and "outrageously funny."

There's no shortage of suspects: the Mob, a lady dope dealer, the maniac ex-husband of Kinky's upstairs neighbor, or -- chilling and most likely -- one of the Jewboys' own. In a race against time, Kinky stalks the killer, armed only with an attitude and a cigar, aided and obstructed by a now-familiar crew: Winnie, the lesbian dance teacher; Cleve, the flipped-out ex-manager of the Lone Star; Dylan, who speaks in song lyrics; McGovern, the herculean journalist; and Ratso, his raffish Watson; along with former Jewboys, evoking memories of the band's old musical, sexual, and chemical hijinx on the road.

Musical Chairs is quintessential Kinky, here once more living up to his billing by New York Woman as "the Damon Runyon" of the decade and by the Chicago Tribune as "a hip hybrid of Groucho Marx and Sam Spade."

Kinky Friedman first found fame as the leader of the celebrated country band the Texas Jewboys. He lives on a ranch in the Texas hills with three cats and an armadillo. He is the author -- and protagonist -- of five mystery novels, the most recent being Frequent Flyer.

Kinky Friedman: Musical Chairs. A Novel. William Morrow, ISBN: 0688091482 (March, 1991), 259 p., $18.95.