Thursday, 30 October 2008
A Case of Lone Star is based around The Lone Star Cafe, on the edge of Greenwich Village, an East Coast mecca for country-and-western musicians and fans. Although business improves after three country stars are killed, management understandably experiences some difficulty booking new acts. Lone Star is also, of course, a well-known brand of Texas beer.
Asked by both the owner and club manager to step in, Kinky focuses on a letter containing Hank Williams lyrics, which each victim received before his final appearance. Hard-drinking, cigar-smoking Kinky comes up with a list of suspects, including a cocaine-dealing lawyer, the author of a just-published Williams biography and a luscious blond photographer from England.
To get his man in the end, Kinky examines the details of Hank Williams's final tour and returns to the stage, flushing out the suspect in the process. With half a dozen pages to go, the pieces fall into place and the Kinkster is left licking the wounds that come when you find yourself at close quarters with a tomahawk-wielding maniac.