Kinky Friedman Elvis, Jesus & Coca-Cola
The Kinkster, it should be noted, has a thing about duality. He’s a two-Ratso man, and at the start of Elvis, Jesus & Coca-Cola he’s more or less in the cot with Downtown Judy when Uptown Judy is reported missing from a blood-stained apartment.
The disappearances aren’t limited to occasional bed partners either. Following the death of his friend tough guy/actor Tom Baker (who, it should be noted, isn’t the Doctor Who dude of the same name) the Bakerman’s Elvis impersonators documentary has gone missing as well.
And, surprise, surprise, both investigations run together as Friedman’s name and phone number appear scribbled on jotters beside various victims’ phones.
As the Kinkster and the regular cast of misfits and ne’er-do-wells follow the trail through another murder, a TV talk-show which provides the opportunity to liberate the documentary, a late- night screening at the only venue available for the purpose (a notorious gay club called Fort Dicks), a fire in a photographic studio which may or may not be associated with snuff-films, and a resurrected Mafia don, the glamorous Stephanie DuPont and dogs appears on the scene and the upstairs lesbian dance studio kicks into intermittent action.
Eventually, of course, the pieces of the jigsaw slot into place, and while the logic that completes the linking process is somewhat warped, so are most of the characters. Linear logical deduction and Kinky Friedman novels are, after all, completely disjoint sets.