Created By Kinky Friedman
(1944-2024)
“Kinky is the best whodunit writer to come along since Dashiell what’s-his-name.”
— noted literary critic Willie Nelson, in Mystery Scene #41
Aiding the fictional Kinky, who fancies himself a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, is a wide assortment of colourful (and often dysfunctional) friends, whom he dubs his “Village Irregulars.”
Not a bad series but not an important one, either; full of rambling, raunchy in-in-jokes about show biz, music, New York, publishing, etc. and a lot of plots that don’t always make a whole lot of sense. But that’s not the point — Kinky revels in his politically incorrect (and occasionally ill-informed) status, as do his countless fans. Sure, he’s an acquired taste, and the Kinkster may not be for everyone (and sometimes, perhaps in his most unfiltered moments, not for anyone), but that’s a large part of his, um, charm.
Kinky Friedman just happens to share his name with his real-life creator, who just happens to also be a former Texas Jewboy and tongue-in-cheek country singer, and who was reborn as a tongue-in-cheek Greenwich Village private eye writer. All just coincidence, of course.
The eighteenth loosey-goosey book in the series, Ten Little New Yorkers (2005), a gentle swipe at Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, was the last. Kinky hung up his typewriter, and ran for governor of Texas the next year. He didn’t win.
Since then he’s scribbled a few standalones novels, and resumed his music career.
UNDER OATH
- “Along the way, we are treated to too many lesbian jokes, cute asides about cats, double-entendre dialogue that annoys rather than entertains and a plot so thin you could slip it under the door. ”
— Charles Salzberg on Spanking Watson - “I think Kinky Freidman owes a lot to Richard Prather’s style, as seen in the Shell Scott books.”
— Cathy Tacinelli - “I haven’t thrown away many books in my life. I’ve given lots away and got rid of plenty to secondhand book stores, but actually thrown away, as in cast aloft on the air, well that’s a select few… (One of them) was Kinky Friedman’s late 1990s novel Spanking Watson, a wafer-thin detective story I read while on a European tour. It wasn’t loathesome, I just suddenly had had enough of Kinky’s interminable bon mots, repeated puns and cosy little homilies about life, America and the trials of being a Texan Jewish cowboy. I rolled down the window of the car I was in and flung the book onto the streets of Hamburg with nary another thought…
(But) I like Kinky. He’s a character and the world needs more characters… And ‘cos I like America, and Kinky’s writing is so America-centric it takes me there (but) the effect is like eating a chocolate with too many nuts in it. After a while you realise there are more nuts than there is chocolate and you begin to feel sick.”
–Mike Scott of The Waterboys, who later took issue with Kinky’s (lack of) knowledge of WWII in “Kinky’s History Lesson,“
NOVELS
- Greenwich Killing Time (1986) | Buy this book
- A Case of Lone Star (1987) | Buy this book
- When the Cats Away (1988) | Buy this book
- Frequent Flyer (1989) | Buy this book
- Musical Chairs (1991) | Buy this book
- Elvis, Jesus & Coca Cola (1993) | Buy this book
- Armadillos & Old Lace (1994) | Buy this book
- God Bless John Wayne (1995) | Buy this book
- The Strange Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover (1996) | Buy this book
- Roadkill (1997) | Buy this book
- Blast From the Past (1998) | Buy this book
- Spanking Watson (1999) | Buy this book
- The Mile-High Club (2000) | Buy this book
- Steppin’ on a Rainbow (2001) | Buy this book
- Meanwhile Back at the Ranch (2002) | Buy this book
- Curse Of The Missing Puppethead (2003) | Buy this book
- The Prisoner of Vandam Street (2004) | Buy this book
- Ten Little New Yorkers (2005) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
FILMS
- A CASE OF LONE STAR
Based on the novel by Kinky Friedman
Executive Producer: Tarquin Gotch (Home Alone)
Starring Kinky Friedman as KINKY FRIEDMAN
Also starring Dennis Hopper, Dean Stockwell, John Candy (not any more!), Ruth Buzzi, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan
Relax, you didn’t miss this one. It seems to have been lost in development hell somewhere. Or maybe it never even got that far. Maybe it was just a cyber-rumour. Or simply a pipedream of Kinky’s… Anyway, supposedly Kinky and Willie would sing a duet of “Cowboys are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other” and all of Bob Dylan’s dialogue would be subtitled.
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Kinky Friedman.com
The official web site of the Kinkster, where you can read about Kinky, his books, his music and his pet causes. And his pets. And maybe his campaign for Texas governor. Why the hell not? Also available, at least for a limited time, was the Kinky Friedman Talking Action Figure (pictured above). - Kinky Friedman, 79, Dies; Musician and Humorist Slew Sacred Cows
The Inkster’s NYT obit.
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
