Greenwich Killing Time

This is a very enjoyable page-turner mystery. It is hip, literary and chock full of one-liners that made me laugh out loud. I ran out and bought his other book after reading this. The author is a folk singer in real life who places himself as the protagonist private eye in this novel. Lots of fun.

"Greenwich Killing Time" is Kinky Friedman's first novel, written in 1984 and first published in 1986. His books had been recommended to me by a number of people - and his first novel seemed like the best place to start. The Kinkster certainly doesn't take the normal approach. He has cast himself as the PI-hero in his books and has used the names of several friends in his stories. As with real life, the book's Kinky is a cat-loving retired country and western performer. In his defence (!!), it seems he also likes dogs, Jameson's, Guinness and cigars.Set in the Greenwich Village area of New York, the book sees Kinky sharing his loft with a cat who refuses to answer the phone. It starts at a high pace, with Kinky's friend Mike McGovern informing him of a neighbour's murder. Not long afterwards, McGovern contacts Kinky again with a little background information on the victim - and with the news that he's just been arrested and charged with the murder himself. As a sleuth with a successful record, Kinky takes it upon himself to clear his friend's name and find the real murderer.Fast-moving, easily read and packed with superbly delivered one-liners, "Greenwich Killing Time" is not what I would call an entirely serious 'whodunnit'. As an author, Kinky was described to me as irreverant - that's probably how I would best describe this book.

The flow of the book is a little strange. It starts out in short, sometimes incomplete sentences which bothered me a little. However, once I got into the book and used to the flow, I thouroughly enjoyed it! Kinky Friedman is the main character who is a country singer turned private sleuth. The crime and clues are as puzzling as the strange array of friends and suspects. I thought I had the mystery figured out about 6 times, but did not know the truth until the end. Puzzling, Funny, and Bizarre are the best words to describe the Kinkster. A very entertaining read!

I picked up "Greenwich Killing Time" on a whim...partly because of the cover art and partly because it was in the $... sale table at the local bookstore. Thus I became addicted to Kinky's tales of his Village Irregulars, his family, and especially his cat. I can sing along with all his tunes. I own, personally, a guitar pick with "Kinky" emblazoned across it, a gift from the man himself. You know...in rereading this, I realize that I sound like a really sad, pathetic person. Hmm. Maybe he'll put me in one of his books.

I was kind of disappointed in Greenwich Killing Time. But wait, I gave it 5 stars? Yep. It truly is a great book. Kinky has done it again in one of his earlier works. Kinky is embroiled in a wicked plot of murder and mayhem. Ratso, McGovern, and the beautiful Stephanie DuPont are all trying to figure what Kinky has figured out behind the cigar smoke in this intelligent thriller.