Spanking Watson [Hardcover]

"Zany for people who don't like things too zany" would be my description of this series. I've read review after review about how offbeat and wacky this stuff is, but truly I don't know what they see. Though the characters and style are of a much more colorful effort than most mainstream books, it is FAR from being truly twisted or "out there". It's pretty tame really. To put it to an easy example, it's like expecting "Seinfeld" and getting the bubblegum "Friends". (No, this series is no where as bad as that show, but you get my point) Check out Joe R. Lansdales mystery stories (Mucho Mojo, Two Bear Mambo, etc.) to get real offbeat style.

Honestly, not a bad series overall if you don't expect to much from the hype. Read the earlier stuff though, as even Kinky die-hards will tell you "Spanking Watson" isn't up to par.

"Which one did you get?" he asked in a prompt email response.

"I don't remember. It's something about dancing lesbians," I replied.

"They're all about dancing lesbians," he told me.

So there you have it. Kinky Friedman in a nutshell. He's a "Texas Jewboy" transplanted in New York, where he lives with a humorless cat in a loft that's conveniently located one floor beneath Winnie Katz's lesbian dance school. And he spends his time smoking cigars, doing shots of whatever's available, and investigating the occasional case.

In Spanking Watson, the Kinkster actually creates his own case. After his ceiling collapses (thanks to Winnie Katz and her dancing lesbians), Kinky writes a death threat to his neighbor in a drunken stupor. He didn't mean to send it, of course, but before he gets the chance to dispose of it properly, his friend Ratso finds it. When Kinky covers it up as a piece of evidence in a new case that he's investigating, Ratso insists that, as Kinky's Dr. Watson, he should see the note.

Ratso's statement gives Kinky an idea. Out of all of the members in his little circle of friends (which he calls The Village Irregulars), he wonders which of them really makes the best Watson. So he devises a little contest -- with a little bit of revenge thrown in on the side. He tells his friends that the note was written to Winnie Katz. The dance instructor is too freaked out to talk about it, though, he tells each of his Watsons, so it's their job to investigate the case -- to make pests of themselves if necessary -- in order to figure out who's out to get poor Winnie. Kinky's fake case turns a little more serious, however, when someone breaks into Winnie's apartment and threatens to kill her. Suddenly, there's more to Kinky's case than just determining which of his friends should be his real Watson.

Kinky Friedman definitely isn't for everyone. He's pretty crude and politically-incorrect, and he often seems to be rambling about absolutely nothing (not to mention the fact that he's constantly talking to his cat). But if you're one of those people who tend to be random and easily-amused (like me), then Spanking Watson will keep you laughing from beginning to end.