Product Description

It's a case of missing kid and missing kitty when Kinky Friedman, private dick extraordinaire and animal lover nonpareil, attempts to find a young, autistic New York boy and a three-legged Texas cat named Lucky, both of whom have disappeared.

Something is rotten in both the states of New York and Texas, and Kinky takes it upon himself to locate not one, but two of God's creatures who have gone astray. Dylan Weinberg is an eleven-year-old boy with a rare form of autism -- a pint-sized stock-market wizard who can only utter one word, "Shnay." He's on a multitude of medications, and one night his father wakes up to find Dylan perched over his bed like some preteen zombie, clutching a pair of scissors and cutting up the sheets. Since that evening, two weeks ago, Dylan has been missing, and the cops have no leads -- and apparently not much interest. That's why, in an absolute last-resort maneuver, the family has called in Kinky to the rescue.

And speaking of rescue, Kinky's second missing person -- make that missing pussy -- case comes courtesy of his Cousin Nancy (no relationship), who, along with Kinky, helped found the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch in Utopia, Texas. Lucky, the three-legged cat -- and unofficial mascot of the ranch -- is gone, the victim of an apparent kittynapping. Cousin Nancy is convinced the feline is either in the hands of some nasty, contentious neighbors or is being sacrificed by a satanic cult. No matter what, she wants Kinky to find Lucky before he becomes coyote chow.

It's an uneven dilemma for Kinky -- stay in town and concentrate on finding a sick, missing child (and concentrate, too, on Julia, said child's beautiful, long-legged sister), or hotfoot off to Texas, to help calm down the frantic Cousin Nancy who's this close to proclaiming Lucky's been abducted by aliens. Kinky puts his trust in his faithful companion, Village Irregular Steve Rambam, to help find the little boy while Kinky hightails it to Utopia, Texas, where Nancy provides him with two witnesses to the alleged crime -- a dim-sighted eighty-year-old lady named Josephine and a frisky canine named Mr. Magoo.

Back in New York, Rambam has no clue where Dylan might be, but he is becoming increasingly sure that Julia is the Jewish answer to his romantic prayers. Kinky warns him to put the wedding plans on hold and track down Hattie Mamajello, Dylan's former nanny, but it's too little too late when Hattie is pushed off a subway platform and killed. The confusion generated by these two disparate cases is enough to drive a dick to drink -- which Kinky is happy to do -- but he's still got a missing kid and a missing kitty on his cigar-stained hands to locate before (a) Rambam whisks Julia off to Vegas for a quickie wedding and (b) Cousin Nancy calls in the FBI, the CIA, and the Mossad to find her Lucky.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, aided and abetted by a few four-legged friends, the mystery of the purloined kitty continues to grow. Then it's back to the wilds of midtown Manhattan and the even wilder wilds of Sche-nectady, New York, where, in their search for the missing boy, Kinky and his two-legged cohort find themselves at an orphanage Dickens would be proud of.

True to Kinky's form, and informed with truth, Meanwhile Back at the Ranch is a wild and woolly (and furry) ride from a true original, and entertainment at its most outrageous.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1339990 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 200 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Consistently irreverent, politically incorrect and more than a little outrageous, the Kinkster's 15th effort (after 2001's Steppin' on a Rainbow), while it may please his fans, is unlikely to win any new ones, as it's just a bit thin in the telling. Reading a Friedman novel is like listening to a hip monologue where some of the jokes work, some don't. Reading a Friedman novel is like being thrust into a hellzapoppin' world where reality is the only uncertainty. The ultimate effect, however, is amiable. The author's compassion for the underdog and love of animals are clear. Kinky has three cases to handle and he has catalogued them with the names of the Three Stooges. "Larry" involves a missing autistic boy, 11-year-old Dylan Weinberg, who speaks only one word, "Schnay," which is the clue to the mystery that surrounds him. "Moe" concerns a serial killer, whom Kinky and his buddy, Rambam, stake out. And finally there's "Curly," which focuses on the disappearance of a three-legged cat named Lucky. Lucky is of great sentimental value to Kinky's cousin Nancy, who helps run the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch (a real place), where unwanted animals are allowed to live out their lives. One of the cases comes to nothing, while another produces an unexpected corpse. It takes Friedman half the book to build a momentum, but once begun it moves well to a credible conclusion. The cat, incidentally, says nothing.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Kinky has his hands full he must track down an autistic child and his wayward cat, Lucky.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The real Kinky Friedman has enlisted First Lady and fellow Texan, Laura Bush, in his humanitarian effort to raise money for an organization near and dear to his cold, cold heart, the Utopia Rescue Ranch in Medina, Texas, an animal shelter. And here, in Friedman's fifteenth installment in the mystery series starring himself as private eye, the fictional Kinkster shuttles between upstate New York and his native Texas in his efforts to solve two cases: one involving a missing 11-year-old autistic child who only says the word shnay and the other concerning a three-legged cat named Lucky, missing from the ranch. What could have been a shameless plug for the shelter is, instead, a heartfelt and compassionate call for the care of the misfits of this crazy world. Friedman expertly, and not at all heavy-handedly, ties the two cases together with his depictions of a Dickensian orphanage and the animal shelter that lives up to its name. And, of course, there is plenty of the Kinkster's curmudgeonly wit and offbeat observations. Perhaps the most coherent novel in a flamboyant series. Benjamin Segedin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Kinky's Ranch-Flavored Manhatten Mystery
God bless Kinky Friedman, member of the country-freak outfit the Jewboys and author of 15 novels. There've been stalls in the series, poorly executed plotlines, and inexcusable scatalogical humor. Yet, Friedman's detective series based not-so-loosely on himself and his friends, is as fresh as ever with Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch.

I enjoyed Friedman's other Texas adventures, although I'm not sure if readers like seeing him spend an entire novel away from his home base of New York City. Here we get a perfect mix, as Kinky is balancing several mysteries at once, and one of them sends him down to the Texas hill country to team up with a dog to find a cat. Yeah, I know...but it's hilarious. Just read it.

The NYC portion of the book has a storyline that is slightly more of a serious nature, and Rambam (one of the more serious Village Irregulars) is brought in to help out with the rough stuff. An autistic child is missing and a serial killer is on the loose, although any regular Friedman reader knows that the solution to the mystery is often not of great import.

Speaking of sidekicks, why is Ratso only onboard for a page or two? Perhaps real life Larry "Ratso" Sloman's success with the reissue of his Bob Dylan book will thrust him back into Kinky's universe. Sorry, I miss him.

While Kinky's rants on life have tamed some over the years, he's maintained a personal touch that connects with people. It's a short book (like the entries before it) and can be read in a short afternoon. Expect more Willie Nelson than Ellery Queen.

More Kinky views of life and the strange folks who live it
Private detective (and former musician) Kinky Friedman finds himself torn between a missing three-legged cat in Texas and a missing autistic child in New York. The cat comes first and Kinky heads down to Utopia, Texas for some good-ole-boy moments, but his duty calls him back to New York where his recurring pal Rambam demands to be made part of the case (Rambam also thinks he might have found his future bride--the sister of the missing child and an obvious suspect). Using visions, both his own and others', and some clever detecting Kinky strips away some of the confusion--but can either a three-legged cat or an autistic child survive for long on their own--either in the wilds of Texas or those of New York?

Fans of the Kinky Friedman series will find a lot to enjoy in MEANWHILE BACK AT THE RANCH. Kinky's observations about life in general, his descriptions of the customs and people he meets, and his insights into human nature ring true. Kinky's strange similies will bring a smile to even the most jaded reader (maybe especially to the jaded reader). And Friedman goes out of his way to be an equal opportunity offender, slinging insults at all religions and ways of life.

Kinky Friedman books are not for everyone but MEANWHILE BACK AT THE RANCH is one of the better ones.

Fun and Enjoyable
This was the first Kinky Friedman book that I have ever read. I picked it up at the library after hearing that he was an "interesting" author in a few magazine write-ups. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.

This book reads very well and VERY quick. The characters portrayed in the book are full of quirks, ticks, and other little nuances that add to their personalities. As the story moved on, I found myself laughing out loud at quite a few pages and at the same time, still being intrigued at the mystery. You don't find a lot of mystery books with a twist like that.

Kinky Friedman succeeds in this book by not taking himself too seriously and at the same time tells an in depth story. Pick it up... you'll be glad you did!