If Kinky Friedman does to literature what he has done to music, this nation is in serious trouble. Dave Barry, humorist, author, and Pulitzer Prize winner

Kinky Friedman is living proof that you can be a Texan, a New Yorker, a Jewish country-and-western singer, and an amateur detective all at the same time. But when New York City gets a little too full of murder and mayhem to suit him, Kinky heads for the fresh air of the Lone Star State filtered, of course, through his ever-present cigar. But something is rotten in the state of Texas, too, and Kerrville's justice of the peace asks the Kinkster for his help. Four old ladies have died in the past few months, and though there's no apparent link, Judge Pat Knox is sure there's a connection. Before this case ends, Kinky will meet up with a rose-growing survivalist, a swarm of angry bees, a swarm of eight-year-old buckaroos at his father's ranch and summer camp, and, if he's not careful, he may just meet up with his own ultimate end.

Armadillos & Old Lace is a real beauty mark of sinful excess; I loved it. The only thing I don't like about Mr. Friedman is that he ain't the governor of Texas. Yet. James Crumley, author of The Last Good Kiss

Kinky Friedman is a true American original, something it's not easy to be in today's carbon-copy culture. Steve Allen, comedian and author