Summary
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Publishers Weekly Review
Unlike your usual celebrity sleuth, Elvis Presley makes a natural detective in this winning whodunit, set in Tennessee after the singer has returned to civilian life from the army. When Elvis Presley fan-club presidents, all teenage girls, start dying of unknown causes, Elvis becomes concerned enough to do more than just write condolence notes to the families. He personally investigates the deaths (not an easy task when you're famous), in due course determining that each victim was poisoned by a rare Chinese drug. Meanwhile, he begins to receive demo records with sinister parodies of his songs, such as "Kill Me Tender" for "Love Me Tender." In his statewide quest for the murderer, Elvis attends his high school reunion, wanders into a bar full of Elvis impersonators and finally gets arrested in a small redneck townDthe perfect setting for a real jailhouse rock. At the climax, in a suspenseful race to stop the killer from striking again, he must even pass as an Elvis impersonator. For all the novel's amusing contrivances, nothing seems forced or ridiculous, so cleverly does Klein (Beauty Sleep, etc.) use actual Elvis lore to serve his plot. The background of the early-1960s segregated South is also deftly presented, and the method of poisoning is both ingenious and fiendishly fitting. Elvis's romance with a black nurse, Selma du Pres, may be too good to be true (or to last), but Selma takes a key part in the bittersweet ending. Above all, Elvis, here at his most gentle and charming, is irresistible. This mystery has a heart as big as its humble hero's. Agent, Howard Morhaim. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc.
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