Skinny Annie Blues (Wiley Moss Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Neal Barrett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1996 | Series: Wiley Moss Mystery

Receiving a mysterious call that informs him that his father is dead and warns him not to return home, Wiley Moss travels to Texas anyway and must solve a murder while preventing his own death. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Imagine Robert Ludlum on laughing gas and you'll have the spirit of Wiley Moss's third adventure (after Pink Vodka Blues and Dead Dog Blues). Wiley's father, who abandoned him 18 years ago, dies in Texas. Smelling a rat and ignoring threats from the menacing cop in charge, Wiley departs his Washington, D.C., home (he's a graphic artist who works for the Smithsonian) for steamy Galveston. Redneck thugs try to run him down; greeters from a strip joint open fire on him. Dad's widow, Grace, gives him a high-speed ride in her car, despite being blind. Annie, a beautiful restaurateur, arouses Wiley's lust but seeks union on a higher plane. Harry Sykes, con artist and car thief, says Wiley's father had a major "enterprise" going. Wiley, remembering that his father gave him a stolen bike for one birthday, assumes a scam. As local lowlifes and the sinister cop pump him for information, try to kill him or pretend to protect him, Wiley gets pushed off a pier, beaten senseless by an obese stripper and entangled with a woman who craves either sex or Milk Duds, whichever is available first. It's all highly implausible, but with the breakneck pace, wacky cast and laugh-out-loud dialogue, that hardly matters.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

When the daddy he hasn't seen in 18 years is reported dead, Wiley Moss, who draws bugs for the Smithsonian, abandons his catatonic girlfriend Giselle for Galveston. Even the flight out is marked by Wiley's notable encounters with Chicken Man and the woman with the feet. And when he lands in Texas, where they make new goofballs every year, the locals--from Martin Moss's fetching blind widow Annie and the deaf-mute son Git, who helps her drive, and the Swedish waiter who dreams of past incarnations and gets an option on his next round sooner than he expected, to Skinny Annie (who is not skinny) and the entire staff of the Plum Blossom Palace of Heavenly Delights--roll out a blood-red carpet, complete with bad shellfish and incomplete romantic passes, for him. As monotonously manic as Dead Dog Blues (1994): a year's worth of antic wake-up calls crammed into a single shaggy story. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Kensington Books; Reprint edition (December 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575661349
• ISBN-13: 978-1575661346
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,648,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't let the people who don't get it scare you off, July 7, 1999

By 

D. Read "Maximumdread" (GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Skinny Annie Blues (Wiley Moss Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and Neal Barrett is certainly not for everyone, but this, and the other books in the "Blues" series, are top-notch writing and storytelling. Few do it better than Neal Barrett, and frankly Carl Hiassen does not even compete in the same league as Barrett (although fans of Hiassen might find a new friend in Barrett). As evidenced by the previous reviewers who did not like the book, this is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for those who do not appreciate the bizzare and the off-color.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I've Got The Blues, February 14, 2006

By 

Reed Andwright "Speed" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skinny Annie Blues (Wiley Moss Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

This was the worst book I've read in ages. I gave it 2 stars just because the storyline was so goofy I had to finish the book to find out how things ended. Except they didn't end! Wiley's questions about his father and all the wackos he ran into during the storyline were left up to the reader's imagination. I'm sorry, there is no way I could imagine one guy getting himself into so much touble, with so many bizarre characters. I realize there may by men out there in the world who think like Wiley, I'm just happy I don't know any.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Painful, but a learning experience., July 28, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Austin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skinny Annie Blues (Wiley Moss Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Don't bother with this one unless you're a fan of truly bizarre, illogically constructed, yet somehow random plot lines. The wild characters and the occasional poetic turn of phrase serve to (somewhat)redeem the randomness. Perhaps the author's most insteresting device is his use of a first person protagonist who is entirely unsympathetic--but the interest doesn't last. I frankly didn't care what happened to the guy and was glad when he got out of my life.