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Viva Las Vengeance: A Murder Mystery Featuring Elvis Presley
 
 
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Viva Las Vengeance: A Murder Mystery Featuring Elvis Presley [Hardcover]

Daniel Klein (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)


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Book Description

March 13, 2003
It's 1964 and Elvis is in Las Vegas for a little R&R before starting his next picture, Roustabout. This ought to be a quiet time for the overextended King of Rock 'n' Roll to find his bearings, himself, and maybe, just maybe, his own personal muse.

But a King's work is never done. And before long, Elvis finds himself under immense pressure to find something entirely different: a killer!

When an enormously overweight tourist turns up ritualistically murdered at the billboard for one of Las Vegas's preeminent wedding chapels, Elvis can't help falling into the middle of an inept police investigation. Just before the tourist's death, the Sahara Casino's headline comedian, Howie Pickles, had singled her out for insult jokes at a show that Elvis attended. Immediately, the rumor spreads all over town that Pickles's gags are deadly.

A day later, a second tourist is murdered and conspiracy theories multiply: Is it a hotel and casino war? A war between local wedding chapels? A war between Sin City's major brothels?

Drawn into the case, Elvis finds himself falling in love with a beautiful dancer who lives on a commune for failed showbiz types. He also discovers that a born-again Christian group in town is hailing him as the Second Coming.

As the death toll mounts, Elvis teams up in an unlikely alliance with a pill-popping, enlightenment-seeing Harvard dropout, a Southern belle turned high-class prostitute, and the immensely annoying Howie Pickles himself.

The story climaxes in a "peace concert" that Elvis gives to bring together all the warring factions. But with that concert come some painful - and deadly - revelations.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The world's only hip-swiveling detective takes on crime in Sin City in Klein's third rollicking Elvis mystery (after Kill Me Tender and Blue Suede Clues), which includes dueling casinos, battling brothels and rival marriage chapels. For novelty, a swarm of killer bees also makes a deadly appearance. Throw into the mix the Strip's most notorious insult comedian, Howie Pickles (rhymes with "Rickles"), an Aquarian Age religious cult and gonzo journalist Digby Ferguson (think Fear and Loathing, complete with firearms and Drugs-'R'-Us), and Viva has something for everybody. Readers unversed in the spiritual urges that assailed Presley in the mid-'60s, however, may find off-putting the King's attraction to a Hare-Krishna commune in the desert hills; his attraction to the commune's voluptuous leader, on the other hand, should come as little surprise. Nonetheless, those yearnings, central to the plot, are accurately portrayed, though Klein does slip on a few minor biographical details (e.g., Presley's vagueness about Vietnam and unfamiliarity with Bob Dylan). One of the staples of the series is The Big Concert Scene, and Klein does not disappoint. Indeed, the "Don't Be Cruel Peace Concert" may be the author's best such production yet. Not only is the Elvis-as-P.I. conceit now well established, but the sure-handedness that marks both the character's evolution and the story's multiple plots should draw new fans to the series.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Daniel Klein is the author of the highly acclaimed Elvis murder mysteries Kill Me Tender and Blue Suede Clues. His other mysteries and thrillers include Embryo and Beauty Sleep. He is the co-author of the humor books Where's Elvis? and Macho Meditations and of an even dozen nonfiction books. A graduate of Harvard, he lives in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (March 13, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312288069
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312288068
  • Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #892,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Elvis taking care of business again, March 14, 2003
By 
Jean Donovan (Derry, New Hampshire, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Viva Las Vengeance: A Murder Mystery Featuring Elvis Presley (Hardcover)
I thoroughly enjoyed this third Elvis mystery novel by Daniel Klein. It follows on the heels of Kill Me Tender and Blue Suede Clues. Elvis manages to be the hero and solves the murders. His character has been drawn so that the real Elvis shines through. Elvis would have loved the character and so will his fans. This particular novel takes place in Las Vegas and includes some very strange murders and some very strange characters. Of course he falls in love with beautiful Shiva who has a young daughter Kali and is accompanied by her black panther. A Don't Be Cruel peace concert is put together and Elvis is in the center of it. The ending is not quite what you would expect. I would recommend that you start with Kill Me Tender and then move on to Blue Suede Clues and finish up with Viva Las Vengeance. There is some slight tie-in in this book with the other books. I am anxiously looking forward to book #4!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Gets better with each take...., March 5, 2003
By 
Daniel Halevi Bloom (bubbie.zadie@gmail.com) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Viva Las Vengeance: A Murder Mystery Featuring Elvis Presley (Hardcover)
Without a doubt, Klein's take on Elvis Presely is going to go down in US literary history as one of the most creative and dynamic treatments of the musical icon. The first two books were fantastic, and this third book goes even further in giving the reader a new way to look at the King. As soon as the New York Times and People magazine weigh in with their judgments, Klein's series of Elvis yarns will become part of American literaary culture. Viva La Klein! Can't wait for the 4th and 5th installments, too.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Frightening and Funny, September 7, 2003
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This review is from: Viva Las Vengeance: A Murder Mystery Featuring Elvis Presley (Hardcover)
Dan Klein has done it again with the newest of Elvis Presley's sleuthing escapades. In addition to being frightening and funny, this book is also puzzling (some hard-to-solve murders) and alternately touching and cynical. Yes, that's a lot to pack into 264 pages, which is why I'm recommending it. You don't even have to be a die-hard (pardon the pun) Elvis Fan. You just have to know something about him and have heard the songs "Don't Be Cruel" and "Love Me Tender.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
We've got an incredible audience here tonight, folks. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
peace concert, mystery train
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Howie Pickles, Las Vegas, Digby Ferguson, Miss Kathy, Center of the Light, Shiva Ree, Elvis Presley, Kathy Lemon, Reverend Sweetser, Luke de Luca, Sheriff Turtleff, Joey Filbert, Heritage Park, Miss Candy Kane, Herb Alan, Big Guy, Bonnie Donaldsen, Bruce Donaldsen, Good Samaritan Chapel, Indian Springs, Little Chapel of the West, Sol Epstein, Captain Camerone, Melissa Riley, Second Coming
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