Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 157566173X, Hardcover)

"Wacky" is the first word that comes to mind in connection with Neal Barrett's very strange, very funny mysteries about that ace illustrator of insects Wiley Moss, who keeps finding himself in dangerous situations. Even if comedy crime capers usually bug you, you might well get a buzz from this story, which begins when Wiley is kidnapped by a couple of low-rent thugs and dragged (by bus) to a money-losing brothel in Idaho. There, a minor league mobster forces Moss to sketch his so-called Spudettes--young ladies who cavort naked in the pool. More mobsters arrive, some are murdered, and Moss has to draw on all his skills to keep himself and a particularly spectacular Spudette named Laurel from joining them. Other books in the series available in paperback are Skinny Annie Blues and Dead Dog Blues.