by Shelley Civkin Richmond Public Library

Who killed the cross dresser?

The Naked Detective makes for campy, quirky fun

There's no question that Lawrence Shames has nailed the classic hardboiled detective novel. He does everything but call women 'dames', as per Raymond Chandler. So if you enjoy clipped, funny dialogue, a plot that involves fat, sweaty, mobster types, blackmail, a modicum of sex, buried treasure, and a truckload of similes, then you'll love The Naked Detective.

While the mystery is solved just a bit too easily at the end, it's still a tremendously fun and entertaining romp. The story goes like this: Pete Amsterdam, who has retired to Florida's Key West in modest luxury, is coaxed into getting a private investigator's license in order to escape paying certain taxes. Not that he ever intended to be a PI, mind you. Then one day a cross-dressing bartender, who, by all accounts is supposed to have been dead for two years, turns up while Pete is relaxing in his hot tub and asks for Pete's help. Pete's detective help, that is.

Even though Pete abhors the idea of detective work, he somehow gets sucked into the vortex of mystery, crime and the lure of two beautiful (and one deadly) women. Next thing you know, he's trying to track down the killer(s) of his cross- dressing client, and find out what kind of 'treasure' is in the pouches hidden on Tank Island.

Now this wouldn't exactly be considered unusual detective work, unless you happen to be a meek, mild-manner, middle-class, tennis playing, lover of good wine and classical music, like Pete. He somehow feels he owes a debt to his cross-dresser client, who by the way, has turned up dead again, this time for real. So, being the all around good guy that he is, Pete goes ahead and dogs the bad guys tirelessly.

The plot meanders slowly, mirroring the pace of Florida's retirement community, but ends in a maniacal and absurd killing spree that takes place in Pete's music room. Throughout the story Pete cracks wise about virtually everything, from his tennis buddy's "puke green" shorts to a pair of rats found floating in his pool. The Naked Detective is nothing short of campy, hilarious, quirky and utterly delightful. Take time for this one - you won't be sorry you did.

A while ago I wrote a less-than-glowing review of a soy cookbook and now I want to even the score. For a new and appetizing soy cookbook try Soy Desserts : 101 Fresh, Fun & Fabulously Healthy Recipes by Patricia Greenberg. Filled with luscious photographs, this cookbook offers recipes like cappuccino cinnamon tofu cheesecake, soy chocolate soufflé with Kahlua, pumpkin tofu mousse, and pomegranate soy cake with soy chocolate ganache. So despite my previous culinary posturing, I'm really not anti-soy. Oops, busted!

Shelley J. Civkin is the head of the Readers' Advisory Department at the Richmond Public Library.