God Bless John Wayne, by Kinky Friedman (Faber & Faber, £8.99 in UK)

The titles of Kinky Friedman's crime thrillers have been getting more and more extravagant; first there was Elvis, Jesus and Coca Cola, then Armadillos and Old Lace. Now it's God Bless John Wayne, which is in fact a quotation from a country song by the same author: "I'm a country picker with a bumpersticker that says God Bless John Wayne." The plots and the people, however, remain the same, and here the gang is reunited for the usual fast-talkin hard-boiled litany of one-liners. It's not subtle, but that's OK - unless you simply can't tolerate the cigar-toting Kinkster's appalling attitude to women which, joke or no joke, is of course inexcusable. He's good with cats, though. A.W.