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Elvis Presley #2
Blue Suede Clues: A Murder Mystery Featuring Elvis Presley
After winning the hearts of critics and audiences (all over again) in Daniel Klein's Kill Me Tender , Elvis Aron Presley returns once more to try his hand at crime-solving in a fun, suspenseful sequel.
1963. Elvis Presley has just completed filming "Kissin' Cousins," a hillbilly romantic comedy of which he is instantly ashamed. His romance with Ann-Margret has just become public knowledge and Priscilla is on the warpath. It is a critical period for Elvis, a time in which he must sort out his own contradictory feelings and make life-changing choices.
Against this backdrop, one "Squirm" Litteljon, an old army friend, contacts Elvis. Littlejon is serving life in a California penitentiary for the murder of a young actress on the MGM lot and he insists he was framed. Elvis figures that taking the case is just what he needs to escape all those people making demands of him, both professionally and romantically.
So begins a fast-paced mystery train-ride that takes Elvis from the weird world of movie stuntmen to a ground-breaking genetics laboratory in Mexico. His sidekick on this adventure is Squirm's deadbeat, Freud-spouting lawyer who has personal insight into the psychological quirks of surviving twins -- like Elvis.
Before he's through, Elvis will have to disprove a murder charge of his own and stop a diabolical film producer from publishing career-wrecking photographs of Elvis and Ann-Margret making love. Blue Suede Clues is a who-dunnit that keeps readers guessing right up to an ending worthy of only one The King!
1963. Elvis Presley has just completed filming "Kissin' Cousins," a hillbilly romantic comedy of which he is instantly ashamed. His romance with Ann-Margret has just become public knowledge and Priscilla is on the warpath. It is a critical period for Elvis, a time in which he must sort out his own contradictory feelings and make life-changing choices.
Against this backdrop, one "Squirm" Litteljon, an old army friend, contacts Elvis. Littlejon is serving life in a California penitentiary for the murder of a young actress on the MGM lot and he insists he was framed. Elvis figures that taking the case is just what he needs to escape all those people making demands of him, both professionally and romantically.
So begins a fast-paced mystery train-ride that takes Elvis from the weird world of movie stuntmen to a ground-breaking genetics laboratory in Mexico. His sidekick on this adventure is Squirm's deadbeat, Freud-spouting lawyer who has personal insight into the psychological quirks of surviving twins -- like Elvis.
Before he's through, Elvis will have to disprove a murder charge of his own and stop a diabolical film producer from publishing career-wrecking photographs of Elvis and Ann-Margret making love. Blue Suede Clues is a who-dunnit that keeps readers guessing right up to an ending worthy of only one The King!
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
3 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Klein
90 books239 followersDaniel Klein is the co-author of the international bestseller Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar. He is a Harvard graduate in philosophy and an acclaimed writer of both fiction and nonfiction. When not enjoying the slow life on Greek islands, he lives in Massachusetts with his wife. He is seventy-five years old.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 7, 2025
I’m loving this series of Elvis solving murders books.
I think the author captures how I would expect Elvis to act, crazy and impulsive but with high morals ❤️
I think the author captures how I would expect Elvis to act, crazy and impulsive but with high morals ❤️
January 13, 2011
This was something new to me- a mystery being investigated by "the King" (uh huh huh!) I picked it up at a library sale and enjoyed it, even though I have a few minor quibbles with it.
First, it was fun because it was Elvis. Watching Klein try to get inside the head of Elvis and bring out the morose, but fun-loving country gentleman was a lot of fun. Getting inside of Elvis' head, even if only in a fictional manner, was fun as we saw his thought regarding the Colonel, Priscilla, Ann Margaret, and making movies. This story occurs at the end of 1963 as Elvis is wrapping up the filming of "kissing Cousins." Elvis is discouraged about the roles he is getting in Hollywood and the infantile entertainment he is churning out. He is resentful towards Col. Parker's business management, and jumps at the chance to do something more interesting when he gets a letter from an old army acquaintance who has been framed for a murder. Off he goes to investigate. He sings his way through Hollywood as he investigates and Klein weaves even the moments of song into the story in a manner that is more seamless than most of Presley's real life films.
The minor quibbles that I had were about things like "White Tower" hamburgers in L.A. I don't recall every seeing one. A bit of research on the internet indicates that they were a much more in the East and people don't seem to recall "White Tower" (a competitor of "White Castle") ever making it to the Los Angeles area. Perhaps author Klein knows better than I.. it just seemed an odd bit of flavor to add if it didn't exist.
More major was the inclusion of a Doctor from Mexico who was working on D.N.A. coding. Using this as evidence gathering just seemed a bit odd and really so far out of place and time as to hurt the novel more than it helped. All it was used for was to confirm that the murder victim had been sexually active with more than one man. I felt Klein could have introduced this information in a less anachronistic way. In other words, he could have stayed in the time period.
Another issue was the introduction of a Blue Volkswagon Beetle. In 1963, there were a few Beetles around, but the term "Beetle" was not really popularized until the late 1960's when it entered VW advertising. The Beetle was fairly rare in the United States, gaining popularity in the mid to late 60's... So, Elvis's repsonse to seeing a VW should likely have included the fact that it was sort of rare instead of commonplace. I could be mistaken about the popularity of the bug-- just going primarily by my recollection and a quick scan of a Wikipedia article.
Despite those quibbles, the novel was fun, the mystery was decent and, heck, it was Elvis.. the king... and that alone made the book a lot of fun. Apparently, there are several others in this series and I will pick them up somewhere along the line just because it was fun...
First, it was fun because it was Elvis. Watching Klein try to get inside the head of Elvis and bring out the morose, but fun-loving country gentleman was a lot of fun. Getting inside of Elvis' head, even if only in a fictional manner, was fun as we saw his thought regarding the Colonel, Priscilla, Ann Margaret, and making movies. This story occurs at the end of 1963 as Elvis is wrapping up the filming of "kissing Cousins." Elvis is discouraged about the roles he is getting in Hollywood and the infantile entertainment he is churning out. He is resentful towards Col. Parker's business management, and jumps at the chance to do something more interesting when he gets a letter from an old army acquaintance who has been framed for a murder. Off he goes to investigate. He sings his way through Hollywood as he investigates and Klein weaves even the moments of song into the story in a manner that is more seamless than most of Presley's real life films.
The minor quibbles that I had were about things like "White Tower" hamburgers in L.A. I don't recall every seeing one. A bit of research on the internet indicates that they were a much more in the East and people don't seem to recall "White Tower" (a competitor of "White Castle") ever making it to the Los Angeles area. Perhaps author Klein knows better than I.. it just seemed an odd bit of flavor to add if it didn't exist.
More major was the inclusion of a Doctor from Mexico who was working on D.N.A. coding. Using this as evidence gathering just seemed a bit odd and really so far out of place and time as to hurt the novel more than it helped. All it was used for was to confirm that the murder victim had been sexually active with more than one man. I felt Klein could have introduced this information in a less anachronistic way. In other words, he could have stayed in the time period.
Another issue was the introduction of a Blue Volkswagon Beetle. In 1963, there were a few Beetles around, but the term "Beetle" was not really popularized until the late 1960's when it entered VW advertising. The Beetle was fairly rare in the United States, gaining popularity in the mid to late 60's... So, Elvis's repsonse to seeing a VW should likely have included the fact that it was sort of rare instead of commonplace. I could be mistaken about the popularity of the bug-- just going primarily by my recollection and a quick scan of a Wikipedia article.
Despite those quibbles, the novel was fun, the mystery was decent and, heck, it was Elvis.. the king... and that alone made the book a lot of fun. Apparently, there are several others in this series and I will pick them up somewhere along the line just because it was fun...
May 12, 2010
What intrigues most about Klein's treatment of the rock-and-roll icon in this appealing follow-up to Kill Me Tender (2000) is the King's moral center. Belying his image as a jaded, drugged-out corrupter of traditional American values, Klein's Elvis is a man drawn to criminal investigation and the dark side of the human psyche by his abiding purity of heart. This Elvis understands that the pursuit of justice may require confronting perversity, brutality and the gross abuse of power especially in Hollywood.
As the shoot for Presley's 1963 film Kissin' Cousins winds down, Elvis hears from a fellow G.I., now serving a life sentence for murder in a California pen. Drawn into the case, Elvis teams with the has-been lawyer, now full-time alcoholic, who defended the accused in the original trial. Not incidentally, this diversion enables Elvis to slip the clutches of the suffocating Colonel Parker his longtime, anything-for-a-buck manager and rid his mouth of the profound distaste he feels for another in an unending series of slapdash movies and their treacly soundtracks. While Hollywood's fetid underside has been done countless times, accompanying Elvis on his own journey into the abyss affords new pleasures along with the tried-and-true (e.g., ruthless moguls exploiting would-be starlets). Klein unobtrusively renders Elvis's early foray into painkillers, makes convincing Elvis's discovery of Freud and describes an impromptu concert in a way that reminds us what made Presley the astonishing artistic force that he was. (Mar. 16)
Forecast: Faithful to the Elvis of Peter Guralnick's exhaustive two-volume biography, Klein should continue to build up his base among Presley fans. According to the supermarket tabloids, Presley himself called from a phone booth "somewhere in the Midwest" to say he was "tickled pink" with the author's portrayal. Klein's Elvis would seem a natural for a series of made-for-TV movies.
As the shoot for Presley's 1963 film Kissin' Cousins winds down, Elvis hears from a fellow G.I., now serving a life sentence for murder in a California pen. Drawn into the case, Elvis teams with the has-been lawyer, now full-time alcoholic, who defended the accused in the original trial. Not incidentally, this diversion enables Elvis to slip the clutches of the suffocating Colonel Parker his longtime, anything-for-a-buck manager and rid his mouth of the profound distaste he feels for another in an unending series of slapdash movies and their treacly soundtracks. While Hollywood's fetid underside has been done countless times, accompanying Elvis on his own journey into the abyss affords new pleasures along with the tried-and-true (e.g., ruthless moguls exploiting would-be starlets). Klein unobtrusively renders Elvis's early foray into painkillers, makes convincing Elvis's discovery of Freud and describes an impromptu concert in a way that reminds us what made Presley the astonishing artistic force that he was. (Mar. 16)
Forecast: Faithful to the Elvis of Peter Guralnick's exhaustive two-volume biography, Klein should continue to build up his base among Presley fans. According to the supermarket tabloids, Presley himself called from a phone booth "somewhere in the Midwest" to say he was "tickled pink" with the author's portrayal. Klein's Elvis would seem a natural for a series of made-for-TV movies.
December 27, 2024
Loved loved loved this book as much as Book 1.
You HAVE to be an Elvis fan to enjoy the crazy story of Elvis solving murders but it's a great way to spend time imaging "what if!!"
It's funny and actually a fun "who done it" read
You HAVE to be an Elvis fan to enjoy the crazy story of Elvis solving murders but it's a great way to spend time imaging "what if!!"
It's funny and actually a fun "who done it" read
July 2, 2008
Not a bad cozy for a quick read. I'd read more of the series if I happen to find them cheap at library sale like I did this one.
January 26, 2009
Interesting premise - that Elvis sometimes did a little detective work on the side. But it was a bit too hokey for my tastes.
April 1, 2019
These books have got my number. They shouldn't work, but they do!
We discuss the Elvis Mystery series here: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...
We discuss the Elvis Mystery series here: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...
March 13, 2016
Enjoyable read. The historical time meant the forensic stuff seemed less believable than the inner workings of Elvis's mind which spoiled it a bit for me but over all good.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews