[close] When Charlie Evans finishes his last and most humiliating music gig, he tosses his violin aside and takes up life in a skid row boarding house populated by drifters, a dominatrix, and an unforgettable huckster named Tinsel Greetz. As in his first work, Lord of the Barnyard, Tristan Egolf's novel Skirt and the Fiddle swiftly brings readers into a world that is near--but nothing like--the one we know. Charlie and Greetz strike up a contentious friendship and commit spontaneous pranks around Philth Town, a fallen city populated by cruel bodega owners, dark alleys, and shady bars. They start thinking bigger when they land an illegal but lucrative gig killing sewer rats. But then Charlie falls for Louise Gascoygne and his friendly chemistry with Greetz goes awry. What follows is the duo's most interesting caper of all. As an author, Egolf has been compared to John Kennedy Toole, but his work also summons references to Jonathan Lethem and George Saunders. Beneath its bravado, the novel ultimately forces Charlie to make a choice between his passions: the adrenaline-pumping good times he begrudgingly shares with Greetz or the more profound passions he can experience by making music and love. --Jane Hodges [close]