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Wiley Moss #1
Pink Vodka Blues
Resurfacing from a boozy haze in a cheap motel, Russell Murray must discover why the Illinois police want him for a triple murder and why a Chicago crime family wants his briefcase, with only the attractive Sherry Lou Winn to help him. Original.
- GenresMystery
304 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1992
3 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Neal Barrett Jr.
150 books44 followersNeal Barrett, Jr. was a writer of fantasy, science fiction, mystery/suspense, and historical fiction. His story "Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus" was nominated for both the 1988 Nebula Award for Best Novelette and the 1989 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 26, 2016
"The lamp by the bed said cheap hotel. The lamp was bright orange, which is not a good color if you drink. You wake up and your head's a can of nails, you don't want to see a lot of orange. You want to see a color like black."
I found Barrett by way of reading his Hugo/Nebula novelette nominee, 'Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus.' Something about the tone, humor and nicely paced story intrigued me, and I found more of the same in Pink Vodka Blues. A solid mystery of the 'find the missing item' school, Russell Murray ('not Murray Russell') wakes from a bender in a motel room with a very attractive young woman. While he's heaving up last night in the bathroom, two large men break into the motel room, shoot the girl and then spy him hiding in the bathroom. Within a flash, he's on the run.
"I decided last week was the ideal time to leave town. That I really liked fishing a lot. That I could surely learn to like the local beer. As ever, good planning is the key."
He's pretty sure a drink or three will help him cope, but Chicago isn't selling at this exact moment, so he makes his way to the Wisconsin border where they have early opening on Sundays.
"The sign at the Wisconsin border reads: 'Warning! Wisconsin Arrests Drunken drivers!' To help bring this about, an impressive number of taverns line the roads. Other states have Mom and Pop groceries… Wisconsin has Mom and Pop taverns – more taverns per capita, locals boast, than any other state."
He buys a bottle and calls his friend and employer Tony Palmer, who seems excessively interested in where Russell is and what happened to a briefcase. Russell has no clue what Tony is referring so but starts to get worried, so he hangs up and takes to the road with his booze. You can tell its the late 80s, because the cop that picks him up leaves him at a rehab facility instead of jail. (Of course, Wisconsin still remains one of the best states to drive in while drunk, if by 'best,' one means no minimum sentence and it'll take four OWI before you reach felony level offense). After a bit of hallucination and a missed urinal, he comes around to Sherry Lou Winn, fellow resident, staring him in the face. She's well endowed in the financial sense and looks like a red-headed Cheryl Ladd, but even better, is a bit of a loose cannon.
"Sherry took a bite of dry toast. 'Les doesn't care for me a lot. He figures I'll bring you down.'
'You just might,' I said. 'I have no will of my own. I am easily led astray.'
'I sure do admire that in a man,' Sherry said."
The two end up on the road, trying to figure out what is going on and clear Murray's reputation. The danger eventually becomes quite real, as if Murray didn't already know. There's a lot of drinking, some intermittent research, and narrow escapes that all tie up in a solid, if somewhat confusing, ending.
I found it highly enjoyable, a kind of perfect read for a not-too-serious mood. The banter was amusing and I particularly appreciated the dry wit punctuating Murray's thoughts. Murray wrote for "The Literary Times,' and more than one of his jokes draws on the literary ("my mouth was dry as a page of Henry James"). There's a number of running jokes which amuse--particularly the ones relating to vocabulary--as well as a few absurdist images.
I half expected the staccato narrative style to grate, but strangely, I enjoyed it. I think Barrett kept the pace moving, and switched to a more descriptive style at appropriate moments. It might have also helped that I didn't read this all at once, but more as a diversion. Characterization may seem a bit simple at first--Murray is a bit of a sweetly sincere and straight-forward drunk--but I thought there was a nice subtlety to how Sherry and Murray related, and how their relationship evolved through the strain of their search for the briefcase. It takes skill to weave the balance between humor and daring adventure, and this nicely navigated humor and suspense.
Note: although this is described sometimes as part of the 'Wiley Moss series,' it is no such thing. Apparently Barrett wrote four detective novels in a quick time frame, with similar style. This book is a stand-alone mystery.
The review is on my Wordpress blog, and contains a number of links/ references for those who don't believe me about Wisconsin. https://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2016/...
I found Barrett by way of reading his Hugo/Nebula novelette nominee, 'Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus.' Something about the tone, humor and nicely paced story intrigued me, and I found more of the same in Pink Vodka Blues. A solid mystery of the 'find the missing item' school, Russell Murray ('not Murray Russell') wakes from a bender in a motel room with a very attractive young woman. While he's heaving up last night in the bathroom, two large men break into the motel room, shoot the girl and then spy him hiding in the bathroom. Within a flash, he's on the run.
"I decided last week was the ideal time to leave town. That I really liked fishing a lot. That I could surely learn to like the local beer. As ever, good planning is the key."
He's pretty sure a drink or three will help him cope, but Chicago isn't selling at this exact moment, so he makes his way to the Wisconsin border where they have early opening on Sundays.
"The sign at the Wisconsin border reads: 'Warning! Wisconsin Arrests Drunken drivers!' To help bring this about, an impressive number of taverns line the roads. Other states have Mom and Pop groceries… Wisconsin has Mom and Pop taverns – more taverns per capita, locals boast, than any other state."
He buys a bottle and calls his friend and employer Tony Palmer, who seems excessively interested in where Russell is and what happened to a briefcase. Russell has no clue what Tony is referring so but starts to get worried, so he hangs up and takes to the road with his booze. You can tell its the late 80s, because the cop that picks him up leaves him at a rehab facility instead of jail. (Of course, Wisconsin still remains one of the best states to drive in while drunk, if by 'best,' one means no minimum sentence and it'll take four OWI before you reach felony level offense). After a bit of hallucination and a missed urinal, he comes around to Sherry Lou Winn, fellow resident, staring him in the face. She's well endowed in the financial sense and looks like a red-headed Cheryl Ladd, but even better, is a bit of a loose cannon.
"Sherry took a bite of dry toast. 'Les doesn't care for me a lot. He figures I'll bring you down.'
'You just might,' I said. 'I have no will of my own. I am easily led astray.'
'I sure do admire that in a man,' Sherry said."
The two end up on the road, trying to figure out what is going on and clear Murray's reputation. The danger eventually becomes quite real, as if Murray didn't already know. There's a lot of drinking, some intermittent research, and narrow escapes that all tie up in a solid, if somewhat confusing, ending.
I found it highly enjoyable, a kind of perfect read for a not-too-serious mood. The banter was amusing and I particularly appreciated the dry wit punctuating Murray's thoughts. Murray wrote for "The Literary Times,' and more than one of his jokes draws on the literary ("my mouth was dry as a page of Henry James"). There's a number of running jokes which amuse--particularly the ones relating to vocabulary--as well as a few absurdist images.
I half expected the staccato narrative style to grate, but strangely, I enjoyed it. I think Barrett kept the pace moving, and switched to a more descriptive style at appropriate moments. It might have also helped that I didn't read this all at once, but more as a diversion. Characterization may seem a bit simple at first--Murray is a bit of a sweetly sincere and straight-forward drunk--but I thought there was a nice subtlety to how Sherry and Murray related, and how their relationship evolved through the strain of their search for the briefcase. It takes skill to weave the balance between humor and daring adventure, and this nicely navigated humor and suspense.
Note: although this is described sometimes as part of the 'Wiley Moss series,' it is no such thing. Apparently Barrett wrote four detective novels in a quick time frame, with similar style. This book is a stand-alone mystery.
The review is on my Wordpress blog, and contains a number of links/ references for those who don't believe me about Wisconsin. https://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2016/...
September 27, 2016
"Pink Vodka Blues" was a most enjoyable book. Up to this point I was only familure with Mr. Barrett's science Fiction Books about Aldair. and I quite enjoyed all four of those. Then along came the book "Through Darkest America" which blew my socks off. The book is a take off of Harry Harrison's "Make Room, Make Room" with an interesting twist of a destroyed America. That book was followed by "The Hereafter Gang" which is regarded as one of Neal Barrett's best books.
"Pink Vodka Blues" is a boozy road trip novel that is a hoot. I recommended the book to a couple of friends who we not drinkers, and they wondered what I found funny in the book.
I still hold fond memories of this enjoyable book.
"Pink Vodka Blues" is a boozy road trip novel that is a hoot. I recommended the book to a couple of friends who we not drinkers, and they wondered what I found funny in the book.
I still hold fond memories of this enjoyable book.
March 9, 2025
RATING: 3.25
PROTAGONIST: Russell Murray
WHY:
Russell Murray is an alcoholic. A friend has given him a job to deliver a briefcase. Russ gets drunk and has no memory of anything to do with the transaction. Soon bad guys are after him for the contents of the briefcase. He teams up with a fellow alkie, Sherry Lou Winn. Had potential but got totally repetitious and didn't move forward with an explicatory ending that laid out facts we didn't know about.
PROTAGONIST: Russell Murray
WHY:
Russell Murray is an alcoholic. A friend has given him a job to deliver a briefcase. Russ gets drunk and has no memory of anything to do with the transaction. Soon bad guys are after him for the contents of the briefcase. He teams up with a fellow alkie, Sherry Lou Winn. Had potential but got totally repetitious and didn't move forward with an explicatory ending that laid out facts we didn't know about.
May 26, 2017
This was a lot different from the mysteries that I read. It was faster paced, a lot more intense and made me so very glad I quit drinking !! In the end, I found myself rooting for the main character, Russell Murray. Just goes to show you really don't know the people you are closest to.
June 29, 2020
This was a very different book and although I did enjoy it, it did seem like the main character just ran from one bottle to the next and sometimes ducked the bullets that were flying at his head. It started off well and I thought it was going to be interesting but then it just sort of drowned in the bottle, I understand the character was a drunk and that was the whole reason he was in the trouble he was but he just went from one rehab centre to the next with no investigating in between. It was well written and certainly gave you an insight into the troubles an alcoholic faces.
Russell Murray wakes up in bed with a beautiful young lady with no idea how he got there. Before he can find out the answers the question of who she was or how he came to end up with her, two armed gun men break down the door and start shooting. Russell barely makes it out the window alive, it seems his boss had given him a very important job to do if only he could remember what it was. And the goons with the guns aren't happy that he didn't get it done. After one to many drinks to help him forget he was the reason the girl was dead, Russell wakes up in a rehab centre and befriends a rich girl. When the goons track him there Russell and his new friend go on the run. Can they stay off the drink long enough to work out what they are after and more importantly where he left it? A key in his pocket is the only clue to the alcohol fuelled night but a key to what?
The narrator does a good job and uses his voice well to create the different characters.
Russell Murray wakes up in bed with a beautiful young lady with no idea how he got there. Before he can find out the answers the question of who she was or how he came to end up with her, two armed gun men break down the door and start shooting. Russell barely makes it out the window alive, it seems his boss had given him a very important job to do if only he could remember what it was. And the goons with the guns aren't happy that he didn't get it done. After one to many drinks to help him forget he was the reason the girl was dead, Russell wakes up in a rehab centre and befriends a rich girl. When the goons track him there Russell and his new friend go on the run. Can they stay off the drink long enough to work out what they are after and more importantly where he left it? A key in his pocket is the only clue to the alcohol fuelled night but a key to what?
The narrator does a good job and uses his voice well to create the different characters.
March 17, 2018
This rollicking adventure with our hero Russell Murray and his sidekick Sherry Lou Winn **whom he met in rehab** There's a whole lot of consumption of alcoholic beverages, between these two. Combining witty, wry and sarcastic humor, with sad drunks. an entertaining road trip.
I was 'bout getting a buzz from reading this....and I quit drinking over 12 years ago. :)
**oh yeah, there was no appearance of a Wiley Moss** Par for the course for this zany tale.
I was 'bout getting a buzz from reading this....and I quit drinking over 12 years ago. :)
**oh yeah, there was no appearance of a Wiley Moss** Par for the course for this zany tale.
July 15, 2022
3.95/5
I like it when a book doesnt do weird stuff. I mean, sure waking up next to a naked girl who gets shot is weird, but like none of the new agey weird stuff like learning that the protagonist is a psychopath and was lying to us all along.
I like it when a book doesnt do weird stuff. I mean, sure waking up next to a naked girl who gets shot is weird, but like none of the new agey weird stuff like learning that the protagonist is a psychopath and was lying to us all along.
April 5, 2012
< sigh> I think I finished this out of penance for the previous books I'd dumped after 30-40 pages or so. Just to prove to myself I still had the attention span.
This is termed by the industry a "mystery" dunno why. It's a caper story where some guy who likes to drink and make wry quips and snappy patter gets in deep shit, befriends a gorgeous rich alcoholic woman along the way and gets out of it in the end.
So I suppose I give it credit that it sustained my interest in following along, even though I scanned chunks of irrelevant paragraphs.
If the next book starts off like this one, I'm not finishing it.
This is termed by the industry a "mystery" dunno why. It's a caper story where some guy who likes to drink and make wry quips and snappy patter gets in deep shit, befriends a gorgeous rich alcoholic woman along the way and gets out of it in the end.
So I suppose I give it credit that it sustained my interest in following along, even though I scanned chunks of irrelevant paragraphs.
If the next book starts off like this one, I'm not finishing it.
October 12, 2014
Picked this up at the library book sale - one of a bag of books, all for $7. This one was worth the $7 all by itself. A delightful read, especially since I'd never heard of the author. The plot is unusual - not at all formulaic. And the characters are very good - real and interesting. As far as I can tell, the alcoholic daze that consumes the two main characters, and the institutional chaos/dullness of detox clinics is rendered accurately; humorous, perceptive, sometimes chilling. Very much recommended.
October 15, 2015
Our narrator and his new friend escape from a detox facility and hit the road in search of booze and a missing briefcase. Of course a number of the other interested parties, most of them dangerous, are also looking for it. A fast-paced, fun read. I've read at least one other book by Barratt and will probably read more.
August 14, 2007
Russell wakes up one day and everybody’s trying to kill him. He has no idea why, because he’s an alcoholic and he can’t remember where he’s been or what he’s done for the past couple of days. A wild joyride with a funny but thoroughly untrustworthy narrator.
July 10, 2008
Borrowed this book from my sister-in-law, read it when I didn't have anything else around, and ended up liking it surprisingly more than I thought I would.
June 24, 2012
For the first 20-30 pages I wondered about chucking this book..then it got better. I ended up enjoying the story.
October 25, 2020
This was a re read of an old favorite.
March 5, 2014
Oddly compelling, a screwball caper of bad luck and close scrapes. Glad I finished it!
April 13, 2015
Much better than I expected....witty dialogue
January 12, 2016
Graphic offsets the humore.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews