"Chosen 2011 Book of the Year (Nontraditional Fiction) by the Chicago Writers Association! From the author of the #1 best-seller "Politically Correct Bedtime Stories", comes a hilarious thriller that establishes a new genre: Clown Noir. In Top Town, a ghetto full of washed-up circus lifers in the shadow of a big city, Rex Koko is a pariah. Yet this clown's brand of chaos helps him solve the most heinous crimes, as he tries to earn personal redemption. In "Honk Honk, My Darling", Rex is hired by a haughty trapeze star to bring back his wayward wife. Every time Rex comes close to finding her, however, other aerialists come to gruesome and spectacular ends. Is Addie Carlozo a "black widow"? Is Rex really cursed with bad luck? Why is he being followed by those red-headed roustabout bastards, the Redd Brothers? And will "circus justice" intervene before the police do? Revenge, corruption and murder headline the bill in Top Town, where life comes 3 balls for a nickel. Babes, bullets, banana peels! As the poet said, "Damn everything, but the circus!."--