Private dick extraordinaire Kinky Friedman has his hands full, fitting two new cases into his already busy schedule of solo boozing and misanthropic musing. First, there's the missing young autistic boy from New York. He's on a menu of medica- tions, has a knack for picking stock-market winners, speaks only one word, "schnay" -- and Kinky is the family's last hope of finding him. But a second mysterious disappearance takes Kinky deep-in-aharta Texas, where Lucky the three-legged cat -- and unofficial mascot of the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch -- has apparently been kittynapped. The owner is convinced the feline is in the hands of some nasty neighbors, a satanic cult, or aliens -- and she wants Lucky found before he becomes coyote chow. <P> Sleuthing in two states, with two very special specimens at stake, Kinky is going to have to think (and <I>drink)</I> harder than ever to save the day not once but twice....