I know what you're saying. "Hang on, Secret Dead Blog... that doesn't look a thing like Ken Bruen." You may also be saying, "And they say his name is Joe Ratzinger, or something. What gives?"
Wise up, yo. You think Ken will be able to run the Catholic Church and still do various signings and readings at mystery bookshops around the world? No way. The minute he sits down behind a table, he'll be swarmed by people looking for absolution, advice, the healing light of Christ, blah blah blah, and of course, to sign their shopping bag full of Jack Taylor novels. It'll never work.
So Ken has adopted a pseudonym. Clever one, too. "Joe" is a classic workaday American name (we all know about Ken's weird fondness for the U.S.); kind of an "Average Joe" among Popes, if you will. And Ratzinger is the tough private eye in the ultra-obscure Gold Medal classic, You Crossed the Wrong Man, Buddy Boy, which Ken has often cited as the hardboiled novel that inspired him to pick up the pen in the first place.
"Benedict XVI" is also an inspired choice for a holy name. The "16" is an obvious reference to the number of crime novels he's written upon being elected Pope; Benedict is a reference to colonial-era turncoat Benedict Arnold, the ultimate American rebel. It's all so Ken.
To further disguise himself, Ken will wear a skin-tight "fat suit" whenever making appearances as Pope. But look at that gray hair. The sparkle in his eye. Definitely Ken. If you don't see it, you're not fit to kiss his Papal ring.
So blessings and good cheers to the new Pope. Best of all: things dry up at B-Con this year, we'll know who to tap to turn you-know-what into Jameson.
0 Yorumlar