Or am I insane? It had a Gremlin car in it, a weird version of Sherlock Holmes, and an arsonist named Ignaz the Igniter, who apparently had a long lineage of setting fires to uphold. A very strange book…I wish I could remember more of it. Anyone?
You almost had the title correct. Daniel Pinkwater’s The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death.
Do you mean Daniel Pinkwater’s “The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death”?
I think “Avocado of Doom” is much, much better…
Yes! Death! That was it! Though “Avocado of Doom” does bring certain Indiana Jones-type ideas to mind. Or perhaps a really bloody episode of Veggietales…
I suspect you may be thinking of The Platypus of Doom
No, it was “Avocado of Death” I was thinking of, though that IS a catchy title.
Yes, by Arthur Byron Cover. Four short stories, each one featuring a skewed take on a well-known character (Holmes and Doc Savage are the ones I remember). The paperback I had (have?) featured a Neal Adams painting of a, um, platypus.
All I could remember was the word “Pinkwater” and the trivia that the person who recommended it to me was a member of a group called Riders in the Sky (like the old song “Ghostriders in the Sky”) or something like that. I met him at a book signing for Garrison Keillor.
Hadn’t thought of that in years. I have the book somewhere…
I remember seeing that book in the library as a kid, but I don’t know if I ever read it.
The Snarkout Boys and the Avacado of Death changed my life. I’d read loads of children’s literature filled with details about fantastic worlds, like A Wrinkle in Time. Other books took place in suburbs or small towns. Not that many children’s books take place in the city. And it wasn’t just set in the city, it was filled with the kinds of details that made up the city as I knew it – odd little shops, walls with poster residue, strange people on the bus. It was the first book I had ever read that took place in my world, took an interest in the same things I did.