Elvis is made aware of two young girls who have apparently died in their sleep. They were both presidents of his fan club in different Tennessee cities. No one believes them to be anything but sad. No foul play is suspected. Elvis feels differently and enlists the aid of Billy Jackson, a self-taught doctor to a small black community. His nurse Selma also assists and Elvis is smitten with her.

He also has to deal with a Elvis impersonator that thinks he really is Elvis. Elvis consults with a forensic psychiatrist to try to understand the killer's mind.

Then there is another death of a fan club president. Still no one will listen to him and look into these deaths as murders. Plus Elvis keeps receiving recordings of his songs but with twisted lyrics. Who can be sending these? Could they be related to the deaths?

In the meantime, Elvis goes to his class reunion and runs into Penny Woodruff, a classmate and former girlfriend.

Things are getting complicated and Elvis is constantly missing recording sessions in his quest to find a killer no one else is even looking for. His is constantly have to deal with his manager and childhood pals at Graceland. His interest in Selma is constantly growing, but what about Priscilla.

Elvis ends up putting himself and others in danger to discover the identity of the killer before there are any more deaths.

I found this to be a delightful mystery. The Elvis character was so well constructed, I often found myself wondering if these things really happened!

This is a terrific new series and I can't wait to read them all. You will not be disappointed! You won't want to put it down until the last page! I highly recommend it!


Loved it!   May 28, 2003
Christine Campbell (Louisville, KY United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I'm not a big Elvis fan and when my husband brought this book home, I was reluctant to read it. Alas, with nothing left in the house to read, I had no choice (I am a serious book junkie!). I thought the book would be silly and rather tongue-in-cheek, but boy, was I wrong. This book is magnificent. It is a real page turner! I could hardly put the book down. Elvis plays a detective trying to figure out who is killing the young, female presidents of his fan clubs. He turns out to be an upstanding citizen and his character is portrayed as being very un-Hollywood. Elvis fights both crime and moral issues is this novel. The book is quite witty and, although I would like to say I did not know who the killer was until the end, it managed to keep my attention with the interplay between the characters. For those who like a suspense-ful novel with light-hearted brevity and a good, twisty plot, this book is a must read!


Presley (Private Eye)   March 5, 2002
Deborah F. Brown (Nesbit, Mississippi USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

A fun read for most Elvis fans. The story is delightful
and fast paced with alot of twists to keep a mystery
reader happy. As a fan, I found myself wishing for a
few more details to be like the personal Elvis.
eg: language used was ok, but certain phrases
could have just as easy been used that Elvis was
known to say often. Ok..Ok... I'm picking but
all in all it was a fun book and worth a read and
a must for E collectors.


ElvisNews.com Review   January 21, 2002
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Kill Me Tender by Daniel Klein

"Kill Me Tender" is a pure fiction "murder mystery" featuring Elvis Presley. Well, why not? There are many "fact"-books written about Elvis that are playing more or less fast and loose with those facts. At least the cover of this book states that this time it is fiction.

Elvis playing detective is not a strange idea at all, because it is a well-known fact Elvis had the hang of the police enforcement. Overall it is clear that the writer studied his main character pretty well. He does not only recommend Peter Guralnick's works, but it looks like he actually read them.

Daniel Klein took some liberties with stipulations as to time that catch the eye of the reader immediately, at least when the reader is an Elvis-fan. To the less fanatics those stipulations are just "Elvis-facts" that may seem in place. We can safely place the story in 1960, because most "facts" point to that. Elvis is home for just a couple of months after returning from Germany and "Elvis Is Back" is his latest album. Being a couple of weeks from the filming of "Take Me to The Fair" is in contradiction with this, because this movie (which became "It Happened At The World's Fair") was not filmed before the last quarter of 1962. Also a statue of Elvis in a jumpsuit and a TCB-belt do not really fit in the 1960-picture, because it took another decade before those things showed up. On first sight it looks strange that some of the Elvis-related people are mentioned by name, like Priscilla, Vernon, The Colonel and The Jordanaires, while Elvis' close friends are fictional.

Here we'll stop the hair-splitting. Assuming you like murder-mysteries at all this book is a nice read. It is fast, but demanding: it forces you to read on, even when you know you should go to sleep, because you have to go to work again the next day. The mystery starts when two young girls, both presidents of local fanclubs find an untimely death. Elvis gets involved and before you know it you are reading about P.I. Presley instead of G.I. Presley. There are some tender, touching moments, of course there is tension too and even humour can be spotted on several pages. In other words we enjoyed the book very much and therefore we won't say anything more about it, especially not regarding the story line. Not to give away the clue and to be sure we won't spoil your pleasure reading it!


Elvis would have loved this!   July 28, 2000
Jean Donovan (Derry, New Hampshire, USA)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Elvis comes off as a real live breathing human being, and Daniel Klein did a great job with the various characters. I especially liked the relationship of Elvis and Selma - very sweet and tender. Elvis in the book did a lot of the things that the Elvis in real life would love to have done. The mystery itself was intriguing - strange lethal drug killing fan club presidents - various characters appearing to be the likely suspect. I liked Selma so much that I was sad at the end - and the final phone call from overseas was a great ending. My only complaint was the overuse at times of crude language which did not always seem necessary. However, I enjoyed the book enough that I would definitely buy the next in the series. Jean Donovan