cover image Whho P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit: A Hare-Raising Mystery

Whho P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit: A Hare-Raising Mystery

Gary K. Wolf, Garry K. Wolf. Villard Books, $17 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-679-40094-3

Wolf's second Toontown mystery is short on inspiration, long on feeble puns and sure to disappoint lovers of Who Framed Roger Rabbitstet no question mark/rl , the animated cartoon adapted from his Who Censored Roger Rabbit? Wolf's frantic prose fails to capture the comic spirit, including the repeal of the laws of physics, that makes animated cartoons so surprising and funny. The plot, such as it is, has addlepated Roger hiring hard-boiled PI Eddie Valiant to investigate a scandal-sheet story pairing impossibly curvaceous Jessica Rabbit with Clark Gable, one of Roger's rivals for the role of Rhett in Selznick's planned musical comedy, Gone with the Wind . Eddie soon suspects Jessica of playing more than pat-a-cakes with Clark. Complications include murder, theft and corruption, but in the end who cares who p-p-p-plugged Rabbit? (Aug.)