Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts - Softcover

Rubinstein, Julian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316010731 ISBN 13: 9780316010733

Publisher: Back Bay Books, 2005

Synopsis

DESCRIPTION: Elmore Leonard meets Franz Kafka in the wild, improbably true story of the legendary outlaw of Budapest. Attila Ambrus was a gentleman thief, a sort of Cary Grant--if only Grant came from Transylvania, was a terrible professional hockey goalkeeper, and preferred women in leopard-skin hot pants. During the 1990s, while playing for the biggest hockey team in Budapest, Ambrus took up bank robbery to make ends meet. Arrayed against him was perhaps the most incompetent team of crime investigators the Eastern Bloc had ever seen: a robbery chief who had learned how to be a detective by watching dubbed Columbo episodes; a forensics man who wore top hat and tails on the job; and a driver so inept he was known only by a Hungarian word that translates to Mound of Ass-Head. BALLAD OF THE WHISKEY ROBBER is the completely bizarre and hysterical story of the crime spree that made a nobody into a somebody, and told a forlorn nation that sometimes the brightest stars come from the blackest holes. Like The Professor and the Madman and The Orchid Thief, Julian Rubinsteins bizarre crime story is so odd and so wicked that it is completely irresistible.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Attila Ambrus, the Robin Hood of Eastern Europe. He’s the one-time pelt smugger, goalkeeper (possibly the worst in the history of professional hockey), pen salesman, Zamboni driver, grave digger, church painter, roulette addict, building superintendent, whiskey drinker, and native of Transylvania who’s decided that the best thing to do with his time is to rob as many banks as possible.

His rival: Lajos Varju, the Inspector Clouseau of the Iron Curtain, whose knowledge of police work comes from Hungarian-dubbed episodes of "Colombo." His deputy is nicknamed "Mound of Asshead" due to his propensity for crashing police cars. His forensics expert, known as "Dance Instructor" for his lucrative side career teaching ballet, wears top hat and tails on the job.

Welcome to Julian Rubinstein’s uproariously funny and unforgettable account of crime in the heart of the new Europe. With a cast of characters that includes car wash owners, exotic dancers, drunk Army generals, cocaine-snorting Hungarian rappers, the Johnnie Cochrane of Budapest, and a hockey team that seems to spend as much time breaking the law as they do practicing, BALLAD OF THE WHISKEY ROBBER gives us the most charming outlaw-hero since the Sundance Kid—and the Sundance Kid didn’t play hockey.

As the Eastern Bloc slips off its communist skin and replaces it with leopard-skin hot pants, BALLAD OF THE WHISKEY ROBBER is here to screw in the pink lightbulbs. Part UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING, part PINK PANTHER, and part SLAP SHOT, Julian Rubinstein’s tale is a spectacular literary debut—and a story so outrageous that it could only be true.

From the Back Cover:

--Winner, Borders "Original Voices" Non-fiction Book of the Year
--Finalist, 2005 Edgar Allan Poe Award, Best Fact Crime--Finalist, 2005 Anthony Award, Best Non-fiction--Finalist, 2007, Audie Award, Best Audio Book--Film rights purchased by Johnny Depp

About this edition

• Publisher: Back Bay Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0316010731
• ISBN 13: 9780316010733
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352