I can't remember who wanted references to ferrets in fiction or lit - here are some obscure references (almost none of which I would recommend as fascinating reading, yet nevertheless still fitting the bill of "ferret references"...) THE ANIMAL LOVERS BOOK OF BEASTLY MURDER, by Patricia Highsmith, Penzler Books. The protagonists are all animals which, or who, get rid of their generally despicable human owners. Among those who turn the tables in a heartening way are a whole factory's worth of battery-raised chickens, a ferret, a poodle, a cat, and some hamsters. DANGEROUS MEN, By Geoffrey Becker, University of Pittsburgh Press. A collection of zany short stories. In "Erin and Malcolm" a disaffected bass player whose former band is heading for success - with his wife as lead singer - takes sweet revenge by plugging in his guitar, cranking up the amp and blasting his wife's beloved ferret right out of the apartment, setting off a chain of disasters that leads to the creature's ultimate demise - deep-fried in the kitchen of a neighboring restaurant. CYRIL CONNOLLY - A NOSTALGIC LIFE, By Clive Fisher, Macmillan. A biography that remembers a critic, editor and personality. Mentions that dining at his house was hazardous because of his pet ferrets (alluding that his ferrets were not housetrained). TOULOUSE-LAUTREC: A LIFE, By Julia Frey,. Julia Frey uses family letters unavailable to previous biographers and provides a study of the fag-end of the French aristocracy. Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Montfa came from an ancient family that for centuries had ruled over southern France. His mother, Adele was a devout Catholic; his father, count Alphonse, gave full meaning to the term "gone hunting". He vanished on the honeymoon, telegraphing two words: "Send Ferrets". HOME AND AWAY, By Joanne Meschery, Simon & Schuster The protagonist takes her job seriously working swing shift at the agricultural inspection station near the California-Nevada border. She confiscates produce and the occassional ferret. STILL EXPLOSION, By Mary Logue, Seal. This is a mystery which is emphatically pro-choice. A bomb explodes at a family planning clinic. The review says "Those who are comfortable with Logue's political stand will welcome Laura's (the protagonist's) debut, those who aren't may find the antic's of Laura's pet ferret this book's only entertaining aspect." LET'S EXPLORE ... FURRY, FISHY, FEATHERY FRIENDS, Braun books A 7 year old and her father explore the world of pets from the ordinary to the unusual. I can't remember for sure but I think they look at dogs, cats, ferrets, birds, hermit crabs, lizards, alligators, prairie dogs etc etc and then I think they decide to get a ferret. This is in book and video form. COOLER BY THE LAKE by Larry Heinemann. The hero is Max a mildly incompetent, mostly harmless petty crook. His house is home to a posse of mangy cats and two pet ferrets "of which the best that can be said is they don't have speaking parts" (from the review). DRIFT AWAY, by Kerry Tucker, HarperCollins Books. Libby goes undercover working as an office temp. Libby is warned by her supervisor that the firm allows no chewing gum, no open-toed shoes, no lycra, no leather, no spraying hair, polishing nails or keeping pets in your cubicle. Libby tries to imagine the secretary who inspired the rules and comes up with a wild woman-child in a black spandex body suit, her hair whipped into a froth, a dog collar around her neck, her pet ferret tethered to her wrist with a leather strap... [Posted in FML issue 1432]