mystery with a sense of humor

I've just finished re-reading all of Lawrence Block's Burglar series, and I kind of feel like continuing in that vein. What do you all recommend in terms of mysteries with a touch (or more) of humor. I've also read David Rosenfelt, and am considering Donald E. Westlake.

This is my first post on LT, by the way. Be gentle. ;-)

- Ron

Hi Ron, you're among friends here.

I enjoyed Sue Grafton's series A is for Alibi etc.

Christopher Brookmyre's books set in Scotland are very funny. Quite Ugly One Morning is his first book. Also look at Ross Thomas, perhaps trying The Fools in Town are on our Side.

Try M.C. Beaton Hamish Macbeth. The first is Death of a Gossip

Ross Thomas seconded. Chinaman's Chance is hilarious in spots.

You may also give Robert Crais a try with his Elvis Cole series. It begins with The Monkey's Raincoat which was run through a Chandler sieve, but stands on its own after a bit.

The Myron Bolitar series by Harlan Coben is also occasionally funny. Oh and Carl Hiassen is a scream. He's not a series writer per se, but there are themes to his work; nearly all are set in Florida and decry the urbanization and waste of the natural resources.

Trenton Lee Stewart's Mysterios Benidict Society was great, and right now I am working on Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach. It is pretty good so far.

I think Simon Anthony Brett's books, particularly those featuring Charles Paris, are a good follow-up to Block's Burglar Who series.

Of course, for humor we have to mention Janet Evanovich.

The Spellman Files and Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz, featuring a rebellious but dogged detective daughter in a family of detectives, is very funny.

Thanks to all for the great recommendations! Having only dipped my toe in the genre, I was lost without your help.

Harlan Coban's Myron Bolitar books are usually worth more than a chuckle.

The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp is a lot of fun.

I second the Elvis Cole series by Robert Crais. I might add Solomon vs Lord by Paul Levine, I believe there are 3 or 4 books in this series, and lastly William Lashner has a great character in his books named Victor Carl who has a unique sense of humor.

The Flaxborough series of books by Colin Watson are good for a laugh.In particular try The Flaxborough Crab and Whatever's Been Going on at Mumblesby

I like the Tuesday Next series by Jasper Fforde. I also like Donna Andrews, but they are a little different in tone from Donald Westlake.

Try the Fools' Guild series by Alan Gordon. The first in the series is Thirteenth Night. All are witty, humorous, and thoroughly enjoyable.

Thanks again, everyone! What an awesome list.

#13...I've never read (or heard of) Colin Watson, but he certainly wins the prize for best book titles.

so no one has mentioned Janet Evanovitch...the Stephanie Plum series???c'mon you people...laugh out loud funny...and some pretty interesting plots to boot!
are we elitist here?? shame shame!!!

I can't believe I didn't think of her! But only the early ones, after a while she starts to beat the dead horse.

#17 -- your comment about best book titles reminded me of another good entrant for this list: G.M. Ford, especially that first novel "Who in Hell is Wanda Fuca?"

#7 posted Janet Evanovich, btw. Just sayin'. The early ones are hilarious but agreed that the later ones suck.

> 6, those are two great YA/Juvenile mysteries. I really really liked Shakespeare's Secret. Elise Broach has a new mystery called Masterpiece. I look forward to reading it.

Try the DKA series by Joe Gores, about a bunch of repo men. 32 Cadillacs was quite humorus.

There's Raymond Chandler, of course, whose books are both funny and serious, with the possible exception of "The Long Goodbye," which is more serious and less humorous than his others. But here's an esoteric (as in barely known) suggestion: Richard Hilary's Ezell "Easy" Barnes" mysteries, like: "Snake in the Grasses" and "Pieces of Cream."

For Chandler I'd have to say the most humorous is probably The Little Sister where Marlowe is full on sarcastic and the one-liners just keep coming. Acerbic probably best describes him in this one.

Writing in another thread reminded me of The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom. You need to have an appreciation for Scottish humor, though. It's simple but very funny.

I want to put in a word for Pictures of Perfection by Reginald Hill. Though that series in gneral is very witty, they range from being quite dark to more balanced with humor, with the the above-mentioned being really very funny.

Bookmarque: Funny you should think so. When people ask me to recommend a particular Chandler, I always say The Little Sister. I haven't ruminated on why, so maybe I'll read it again with that in mind. I do like the way he jumps from one facet of society to another, from the hoi polloi to the hoity toity, which he does in spades in The Little Sister.

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp'from the hoi polloi to the hoity toity'

#29: May I just compliment you on this phrase? It made my day. Literary genius.

Except that hoi polloi already includes the word the and so the extra is superfluous.

For humor, I adore the parody series by James Anderson that begins with The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy. Hysterical.

I recommend Sicilian author Andrea Camilleri, especially his Montalbano series.

I agree with Carl Hiaasen and Paul Levine.

Stuart Kaminsky writes the Toby Peters series, a PI who is usually protecting a historical figure (Eleanor Roosevelt, W.C. Fields, Fred Astaire). These have a good bit of humor in them.

Joseph Wambaugh's LA cop stories are gut-wrenchingly hilarious at times, a la Catch-22. Duane Swierczynski's The Wheelman is ironically funny, but violent. Chris Grabenstein is a former standup comic that writes books with lots of humor: the Ceepak series and the Christopher Miller FBI series.

If you're looking for something to share with the wife while on a car trip, the Anne George, Southern Sisters series, is cozy, but filled with humor. There are 8 of them and most available in audio.

Dave

There are some funny books in the Thomas Perry: Butcher's Boy vein. Metzger's Dog and Island. While these are about criminals there is a screw-ball element to them which kept me chuckling. Not everyone finds them funny, though; they see them as straight stories. (Maybe I have some loose screws.) Charlotte MacLeod has written some funny books. One series is about Professor Peter Shandy; a sample title is Wrack and Rune. Another is about a husband and wife detective team which absolutely skewers old Boston society. The Family Vault, #1, sets up the parameters, stuffy, pompous family which stumbles into noteriety through no fault of its own and whose cief defense is chewing its own leg to escape. MacLeod's prose is witty and her characters are just this side of satire, or maybe just the other side, come to think of it. I've read and re-read these many times.

I found myself laughing out loud with Frost At Christmas. My husband gave me some very strange looks! I have the next two in the series on order and am looking forward to them.

I really llike several of the authors mentioned, especially Janet Evanovich, Donna Andrews (both series - I like the "bird" books, but the Turing Hopper series is exceptional, imo), Charlotte MacLeod, and more.

Another name I would add for laugh-out-loud-and-get-funny-looks would be the Southern Sisters Mysteries by Anne George. I also enjoy Joan Hess' sense of humour, and many of the cozy series.

For best title, my vote has to be for Sarah Shankman's "I Still Miss My Man, But My Aim is Getting Better".

On a more offbeat mystery series there is the Eyre affair and sequels, or the Nursery Crime series. Both very funny, and very bizare.

#37, that reminds me of Sharyn McCrumb's If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him (I'd be out of jail by now). Haven't heard anything from Ms. McCrumb in a while. I miss her! Her books are often laugh-out-loud funny, but just as often touching and true-to-heart. "Zombies of the Gene Pool" is another great title by her.

Sharon McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun (the prequel to Zombies of the Gene Pool) is funny as well, but the computer tech in it is very dated. I also liked her The PMS Outlaws.

Someone may have mentioned Robert Barnard, but I missed it, so I had to mention him. One of the funnier mysteries I have ever read is Death by Sheer Torture.

I agree with all who recommended Hiaassen.

Rather obscure nowadays, but if you can find William Marshall, his Yellowthread Street books set in Hong Kong while it was still under British rule are somewhat violent but also amusingly crazy. Also, I seem to recall that Aaron Elkins was pretty good for a chuckle or two.

Simon Brett's Mrs. Pargeter series is quite funny. She is the widow of a British mobster and when she has problems, like finding dead bodies, she calls on his friends to help her.

Another author whose humour I like is H. Mel Malton - some of her titles are One Large Coffin To Go, Cue the Dead Guy, and Dead Cow in Aisle Three.

One of my favourite humorous detective series is the Angel series by Mike Ripley. They are set in London, mostly in unfashionable Hackney. Angel is trumpet playing, de-licensed taxi driving layabout who keeps being dragged into helping friends with problems. He also has a cat named Springsteen with the disposition of a swamp adder. In the later books he gets married and reluctantly works in a detective agency. The early books are best, but all are funny and his family are amazing.

Has anyone mentioned Elizabeth Peters's Amelia Peabody series? They're not exactly hard boiled, but the early ones are a scream. At least to me they are.

Have you read Lawrence Block's other series? The John Keller series? I have enjoyed it, Keller is a great character with a rather laid back sense of humor you might find enjoyable.

Hit Man
Hit List
Hit Parade
Hit and Run

There's also the Bubbles series by Sarah Strohmeyer

In addition to Carl Hiaasen, Robert Crais (Elvis Cole), Harlan Coben (Myron Bolitar), and Charlotte MacLeod (Sarah Kelling; Peter Shandy), all mentioned above, I'd nominate:

Gregory MacDonald . . . whose "Fletch" series is extremely funny for a while (read it in publication, not story, order and stop when it quits amusing you) and whose "Flynn" (though not its two sequels) are even funnier.

Alisa Craig . . . who's really Charlotte MacLeod writing under a pen name about Canadian characters (RCMP inspector Madoc Rhys, and improbably named garden club member Dittany Henbit)

Sharyn McCrumb . . . whose Elizabeth McPherson and Jay Omega stories are funny, though her "Ballad Novels" (which are her best work) aren't.

Don Winslow . . . whose "Life and Death of Bobby Z" is great fun more or less in the Donald Westlake mode

Oh! I almost forgot Sparkle Hayter's Robin Hudson books. It's hard to say anything without spoilers, because you want to do a "remember the time when she..." I need to re-read those.

"SCOTTISH humour"? The Mobile Library series, by Ian Sansom, is set in the North of Ireland ...

45: Regarding Elizabeth Peters: Yes, the early Peabody books are very, very funny. So are her Vicky Bliss books.

I've been reading the Jaffarian books that start with Too Big to Miss. Odelia has a plus size attitude to go with her plus size figure. The second in the series that I read was much better Curse of the Holy Pail. I can't wait to find the next at the library.

I think Aurelio Zen michael dibdin is very funny, in a mordant, passive aggressive way.

The 'Spenser' series by Robert B Parker are well worth reading.

No mention yet of David Wishart's Marcus Corvinus mysteries.
Definitely sense of sardonic (or cynical) humour.
Series page here (easier than touchstones)
http://www.librarything.com/series/Marcus%20Corvinus%20Mysteries

A closer match to mystery with sense of humour is Lindsay Davis Falco mysteries.
http://www.librarything.com/series/Marcus%20Didius%20Falco

Both these are historical mysteries, both set in early Roman times but different eras. And they're series so if you like them, there's more! :-)

>44 cimorene: cimorene - if you like Mike Ripley, you'll probably like these too. The male 'voice' has similarities in attitude to Angel (more so in the Falco mysteries)

Elizabeth Peters' Jacqueline Kirby books are very funny, especially Die for Love. I have worn out one copy and had to buy myself a replacement.

55 ryn_books - Thank you for the note about David Wishart. I discovered both Marcus Corvinus and Falco a long time ago. You're right, Angel and Falco do have a lot in common - all three's wives have a lot in common as well including how to manage their menfolk.

56 Pinkozcat - Like you I have read and reread Die for love. Obviously romantic fiction conventions have a lot in common with Sf and media conventions. Which is why I also like Sharon McCrumb's Zombies of the Gene Pool and the Bimbos title that I can't remember.

57: Sharyn McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun is the one you're thinking of. It's really dated, but the humor still works!

I have not read the Jacqueline Kirby series - I didn't know there was another one in addition to Amelia Peabody and Vicky Bliss. Gee, E. Peters was prolific (and that was only 1/3 of her, right? She had two other names, Barbara something-starting-with an M and some other name).

>58 anna_in_pdx:
Her other pen name is Barbara Michaels, I think. Her real name is Barbara Mertz.

I offer Joyce Porter's Hon Con series.

Another very funny series was written by Ruth Dudley-Edwards. There are eleven books so far in the series and they are all extremely politically incorrect.

She writes about the stuffiness of 'the establishment' in all its various forms.

I'd recommend The Anglo-Irish Murders as a starter ... it is real laugh out loud stuff. Her books have just been re-published so they should be readily available.

#56, I started the Jacqueline Kirby series out of order and read Naked Once More first. LOVED it!
Now I'm backtracking and am plowing through Die for Love ... don't like it quite as well, but I'm not sure why. (Maybe because I've had to pick it up and put it down too many times. Ruins a story thread!)

Are the others as funny?

I love the Liz Evans Grace Smith Investigations books - Cue the Easter Bunny, Don't mess with Mrs in-Between, Barking, Who Killed Marilyn Munro etc. They are all brilliant I think, and very funny.

Die for Love is my LEAST favorite Elizabeth Peters book. Everyone likes different things, don't they? I like the Vicky Bliss mysteries best myself.

#65, I feel vindicated now...believe I won't waste my time on the rest of it and just stick it on the pay-it-forward reading pile at work. (A great institution; we stick used books in the breakroom for adoption by other readers.)

No 58 Thanks for the title. I liked Bimbos of the death sun not because of the story which wasn't brilliant, but because of the setting. It might be a US con but the same characters can be found in British cons. I like the Amelia Peapody series best but that's because I'm interested in Egyptian archaeology. I don't care for the Vivky Bliss ones because I don't find them funny - but humour's a matter of taste.

An enthusiastic second for the works of Lisa Lutz, The Spellman Files, The Curse of the Spellmans and the brand new The Revenge of the Spellmans. They mystery aspect of these novels is de-emphasized, but they are quite funny.

I'd also recommend the humorous novels of Donald Westlake.

Penn Dutch Inn mysteries by Tamar Myers are good and goofy ...there are a bunch including The Crepes of Wrath and The Hand that Rocks the Ladle. (Those are the only two titles I can think of offhand.) They get a little similar after a while, but always a chuckle in them.

I just Bodies, read a book by Robert Barnard, and loved the humor in it.

There's a great deal of wry humor in Lindsey Davis' Falco series, set in first-century Rome. The first one in the series is The Silver Pigs.

I'm also extremely fond of her stand-alone novel (not a mystery,) The Course of Honour.

R

Five more of Ms. Myers's books I can name, having copyedited them: Death of a Rug Lord, Poison Ivory, Cane Mutiny, Monet Talks, and Statue of Limitations. All a play on the (incidental) detective protagonist's antiques business.

Try the Hitchcock Sewell series by Tim Cockey; first one is The Hearse You Came In On.

I finished one in the Benni Harper series by Earlene Fowler and went to bed grinning...is Fool's Puzzle the first one?

Anyway, they all have quilt pattern titles, all set in San Celina, CA, except for a couple excursions back to Kansas and Arkansas, and the subplots with Benni's feisty Grandma Dove are hilarious.

This is a terrific thread; I'm getting a good list of new authors to seek out. I still love Janet Evanovich who makes me laugh out loud in the middle of the night. Andrea Camilleri is also hugely amusing and Carl Hiaason. Shane Maloney has a brilliant series (7) about a character called Murray Whelan - Nice Try, The Brush-Off, The Big Ask, Stiff, Something Fishy are some of them - these are set in Melbourne and make me laugh aloud too. Has anyone read Kyril Bonfiglioli? - Don't Point That Thing At Me, After You With The Pistol and Something Nasty In The Woodshed? And what about Nury Vittachi - The Feng Shui Detective's Casebook and several others in the series? I love the blurb on the back: "Should bear a large red label warning against its being read while consuming beverages, lest unwary readers wind up spitting tea through their nose as I did" - Exactly!!

Sarah Caudwell isn't laugh-out-loud funny but I enjoy her sense of humor and I'm sorry there are so few Hilary Tamar books to enjoy; only four, if memory serves. I have no idea of the order and I don't think it matters much. One of the titles is The Sirens Sang of Murder.

G. M. Malliet has two books out in her St. Just series. The first is Death of a Cozy Writer and the second (just released) is Death and the Lit Chick. Both are tongue-in-cheek drawing-room type mysteries, and Malliet is hilarious. I'm still chuckling over one character description; something about his smelling as though he'd poured Laphroaig on himself and then jumped in a peat bog.

Definitely try Donald Westlake--and not just the Dortmunder series. Brothers Keepers is one of his funniest.

A biographical note: Westlake lived up here, in upstate New York--Columbia County--and was active in local environmental affairs. People were sorry to hear he died (a few months ago).

>76 Harinezumi:

Yes, it's really disappointing that there are only four books.

FYI: Hilary Tamar Series order

if you're willing to pop into the way back machine, try out rex stout's nero wolfe mysteries.

rex stout started writing the series in 1934 with fer-de-lance, but i wouldn't start with that one.

some of my favorite early nero wolfe books are some buried caesar, the league of frightened men,
too many cooks, and black orchids.

nero wolfe is a 1/7th-of-a-ton NYC detective who's a gourmet with a passion for beer, books, excellent food and orchids. he's a genius and an agoraphobe.

all of his leg work is done by handsome, dashing, irreverant and witty archie goodwin who, in the black mountain, describes his work for nero wolfe as "an accountant, an amanuensis, and a cocklebur."

happy reading.

edited for length and a ton of typos.

I just discovered Toby Peters mysteries by Stuart Kaminsky; Dancing in the Dark is the one I stumbled onto, and it's a tongue-in-cheek take on a Sam Spade-type PI in 1940's Hollywood. The comedy is a little understated, but still a fun read.

Have you tried J.A. Jance (J.P. Beaumont)? He's got a bit of a sense of humor.....

I have 3 different series of Lawrence Block books. Have you read any of the Matthew Scudder books? They're pretty good.

J.A. Jance's Joanna Brady books are also good.

Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder books are bitterly funny rather than laugh-out-loud, based on the two I've read.

Reed Farrel Coleman's Moe Prager books are slyly funny, with the humor mostly directed inward at Moe himself.

I just fiinished Laced by Carol Higgins Clark and I found it to be quite funny. It has a lot of situational humor as opposed to witty dialogue.

chinquapin, it may be heresy, but I like the entire series of books Carol Higgins Clark has written better than the one I've read written by her mother. I found them to have more humor and more likable characters.

I have ready Mary Higgins Clark as well, but more her earliest books. I remember that I really liked Where Are the Children? Sadly, writers seem to lose their muse after awhile.

I am definitely going to read more of Regan Reilly mysteries by her daughter, however.

How about The Blind Barber by John Dickson Carr ?

If you like ((John Dickson Carr)) have you tried ((Carter Dickson)), which is the same author. The latter pseudonym features Sir Henry Merrivale. They are extremely funny in places and a good detective story, often a variation on the locked room mystery.

Oh...you have to go with Lee Charles Kelley and his dog detective books. I still crack up anytime I think about it...the main character (retired NYC detective and of course profiler turned dog trainer in Maine) is driving along with his fiancée (of course, the state Medical Examiner) and they are discussing their life...and he brings up that things just don't seem real...she asks him why...and he replies something along the lines of..."Oh, sometimes I just feel like we are characters in a novel. Living our lives without control. Never knowing what is going to happen next"

It’s one of those “take a step back from reality moments”. Really got me hooked on these books.

I also really enjoyed "The Chick and the Dead" a Pepper Martin mystery by Casey Daniels. The book just had a keystone kops kind of pacing and attitude about itself. It's a fun romp centered around a graveyard.

Try James Anderson. He wrote:

The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cozy
The Affair of the Mutilated Mink and
The Affair of the 39 Cufflinks

Humorous through-out but not insulting to one's intelligence. It is important however to read them in order.

To me the tops in this category are the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum series and the Lisa Lutz Izzy Spellman mysteries. I also like the gentle humor of the Precious Ramotswe series by Alexander McCall Smith and the wit of the curmudgeon Inspector Montalbano in the series by Andrea Camilleri.

>92 jillmwo: jillmwo

So nice to see someone who likes those! I actually recommended them way up in #32.

I really enjoy Evanovich myself. I don't buy many books but I bought Stephanie Plum series up to Twelve sharp, need to get the rest. Thought my girls might enjoy them when they settle down....ha!

#94 timepiece --> Ooops! Clearly scanning the thread doesn't work all that well for me. Sorry to be repetitive, but yes, I thought the series was a pleasant send-up of the genre. Broad brush of humor but decent puzzle to make the read worthwhile.

I've just discovered the "Monk" books, and they are so funny. Monk's Obsessive-Compulsive behavior is hilarious, unless you would have to live with it. The content is told by Natalie, his assistant, which gives it a unique approach. I highly recommend these books for a fast, funny read.

#97, I read one (Mr. Monk in Outer Space) and -- just because of life at the time -- didn't get into as much as I'd hoped because I am a Monk TV junkie. Is there one you'd recommend as best of the bunch? I'd like to give it another try.

I came across David Rosenfelt quite by accident and can't get enough of him. I love his humour, his courtroom strategies are amazing, and his love of dogs in real life is transferred very readily to his work.
Donald E Westlake I don't know but will now check out.

Harlan Coben Myron Bolitar books have similar humour elements to Rosenfelt.

This is my first post so excuse the verbiage

Edmund Crispin's Gervase Fen mysteries are great. The first one is The Case of the Gilded Fly.

Well worth the read, 'cos of its combination of dry humour and mystery elements against a background of now nostalgic Americana, is Blair's Attic by Joseph C. Lincoln.

A toe-curlingly terrific read.

‘Aurélien Arkadiusz’

I'm not through reading it yet, but so far there's a good deal of humor in Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M. Malliet.