Humor in Mysteries - yes or no?

[Kate Thornton]

I love to read a mystery that also gives me a good laugh or two.
Carl Hiaasen is one author who can make me spit out my coffee.

Who does this for you?

[limitedtimeauthor]

I love this question, but I have found so few... I really like Janet Evanovich sometimes. Hers are light, fun reading.

But I want to hear about other authors! I have a hard time finding them. What are Hiaasen's books like? Are they straight mysteries, or do they have some suspense/thriller elements?

ltd.

[triceretops]

I don't usually read mysteries, but the author that changed that for me was Joeseph Wambaugh, who injects tons of humor and irony in his stories.

Tri

[poetinahat]

I'm a great fan of the Lovejoy novels, by Jonathan Gash. Great characters, veryfunny, clever plots, and insight into the world of antiques -- fascinating.

[Jamesaritchie]

I'm a great fan of the Lovejoy novels, by Jonathan Gash. Great characters, veryfunny, clever plots, and insight into the world of antiques -- fascinating.

I agree. Wonderful, funny, very well-written novels. I've read them all at least twice. I'm also a huge fan of the TV series.

[alleycat]

I was surprised to find how much humor is in Moby Dick when I finally got around to reading it.

And for you Lovejoy fans, Strand magazine publishes some of the short stories from time to time.

[Soccer Mom]

I enjoy all of the above and love my mysteries with humour in them. Gash, Evanovich and Hiaason are all on my bookshelf. I also like Dorothy Cannell's first two or three mysteries. (The Thin Woman is brilliant). But her humour got old for me. I love the humour in the Mrs. Murphy mysteries. Oh, and MC Beaton. I spit out my beverage a minimum of three times in each Agatha Raison mystery.

[limitedtimeauthor]

Oh, and MC Beaton. I spit out my beverage a minimum of three times in each Agatha Raison mystery.

That should be the official way to rate them:

"This book was a 3 on the Spitometer, but her last one was just a two-spit book." LOL

ltd.

[Carmy]

M.C. Beaton's Agatha and Hamish series should not be read while eating or drinking. Guaranteed to make you choke or spit out.

[Toni1953]

Lovejoy and definitely Evanovich, and also Carol Higgens Clark.

[JDCrayne]

I love to read a mystery that also gives me a good laugh or two.
Carl Hiaasen is one author who can make me spit out my coffee.

Who does this for you?

Charlotte MacLeod. Her plots are wildly improbable and her characters should be locked up in the loony bin. (She was the inspiration for my own Mark Stoddard mysteries series.)

[AnnieColleen]

Donna Andrews (http://www.femmesfatalesauthors.com/andrews.shtml)

Owl's Well That Ends Well
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon
We'll Always Have Parrots

'nuf said!

[Soccer Mom]

Yes, I love Charlotte MacLeod. (She also wrote under Alisa Craig). Donna Andrews and the wacky bunch of cousins are wonderful too.

I can't believe I didn't mention Barbara Peters and the Amelia Peabody mysteries. I love that fussbudget.

[jpserra]

I love to read a mystery that also gives me a good laugh or two.
Carl Hiaasen is one author who can make me spit out my coffee.

Who does this for you?

Johnathan Gash, Joseph Waumbaugh, and of course, John Serra.

John

[Jenan Mac]

Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series. Paranormal suspense humor-- what's not to love?

[OmenSpirits.com]

Victor Grischler's GunMonkeys.

I laugh out loud at some moments.................

but

If you didn't think Goodfellas had some funny moments, like the trunk scene, then GunMonkeys might not make you laugh.

[Kate Thornton]

OMG - Victor Gischler is a fave of mine from the old Plots With Guns days...!

[nevada]

A Canadian author called Linwood Barclay has two books out now called Bad Move and Bad Guys. Very funny. I don't normally enjoy funny books but his made me laugh out loud. I like funny movies, funny tv shows, but not funny books. it's weird.

[MyFirstMystery]

I know they're not always a laugh-riot but Sue Grafton's mysteries occasionally get a guffaw out of me. I enjoy the injection of humor into mysteries.

MFM

[PattiTheWicked]

Janet Evanovich makes me laugh so hard I cry. Any scene involving Bob the dog pretty much does it for me.

[aadams73]

I'm a sucker for those Grandma Mazur scenes, ditto Lula. I like a bit of humor in all things.

[Qugrainne]

Talk about Bob the dog, how about the scene with all of the dogs chasing Stephanie, knocking her down, and having a humping frey!? I had to read that one out loud to all of the people who heard me going wacko in the next room. Hysterical!

[kikazaru]

MC Beaton, Hiiassen, and I agree Evanovitch definitely! (grandma Mazur, Lulu and Bob the dog - the scene where she got Bob to poop on her arch enemy's lawn had me absolutely rolling!).

Another favourite, Elizabeth Peters with her Vicky Bliss series as well as her character Jacqueline Kirby (a librarian). I am not so fond of Ameilia Peabody any more, although I really enjoyed her first 2 or 3.

I will read anything by Joan Hess - she has 2 series - the Maggody Mysteries (Arlie Hanks is the woman sherrif and apparently the only sane person in Maggody - a hick town like Hooterville in the Ozarks) and her Claire Malloy series - a book seller with a teen age daughter - these are laugh out loud funny.

I also adore the character Marcus Didius Falco who is an "informer" in Rome around 70 AD or so, by author Lindsay Davis. They are brilliant and Falco is as wise cracking as any PI today.

I've recently stumbled across the "Miss Zukas" mysteries by Jo Derske (sp?) She is a librarian and since I have worked in libraries I found them very amusing (not slap your knee funny just bright and witty).

[emsuniverse]

Any Grandma Mazur scene ranks high on the Spitometer. Any old lady who dresses like that, acts like that, and has no issues walking up to closed coffins at funeral visitations and opening them up to see how the dead body looks... I think she's one of my favorite book characters of all time.

[OmenSpirits.com]

OMG - Victor Gischler is a fave of mine from the old Plots With Guns days...!

I'm friendly with Victor, and even had my first story published on P.W.G. back in 2003, summer edition.

I've pictures of he and I at Pistol Poets Launch in NYC when he came into town on my own site.

He's a cool Kat. :)

[Lindo]

Kinky Friedman, Tim Dorsey

[Gravity]

I'd mention my own series of novels, but modesty prevents me. :D (People do seem to like 'em, though. Go figure.)

[Kate Thornton]

I'm friendly with Victor, and even had my first story published on P.W.G. back in 2003, summer edition.

I've pictures of he and I at Pistol Poets Launch in NYC when he came into town on my own site.

He's a cool Kat. :)

I had one of my early & very favorite stories published in PWG - I really miss that mag!

[Lindo]

I ran across this list on some website and have checked it out and all these people are great.
Neal Barrett is not so comical, but a great unsung American writer.
Anthony Bourdain is very good: he's a chef, if you like reading about food in your mysteries.
Christopher Moore is one of the funniest American writers alive.



Robert Skinner’s Wesley Farrel

Eric Dezenhall novel, Jackie Disaster (the first was Money Wanders,

Eric Garcia’s Annonymous Rex and Casual Rex

Tim Cockey writes humorous mysteries,

Joe Lansdale
John Ridley
Corson Hirschfield
Richard Dooling

Christopher Moore for those who like Hiaasen’s dark humor. His latest, Fluke, combines zaniness with mystery. Stephen Cannell’s King Con was also very Hiaasen

Adding Norm Partridge and most of Neal Barrett.
Ben Rehder’s first book, - Buck Fever – has gotten a lot of comparisons to Hiassen (albeit with a Texas flavor). Definitely some quirky characters in it. Also – Night of the Avenging Blowfish: A Novel of Covert Operations, Love, an


Terry Pratchett (anything).

Anthony Bourdain: Bone in the Throat

David Prill: Serial Killer Days a wacko look at small town boosterism: serial killer visits town every year, it is now an annual festival complete with a tour of homes of victims and Scream Queen competition. Do they really want the killer caught or would it be bad for business?

Eric Dexenhall: Money Wanders spin master tries to buff up image of Atlantic City mobster and puzzle out questions left by his grandfather, another Capo now dead.

[aadams73]

Very cool, thanks Lindo!

[OmenSpirits.com]

I had one of my early & very favorite stories published in PWG - I really miss that mag!
Yeah, Anthony, Victor and the crew really did a good job. My friend and fellow writer has taken up the reins by doing his www.thuglit.com in a similiar vein. He pushes the evelop of crime/hardboiled fiction with some really quality stuff.

:)

[moneyonthepage]

I lean more towards the older venues like Agatha Christie Miss Marple or Poiriot. I have a lot to learn, I am just a young'un

[Kate Thornton]

You gotta read the basics first! I love Agatha Christie - her Tommy & Tuppence series was fun - and the Harley Quinns, too - see if you can find them.

[Cathy C]

Lori Avocato! Love the Pauline Sokol (http://www.amazon.com/Dose-Murder-Pauline-Sokol-Mysteries/dp/0060731656/sr=8-7/qid=1169764490/ref=pd_bbs_sr_7/002-9497322-3318421?ie=UTF8&s=books)stories. Former RN turned medical fraud investigator. The author is a former RN, so the tiny details are fun. :D

[MyFirstMystery]

I just read my first Agatha Raisin mystery yesterday (The Quiche of Death) - very fun, thanks for the recommendation!

MFM

[Pomegranate]

I just read Jasper Fforde's "The Big Over Easy" (loosely related to the Eyre Affair series). It was hilarious. I'm a Hiasson fan too.

[Penguin Queen]

Evanovich is just fabulous. :tongue
Also very funny, and witty, are Sarah Caudwell (http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/%7Esusan/bib/fiction/c/caudwell.htm#9516)'s four mysteries set in the mad legal world of London. Very enjoyable.
And a number of 'classic' whodunnits written in the 1930s by Caryl Brahms (http://www.mysteryfile.com/Brahms-Simon/Quill.html) & AJ Simon (http://www.mysteryfile.com/Brahms-Simon/Quill.html), the first I think "A Bullet in the Ballet". Very silly, and very funny.

[stormie]

Some of Sharyn McCrumb's books, like Missing Susan and If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him.

Martha Grimes book Foul Matter (it's tongue-in-cheek about the writing and publishing industry)

MC Beaton's books

Janet Evanovich's books (love Grandma Mazur!)

[swvaughn]

I nominate J.A. Konrath. :D

And second Terry Pratchett... though technically he writes fantasy, his Night Watch books are mysteries, especially Guards! Guards! and Men at Arms.

[Will Lavender]

Thread spoiler:

I don't like humor in mysteries or thrillers. I like my thrillers dark. The darker the better.

An example from recent fiction, even though it's not purely a thriller, would be Jennifer Egan's The Keep. She has her narrator say some uproarious things, and there is a clever wit in the book, but for me that wit ruined the tension and the strangeness that the publisher promised.

I put the book down about a hundred pages in.

[Cassiopeia]

I'm friendly with Victor, and even had my first story published on P.W.G. back in 2003, summer edition.

I've pictures of he and I at Pistol Poets Launch in NYC when he came into town on my own site.

He's a cool Kat. :)
Name dropping? ;)

[Mae]

Dark thrilling ones, knee slapping ones, legal ones, oh my gosh there are so many types... as long as they take me for a good ride I will enjoy them. I am the type of reader I write for too ( because I crossread genres )

I love mysteries period.

[Dhewco]

Lawrence Sanders' Archy McNally series are great. They have humor, a good voice, and an entertaining mystery to boot.


David

[strngchs]

ja konrath's series, Whiskey Sour, Bloody mary, etc.. all the Jac Daniels ones... are great!

[Braydie]

Agatha Christie: It's been many years since I read her mysteries, and I thoroughly enjoyed every one I read.

Anne George: About five years ago, my sister loaned me several books by Anne George about two "elderly" sisters who become amateur sleuths. One southern sister is a retired school teacher; the other is a three-time widower, and the messes they get themselves into are hilarious.

Janet Evonovich: A sure favorite. I laugh out loud when I read her work.

Sue Grafton: Another sure favorite.

[Daehota]

Elmore Leonard comes immediately to mind. Partly, I think, because his characters do such ridiculous things. Lots of fun.

As for Carl Hiassen...I wish he would write about 4 books a year. He writes a lot about Florida, and the weird characters who lurk around here; I swear I recognize some of them!

[Excelsior]

As for Carl Hiassen...I wish he would write about 4 books a year. He writes a lot about Florida, and the weird characters who lurk around here; I swear I recognize some of them!

Amen. His stuff's addicting.

Anyone read Laurence Shames' "The Naked Detective"? Great noir-inspired humorous mystery.

[emsuniverse]

I wrote some (hopefully!) funny scenes in my novel. I put in a couple Lucy and Ethel inspired events just to lighten the book up a little.

I think it reads better because of it....

[SlowRain]

I like the cynicism in Martin Cruz Smith's "Arkady Renko" novels (Gorky Park).

[OmenSpirits.com]

Name dropping? ;)


If I was going to name drop, Vic is cool, but I'd aim for Barry Eisler or Bill Pronzini, or the late, great Mickey Spillane (talk about sweating bullets talking to a legend!)

:Shrug:

[Anthony Ravenscroft]

Treasuring the absurdity of life is one thing -- in this respect I'd definitely nominate Chandler. You know, the "she folded up like last week's newspaper" style, or "the smile that wanted to crawl across my face fell dead to the floor."

But if the writer's dropping a one-liner or bon mot on every page, I'd probably get quickly tired of her/his grabbing for attention. Worse if it's in narrative rather than dialogue.

[gp101]

I love dark noir, too, but the comical mystery/thriller/suspense still entertains me. Haisson writes great, light, funny stuff. Elmore Leonard, to me, writes not as light, but the humor most often comes through subtlety, mostly through his sarcastic characters, the things they do, and what they say. Both authors write crime novels, not necessarily mysteries or thrillers. I would think too much comedy in any of these sub-genres could kill the story, but I would imagine it would be worst for thrillers. Seems crime novels lend themselves well to comedic moments.