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Humorous
Crime Fiction Booklist
Page Modified: June 1, 2007
Humor is very subjective and personal
- but here are some books to tickle all types of funny bones.
A list of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist (BL), Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus, and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on this list. Titles are alphabetically by author.
Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.- Murder With Peacocks
Author: Andrews, Donna
Publisher: St Martins Price: $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312199295 Date: 1999
Kirkus
Hectic plans for three family weddings in one summer are made even more hectic by murder. New author Donna Andrews combines murder and madcap hilarity with a cast of eccentric oddballs in a small southern town.
Suggested Reading: Debuts
- Big Trouble
Author: Barry, Dave
Publisher: Putnam List Price: $ 23.95 ISBN: 0399145672 Date: 1999
PW
Kirkus
Library Journal
The humorous Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist makes his fiction debut with a ferociously funny novel about love and mayhem in south Florida, and the the life-changing events that rumble through a odd-ball family after two hit men pull up to their door.
Suggested Reading: All Stars | Florida Fiction - God Save the Queen
Author: Cannell, Dorothy
Publisher: Bantam, Doubleday, Dell List Price: $ 22.95 ISBN: 0553101633 Date: 1997
PW
The author of The Thin Woman and How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams takes her trademark lunacy to its absolute limit with an inspired whodunit that begins with an age-old grudge - and a new corpse.
- Bridesmaids Revisited
Author: Cannell, Dorothy
Publisher: Viking $ 22.95 ISBN: 067089205x Date: 2000
Booklist
More laugh-out-loud lunacy is offered by the wickedly witty outrageously popular Cannell as sleuth Ellie Haskell ventures beyond the grave and through the murderous maze of her family tree.
Updated 7/5/00 - High Five
Author: Evanovich, Janet
Publisher: St Martins List Price: $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312203039 Date: 1999
Booklist
Kirkus
PW
The bestselling author of Four to Score brings back bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, in her fifth hilarious, high-octane thriller. Out of bail skippers and rent money, Stephanie throws caution to the wind and engages in some morally correct yet marginally legal enterprises, including tracking down her Uncle Fred, who's missing after arguing with his garbage company.
Suggested Reading: Humorous Mysteries | All Stars | If You Like Janet Evanovich - Hard Eight
Author: Evanovich, Janet
Publisher: St Martins $ 25.95 ISBN: 0312265859 Date: 2002
Booklist
PW
In Hard Eight, Stephanie, Morelli, Ranger, Lula, Valerie, and Grandma Mazur are strapped in for the ride of their lives. This time, Stephanie is hired to find a missing child. But things aren't always as they seem and Stephanie must determine if she's working for the right side of the law.
Suggested Reading: If You Like Janet Evanovich
Updated 5/20/02 - Anonymous Rex: A Detective Story
Author: Garcia, Eric
Publisher: Villard List Price: $ 23 ISBN: 0375503269 Date: 1999
PW
Vincent Rubio, a Los Angeles private investigator, is down on his luck: He's out of work. His car's been reposessed. He's been banned from The Council. His partner has died under mysterious circumstances. And his tail just won't stay put.Somewhere between L.A. Confidential and Jurassic Park, you can find Anonymous Rex, one of the smartest, wittiest, and most entertaining debuts this side of the Ice Age. - From the Anonymous Rex web site.
Suggested Reading: Debuts - The Maggody Militia
Author: Hess, Joan
Publisher: Dutton List Price: $21.95 ISBN: 052594236x Date: 1997
Booklist
The tenth installment in the successful series features Police Chief Arly Hanks, the spunkiest , most off-beat female sleuth around. Suspicious of a militia group set up near Maggody, Arly investigates and soon finds herself emeshed in the band's web of secrets, including a supposed imminent invasion by U.N. troops.
- Misery Loves Maggody
Author: Hess, Joan
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Price: $ 22 ISBN: 0684845628 Date: 1999
Booklist
Off-beat sleuth Arly Hanks returns in this newest installment of the Maggody series. On a trip to Memphis with a stop in a bustling Mississippi riverboat casino town, Arly's mother is admitted to the hospital. Arly rushes to her side and is drawn into a murder mystery.
- Buck Fever: Blanco County Texas
Author: Rehder, Ben
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312291140 Date: 2002
PW
Library Journal
It's the beginning of a crazy weekend in Blanco County as deer hunting season gets underway--and already a man in a deer suit has been shot. A sidesplittingly funny debut that does for Texas what Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey have done for Florida.
Suggested Reading: First Fiction & Mystery Debuts | Wildlife | If You Like Carl Hiaasen
Updated 9.7.02
Also: Humorous Fiction
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