Fiction

SheltieLover

(59,449 posts) Fri Mar 25, 2022, 02:59 PM Mar 2022

Seattle Times: Our readers recommend these mystery novels that are also funny

Last edited Fri Mar 25, 2022, 10:27 PM - Edit history (3)

https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/our-readers-recommend-these-mystery-novels-that-are-also-funny/

Looks like a great list! Enjoy!

On edit, by request: adding 4 paragraphs.

Spencer Quinn’s Chet and Bernie mysteries. A lot of you chimed in for this 12-book series, about a detective agency run by Bernie, who is a person, and Chet, who is a dog. (But can he make cocktails?) The titles all play on famous novel or movie titles; my favorite is “A Fistful of Collars.”

“Squeeze Me” by Carl Hiaasen. Hiaasen’s name came up fairly often, mostly next to this 2020 bestseller about a dead dowager, a First Lady/Secret Service romance, a wildlife wrangler and a lot of hungry pythons.

Colin Cotterill’s Dr. Siri Paiboun series. This 15-book series is set in 1980s Laos, with its main character a doctor who becomes national coroner, inheriting an incompetent boss and quirky staff. Cotterill, an English Australian author, recently concluded the series with “The Delightful Life of a Suicide Pilot.

Also, Evanovich Stephanie Plum series, Pariac O'Donnell, Alan Bradley, Vaseem Khan, J.D. Robb, Sue Grafton, Kinky Friedman, Craig Johnson, Ann George, Lynn Truss, Rhys Bowen, Christopher Fowler, Qiu Xiaolong, Joe Ide, & Donald Westlake.

20 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Seattle Times: Our readers recommend these mystery novels that are also funny (Original Post) SheltieLover Mar 2022 OP

Thanks, SheltieLover BlueGreenLady Mar 2022 #1

Yw! SheltieLover Mar 2022 #6

I want to start a local chapter Mme. Defarge Mar 2022 #2

Enjoy! SheltieLover Mar 2022 #9

Ooh, just ordered the first Thursday Murder Club book. Thanks for the list of recommendations! MLAA Mar 2022 #3

I don't think I've read them! SheltieLover Mar 2022 #8

Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen is as always with him...a great read.... bahboo Mar 2022 #4

Hysterically funny read, precisely because it skewers tfg & magat women SheltieLover Mar 2022 #10

I have never been disappointed in a Carl Hiassen Novel. And this one was MLAA Mar 2022 #11

Paywall. Can you copy/paste the list please? cbabe Mar 2022 #5

There is no paywall SheltieLover Mar 2022 #7

Says I've used number of free articles allowed for the month. So I can't access. cbabe Mar 2022 #12

Sorry. I'll try to copy. Give me a bit to do it pls. SheltieLover Mar 2022 #13

Thanks. No worries. No hurry. cbabe Mar 2022 #14

Yw! SheltieLover Mar 2022 #15

Got it! Not sure about Craig Johnson. Would add Robert Crais. Off to library hold site. cbabe Mar 2022 #16

The Baby Ganesh series by Vaseem Khan The King of Prussia Mar 2022 #17

Sounds delightful! SheltieLover Mar 2022 #18

they are. Just imagine one of those detective/animal teams, where the yellowdogintexas Apr 2022 #19

The Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries yellowdogintexas Apr 2022 #20

BlueGreenLady

(2,869 posts)

1. Thanks, SheltieLover

Reply to SheltieLover (Original post)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 03:04 PM

Mar 2022

I've been looking for some good reads. Will check them out. At the library.

SheltieLover

(59,449 posts)

6. Yw!

Reply to BlueGreenLady (Reply #1)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 07:14 PM

Mar 2022

Enjoy! I'm currently re-reading Jana DeLeon's Miss Fortune series. Laugh-out-loud funny & superb writing!

Fortune is a CIA assassin in hiding in Sinful, Louisiana. She teams up with 2 older women, Ida Belle & Gertie who were spies in Nam. Excellent reads!

Mme. Defarge

(8,501 posts)

2. I want to start a local chapter

Reply to SheltieLover (Original post)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 03:14 PM

Mar 2022

of The Thursday Murder Club.

SheltieLover

(59,449 posts)

9. Enjoy!

Reply to Mme. Defarge (Reply #2)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 07:17 PM

Mar 2022

MLAA

(18,570 posts)

3. Ooh, just ordered the first Thursday Murder Club book. Thanks for the list of recommendations!

Reply to SheltieLover (Original post)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 03:20 PM

Mar 2022

SheltieLover

(59,449 posts)

8. I don't think I've read them!

Reply to MLAA (Reply #3)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 07:16 PM

Mar 2022

Will have to get from library!

Enjoy!

bahboo

(16,953 posts)

4. Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen is as always with him...a great read....

Reply to SheltieLover (Original post)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 04:05 PM

Mar 2022

and as an added bonus, it absolutely skewers the orange fuck....

SheltieLover

(59,449 posts)

10. Hysterically funny read, precisely because it skewers tfg & magat women

Reply to bahboo (Reply #4)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 07:18 PM

Mar 2022

MLAA

(18,570 posts)

11. I have never been disappointed in a Carl Hiassen Novel. And this one was

Reply to SheltieLover (Reply #10)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 08:18 PM

Mar 2022

Hilarious.

Try this one. If you can’t get it at the library there are second hand ones here. Very cheap but shipping is usually around $4. I loved it.

https://www.alibris.com/Off-the-Reservation-Glen-Merzer/book/45710990?matches=9

cbabe

(4,098 posts)

5. Paywall. Can you copy/paste the list please?

Reply to SheltieLover (Original post)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 07:10 PM

Mar 2022

SheltieLover

(59,449 posts)

7. There is no paywall

Reply to cbabe (Reply #5)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 07:15 PM

Mar 2022

cbabe

(4,098 posts)

12. Says I've used number of free articles allowed for the month. So I can't access.

Reply to SheltieLover (Reply #7)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 10:14 PM

Mar 2022

SheltieLover

(59,449 posts)

13. Sorry. I'll try to copy. Give me a bit to do it pls.

Reply to cbabe (Reply #12)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 10:15 PM

Mar 2022

cbabe

(4,098 posts)

14. Thanks. No worries. No hurry.

Reply to SheltieLover (Reply #13)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 10:17 PM

Mar 2022

SheltieLover

(59,449 posts)

15. Yw!

Reply to cbabe (Reply #14)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 10:28 PM

Mar 2022

Updated op with info.

cbabe

(4,098 posts)

16. Got it! Not sure about Craig Johnson. Would add Robert Crais. Off to library hold site.

Reply to SheltieLover (Reply #15)

Fri Mar 25, 2022, 10:37 PM

Mar 2022

for Hiassen titles.

The King of Prussia

(743 posts)

17. The Baby Ganesh series by Vaseem Khan

Reply to SheltieLover (Original post)

Sat Mar 26, 2022, 05:59 PM

Mar 2022

A retired police officer with a baby elephant. Very definitely recommended!

SheltieLover

(59,449 posts)

18. Sounds delightful!

Reply to The King of Prussia (Reply #17)

Sat Mar 26, 2022, 09:03 PM

Mar 2022

Ty!

yellowdogintexas

(22,650 posts)

19. they are. Just imagine one of those detective/animal teams, where the

Reply to SheltieLover (Reply #18)

Thu Apr 7, 2022, 01:29 AM

Apr 2022

animal is a baby elephant.

yellowdogintexas

(22,650 posts)

20. The Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries

Reply to SheltieLover (Original post)

Fri Apr 15, 2022, 01:40 AM

Apr 2022

These are great fun
I lucked up on a cheap special of the full series on one of those discount e-book places.

From the Amazon notes on book 1

A DETECTIVE AGENCY WITH HEART.
ALSO MOM, KIDS, AND A KITTEN!

It’s a dismal day for the PI firm to the stars of Silicon Valley when their own star is huddled in a phone booth instead of tracking down stolen software. Sadly, ace detective Lee Alvarez is currently taking shelter from a deluge while surveilling some rat of a husband. This is way beneath her dignity!

Worse, she may be trapped with another rat. Something in there just moved.

But Lee’s luck just changed—that’s no drowned rat. It’s her thoroughly drenched, pathetically skinny, and terminally cute new BFF— an orange and white kitten tiny enough to fit in a pocket. Well, forget the surveillance.

When you catch on that this is the kind of mystery that starts with rescuing a kitten, you know you're in good hands!

And I just discovered there is a new volume!!! Now I have to wait for the price to go down.....

Reply to this discussion