Entries from Westport Public Library BOOK blog tagged with 'humorous'
A less lethal Dexter
Matthew Dicks’ debut novel Something Missing introduces Martin Railsback, a professional criminal with OCD tendencies. Booklist’s review asks “A loopier Bernie Rhodenbarr? A less lethal Dexter?” and concludes that “… he could be the next big thing.” Connecticut author Dicks will be appearing at the Library on Monday evening, September 21st at 7:30, along with Margaret Berwin, another new author. Come learn more about their writing and first-time publishing experiences.Like sharks through ginger ale
“You're going to love meeting Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs, a pair of hip homicide detectives with the LAPD; unless, of course, you're the perp. Smart, funny and intuitive, Lomax and Biggs glide through the overlit shoals of Los Angeles like sharks through ginger ale. As up to the minute as they are intensely observant, the guys, this time, prowl the golden muck of the LA real estate bubble to fine effect; an exhilarating read.” This is a recommendation from the late Donald Westlake for Marshall Karp’s third Lomax and Briggs mystery, Flipping Out.Delightfully delusional
With Halloween upon us, you might want to indulge in some macabre fun. Joe Barone’s first mystery novel, The Body in the Record Room, takes place in a state mental hospital in 1954, when a patient who calls himself Roy Rogers finds a dead body in the hospital records room. Elvis and the Dearly Departed, features mortuary hairdresser Callie Valentine Jones – who “fixes up the hairdos of the dead.” When the corpse of a prominent physician goes missing, Peggy takes off in hot pursuit of the recently embalmed, last sighted in Vegas. She is assisted in her investigation by “Elvis,” a basset hound who believes he is the reincarnation of the King of Rock 'n' Roll – and who really knows how to sniff out a killer.Switch hitters
Chris Grabenstein is a former improvisational comedian. He and Bruce Willis were in the same comedy troupe in the early 1980s and he spent almost twenty years writing commercials for America's top advertising agencies. Grabenstein won the Anthony Award for Best First Mystery for his debut Tilt a Whirl, the first in a series of John Ceepak mysteries set in Sea Haven, New Jersey. A former MP in Iraq, Ceepak brings his considerable physical strength, crime-solving skills and morality to the beachside town. The second book, Mad Mouse, was selected as one of the Ten Best Mysteries of 2006 by Kirkus. It was followed by Whack a Mole in 2007 and the newly released Hell Hole.Whiskey a Go Go
There are two somewhat intoxicating mystery series on the shelves these days. Nina Wright’s Whiskey Mattimoe is a recently widowed real estate agent in a small resort town in Michigan. She made her debut in Whiskey on the Rocks (2005) which received a starred review in Library Journal. J. A. Konrath’s Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels is with the Chicago Police Violent Crimes Unit. When we meet Jack in Whiskey Sour (2004) her live-in boyfriend has left her for his personal trainer, chronic insomnia has maxed out her credit cards with late-night home shopping purchases, and a frightening killer who calls himself "The Gingerbread Man" is dumping mutilated bodies in her district.Like a thief in the night
The exploits of Lawrence Block’s gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr have entertained us from his debut in 1977 in Burglars Can't Be Choosers right on through the tenth book in the series published in 2004, The Burglar on the Prowl. By day, Bernie is the proprietor of Barnegat Books, a used bookstore in Greenwich. He has a cat named Raffles, named after the E.W. Hornung character. Next Sunday, August 17th at 2 p.m. the Usual Suspects Mystery Reading Group will be discussing The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams, book number six, published in 1994. Bernie has actually been trying to earn an honest living but an unscrupulous landlord's threat to increase Bernie's rent by 1,000% is driving him back to a life of crime. When the cops wrongly accuse him of stealing a $1 million baseball card collection, Bernie cannot alibi himself since he was busy burgling a different apartment at the time . . . one that happened to contain a dead body locked inside a bathroom.Beach reads
Last Wednesday night I was at Borders in Fairfield for a panel of authors -- several being mystery writers -- who shared their favorite beach reads.Murder by number
Sometimes it seems as if everybody's got a gimmick. Janet Evanovich has used numbers in her Stephanie Plum novels, starting with One for the Money, although the brand new Fearless Fourteen is actually the seventeenth book in the series. Visions of Sugar Plums, Plum Lovin’ and Plum Lucky got shuffled into the run along the way. Stephanie is a Trenton based bounty hunter.Mummy dearest
Joan Hess’s 17th Claire Malloy mystery, Mummy Dearest, pays tribute to the Amelia Peabody novels of the celebrated mystery writer Elizabeth Peters, to whom the book is dedicated. Fans of P.C. Doherty’s Amerotke, Chief Judge of the Halls of Two Truths mysteries which actually take place in ancient Egypt, in the 1400s – B.C., that is – are enjoying the 6th title in the series, The Poisoner of Ptah, which received a starred review from PW.More nominees
The Agatha Awards are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write novels in the traditional method exemplified by Agatha Christie, the best selling mystery writer of all time. This year’s nominees in the Best Novel category are: The Penguin Who Knew Too Much by Donna Andrews; Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen; Hard Row by Margaret Maron; A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny; Murder with Reservations by Elaine Viets.Le bonton roulez
It will be an early Mardi Gras tomorrow in New Orleans, the unforgettable city of mystery and intrigue. Even if you can’t make it to the party this year you can bring a taste of it home. Julie Smith’s protagonist is Skip Langdon, a former debutante and carnival queen who has traded in her crown for a badge. The first book in her series is New Orleans Mourning takes place during Mardi Gras. When the King of Carnival is gunned down by a party-goer dressed as Dolly Parton, Langdon scours the French Quarter and beyond for clues, interviewing revelers and street people with names like Jo Jo, Hinky and Cookie, and using her contacts from her white glove days.Io, Saturnalia!
If you think Christmas and Hanukkah are a lot of work, just be glad that Saturnalia is no longer on the calendar. Saturnalia, an ancient Roman festival of the winter solstice, was originally celebrated for three days beginning December 17th, but later extended to seven days – seven days of non-stop revelry that make all modern celebrations pale by comparison. A large and important public festival in Rome, it was by far the most popular. Besides the public rites there were a series of private family celebrations as well. If you would like to learn a little more about it, enjoy a good mystery and have a few laughs at the same time, try Lindsey Davis’s Saturnalia, the eighteenth title in her Marcus Didius Falco series, in which Davis does her usual sound job of bringing first-century Rome to life.For the birds ...
... and humorous mystery fans!
Donna Andrews readers will be happy to hear that blacksmith (yes, blacksmith!) Meg Langslow, her boyfriend Michael, and the other odd characters who make for one clever and entertaining mystery series, will return shortly in their latest outing, The Penguin Who Knew Too Much.
I am of two minds about this
Sometimes phrases just jump out at me while I am reading reviews.
I recently saw a character referred to as “a combination of Uma Thurman and Jennifer Garner.”
Kristin Van Dijk is a 17-year-old nomad traveling the road of life with her father. When he is murdered in a pool hall by a biker gang and she is beaten and raped and left for dead after the building is torched, she sets out to avenge her father and herself in a Kill-Billesque manner that is, interestingly enough, described in another review as “a made for the movies page turner.”
Piecing the clues together
In Jerry Kennealy’s Jigsaw we meet San Francisco Bulletin entertainment critic Carroll Quint.
A killer calling himself Thanatos (the Greek God of death) has been sending him e-mails taunting him with clues from Alfred Hitchcock films.
Quint is the one person connected to all three victims, which makes him the prime suspect.
Have toga, will travel
Meet Septimus Quistus, a man with nothing left to lose.
In one fateful hour, his life is destroyed when his much-loved wife and family are murdered, except for his seventh son and only daughter.
Not caring if he lives or dies, Quistus resigns his public offices and travels the world searching for his lost children.
The Amlingmeyer brothers ride again!
Fans of Steve Hockensmith's Holmes on the Range, this is your lucky day! "Old Red" and "Big Red" are back in the "detectifying" business in On the Wrong Track, which is hot off the presses. I so thoroughly enjoyed the first book, finding it the freshest take on the Holmes mystique in years.
If you want a real treat, try it on CD. Read by William Dufris, it is an absolute delight.
Usual Suspects, unusual detectives
There has been some interest expressed recently about reviving the Library's Usual Suspects mystery book discussion group. If you would like to see this happen as well, please contact Jane Murphy by either posting a comment to this blog or sending an e-mail and let her know whether you would prefer daytime or evening sessions.
Kosher cozy
Trouble is brewing at Temple Rita, and Ruby, the Rabbi’s widow, is, as usual, caught in the thick of it in her latest mystery Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Choir.
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