Detectives! discussion

I have already mentioned my favorites in another post. I would like to hear what others think about funny detective series.

I listened to Downtown by Ed McBain while I cleaned the prop closet (a middle school prop closet can get gross!) and people thought I had lost my mind because I laughed out loud so much. They either wanted to help or 'have some of what I was having'. He, Joan Hess, Elizabeth Peters, and Carl Haiison are totally hilarious!

(Taking the risk of offending members whose favorite is Nero Wolfe) I would say he is my favorite funny but still very good fictional detective. He is just so different from my idea of a detective (rough, tough action man)that I cannot help but laugh at an obese gourmand who grows rare orchids. And unless he has no choice, he won't go out of his condo/penthouse to visit the crime scene and do field detecting.

I agree, and I think Rex Stout would agree as well...he writes very tongue in cheek. The amazing thing about Mr. Wolfe is reading them in order...you go from the 30's Depression, through WWII, the Cold War, and the last one concerns the racial issues of the 60's. Extremely interesting.

Nelson Demille really creates very strong characters, male and female. He has another fictional detective, Paul Brenner, a military investigator who appeared in The General's Daughter and then Up Country. In The General's Daughter, he was paired with Cynthia, a former girlfriend, now married, in investigating what looks like a rape and murder of a (you guess it) general's daughter. I particularly like the way, the author handled the ending when Paul Brenner was trying to get away from Cynthia, because he thought she was going to be reconciling with her husband.
During the second novel, it looks like that relationship is just about over. Cynthia did not even show up except as a name. His current partner was an expatriate worker in Vietnam. Later in the novel it was revealed that she is a CIA agent with lethal skills to match his own.

I just joined the group because this topic caught my eye. I have to add to this list: Marshall Karp's books, 1st: The Rabbit Factory 2nd: Blood Thirsty and his 3rd coming out in March: Flipping Out. If you want ROF laughing good reads get this series. Two funny, funny LAPD detectives, great story line and character development to boot. They're the type of book that you wished you had just picked up instead of just finished. I can't wait for his 3rd to hit the shelves.

Another one to tickle the funny bone are Lisa Lutz's 2 books. Funny lady! San Francisco setting.

Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum) and Sarah Strohmeyer (Bubble Yablonsky)

I love Kinky Friedman, Chris Grabenstein, Sue Ann Jaffarian, Laura Levine and David Rosenefelt,Jimmie Ruth Evans and Selma Eichler.

There are so many out there! These guys will make you laugh out loud.

Kinky Friedman!

Ya, I got hooked on him a few years ago. Maybe it's because he's from Texas. I wouldn't want him as a our state's leader, but he does make me laugh.

Kinky is FANTASTIC! I can't believe I forgot him.

Mary Todd wrote: "Kinky is FANTASTIC! I can't believe I forgot him."

He is great, isn't he! I've taken a bit of flack for liking him. I heard him interviewed on NPR and I thought is this guy for real? Then I started reading his books and became a quick fan. But I don't think he's going to write mysteries any more. I think he got bit by the political bug. I'm going to miss the village idiots.

Would Thursday Next count?

I saw him live a couple of times in the 90's -in London - and he was great fun.

We saw him in St. Louis once and he was incredible! What a great brain.

Last summer a reviewer compared the humor in my novel, Rock & Roll Homicide, to Nelson DeMille's John Corey series. I soon read and loved every one of them. Corey's irreverent approach to stuffy bureaucrats is classic. I also love the dialogue with his wife. I was disappointed to learn that "The Gate House" isn't the 5th Corey novel, but still hope to read it soon.

Bernie Rhodenbarr, the thief in The Burglar in the Closet and other "burglar" books by Lawrence Block is very funnly.

I enjoy how Brian Freeman sprinkles in the FUNNY in his GREAT Jonathan Stride series. The first book is IMMORAL. Hands down, Brian is my first pick with any author's new release!

I enjoy the Hamish Macbeth series by M. C. Beaton. She also writes the Agatha Raisin series - I enjoyed the first ones but not so much the later ones.

Jan wrote: "I enjoy the Hamish Macbeth series by M. C. Beaton. She also writes the Agatha Raisin series - I enjoyed the first ones but not so much the later ones."

I like Hamish Macbeth also. He seems like a likable guy with his mooching and his affection for his dog and his kooky friends. I've read a lot of the Agatha Raisin books too but they always seem a bit clunky to me. Something about the writing is off, almost amateurish - though I still read them so what do I know :)

Bettie wrote: "Would Thursday Next count?"

It counts with me! Both of Jasper Fforde series are witty, funny, and imaginative. I think the Thursday Next series is the best, but the Nursery Crimes series is worth the read. He makes you re-think what you thought you remembered from the classics. You have to read them again just to get it straight in your own mind. lol

The Puzzle Lady series by Parnell Hall makes me laugh.

I love Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe, Evanovich's Stephanie Plum(made me laugh out loud in the doctor's office), the Mrs. Jefferies stories by Emily Brightwell (for the totally oblivious Detective Witherspoon) and the Charolette MacLeod/Alisa Craig series ( they are full of puns and crazy situations)

Lawrence Block's Tanner and Keller series are both pretty amusing, as well as being good mysteries.

I have had a good laugh or two in Jeff Lindsay's Dexter books, as well Kinky Freidman's earlier work,and the Myron Bolitar series by Coben. Evanovich is one of favorites and I think tough to top.

Wendy wrote: "Lawrence Block's Tanner and Keller series are both pretty amusing, as well as being good mysteries."

I really like the Keller series and the Bernie Rhodenbarr series as well for good laughs and good mysteries. For some reason, though, I never got knocked out by the Tanner books.

I just think the Haunted Bookshop series by Alice Kimberley (aka Cleo Coyle, etc.) are a crack up. I just keep seeing Edward Mulhare and Hope Lange (The Ghost & Mrs. Muir TV series) every time I read one. The mysteries are great and the dialogue is snappy.

http://coffeehousemystery.com/cleos_h...

I'm a Det Harry Bosch fan (Michael Connelly) and an PI Elvis Cole fan (Robert Crais).

This series may have already been mentioned, and I know I probably begin to sound like a broken record saying it over and over again, but the Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout is great and very funny. I love private detective Archie Goodwin's playful, witty, sarcastic commentary on everything that occurs. Deadly Diamonds by Pamela Troutman is another good one. Also, if you are in the mood for a light, funny mystery, ladies and girls might like Bad Kitty by Michele Jaff. It's humorous, charming, and a lot of fun.

As far as funny, I go with Elvis Cole, Robert Crais wise cracking detective in the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series.

I think Elmore Leonard is one of our greatest humorists--especially when he's not TRYING to be funny. As I wrote in a New York Times book review section piece: "The humor lies in his wickedly acute depictions of human nature: the greedy dreams of schemers like Harry Arno in ''Pronto," the cool stupidity of psychopaths like Armand Degas in ''Killshot,'' or the devious ways of women like Lucy Nichols in ''Bandits.'' The humor works because Leonard is going not for laughs but for truth. We laugh because we recognize people we know and sometimes, though it can be hard to admit, something of ourselves in the flawed, very real people of his hard-boiled crime novels.

I like the humor In:
Stout's Nero Wolf
Parker's Spenser
Crais' Elvis Cole/Joe Pike
Evanovich's Stephanie Plum (not so much after the tenth book, though)
Christie's Hercule Poirot

Some are "laugh out loud" funny while others are more subtle, tongue-in-cheeck humor, both of which are fun reads. I also get a kick out of watching David Suchet in the Poirot mysteries episodes/movies.

The Spellman series of books by Lisa Lutz.

Joe Lansdale's Hap and Leonard series is both hilarious (and offensive) and most have a good mystery.

D.J. Donalson's, Andy Broussard is a Nero Wolfe knock-off, but he's worth a laugh or two in each book.

Carl Hiaasen. Love his kooky characters and my kids love his children's books as well.

For humour Carl Hiaasen's great+ridiculous, Elmore Leonard is wonderful, but try Donald Westlake for really funny crime, in particular the Dortmunder Novels. I've so far read Book One and Book Two. He writes 'seriously', but with such dry humour that I laughed so much it hurt!

I'm currently reading Christopher Fowler's Ten Second Staircase. It's a British mystery with two engaging elderly male detectives; the book has some humor, and the humor is not overdone. I'm only 30 or so pages in, but so far so good. I don't have the patience for some of the overly done comedic authors such as Evanovich. I know she's popular but many of the scenarios in her books are just not plausible.

I have to throw my two cents in with Carl Hiaasen, as well as Christopher Fowler. In a similar vein of Fowler is Richard Yancey's Highly Effective Detective. Also I really enjoyed Stuffed by Brian Wiprud.

lawrence sanders series about Archie Mcnally are very good as are lisa lutz's spellman series

Steven wrote: "I have to throw my two cents in with Carl Hiaasen, as well as Christopher Fowler. In a similar vein of Fowler is Richard Yancey's Highly Effective Detective. Also I really enjoyed Stuffed by Brian ..."

Hey, three new authors for me! As a heavy reader I'm always looking for new authors to read, so thanks. I'll try to comment on them.
People like Hiaasen you always wish wrote more, don't you..

Sarah Caudwell's Hilary Tamar series: both comedy of manners and murder mysteries.

I adore Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie books. Quinn is actually Peter Abraham. I always laugh with Elvis Cole and Myron Bolitar, too. I agree about Hap and Leonard as well. I especially admire how Lansdale has made Hap more philosophical as he ages.

One of the funniest private eye detective books Ive ever read was Richard S. Prathers "Strip for Murder" Prathers PI Shell Scott has to investigate a murder in a Nudest colony . Strip for Murder
And all of Joan Hess's Maggody series. Her Female Chief of police Arly Hanks of the Arkansas Hick town of Maggody Arkansas, and all the Characters she encounters.
Malice in Maggody

The Dr. Siri Paiboun series by Colin Cotterill is laugh out loud hilarious. An absolute must read, the audio versions are great too.

Brad Park has a series featuring Carter Ross. There are a lot of laugh out loud moments in all of this books.

Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr is a great funny detective.

Jamie
www.jamiesheffield.com

Just finished Smoking Ruin by GR author D. R. Martin, and the P.I. Marta (Marty) Hjelm, St. Paul, MN rivals Elvis Cole in snarky and funny comments which I happen to love.

Here's my review which has some quotes from the book.
Smoking Ruin Marty's my new BFF.

The Haunted Bookshop series by Alice Kimberly always make me laugh. The ghost of PI Jack Shepard is a deliberate over the top cliche and these are just fun.

I enjoyed "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" by Douglas Adams. I was attracted to Adams' work through his popular Hitchhiker's Guide series, so I read this one. I understand he wrote a sequel, which I haven't read. I've also recently published two installments in a humorous detective series. "Walking Backwards" and "Two Thursdays" which feature private investigator Hitchcock Brown. Both are available now at Amazon.com in print or e-book format.