Darkly Comic: Mystery Suspense Books Tinged with Humor
We love a good mystery filled with humor, like 1985’s Clue. Not only does this locked-room mystery stand out amongst its peers, but it offers whip-lash humor that makes it an unforgettable movie. But what about books? As the saying goes, laughter is the best medicine. That’s why mystery suspense books that don’t take themselves so seriously can be the perfect addition to your TBR pile. It might be more difficult to capture humor in pages than on the silver screen, but these novels take the cake as some of the most darkly comedic that have come out recently. There’s no need to forgo humor to solve a murder or catch a criminal. These books do all.
In the near future, Harrigan is a hard-drinking private detective who eschews the new augmented-reality version of the internet called The Grid. His lack of interest in keeping up with current times has been bad for business, and just as he's about to be evicted, a case falls into his lap. A stranger needs his help in finding the woman he loves, a woman who is supposedly in possession of a program that can use The Grid to actually alter reality. But taking the case puts Harrigan square in the sights of Zodiac, the inventors of The Grid, who would do anything to keep the technology from getting out. And even if Harrigan can survive the case, there's still the small problem of a comet plummeting straight for Earth.
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.
When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.
As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?
You might recognize the name Jonathan Ames as the creator of HBO's Bored to Death series. He's also a prolific comedic writer, and he's now returned to the world of printed stories with a new idiosyncratic detective: Happy Doll. A veteran of the LAPD and the Navy, Happy now makes his living as a P.I. and security guard for the women who work at a Hollywood massage parlor. But things take a dark turn when he has to deal with a violent client, and then an old friend shows up wounded at the home Happy shares with his beloved half-Chihuahua half-terrier, George. How did Happy's life get so complicated so fast?
Related: Jonathan Ames Shares His Must-Read Noir Fiction Books
In the most recent adventure of Hap and Leonard, the unlikely best-buddy detective duo created by legendary writer Joe R. Lansdale, who were also the stars of their own television series based on Landsdale's previous suspense novels. In their latest case, the dynamics of their relationship have changed now that Hap is a married man. Still, when the duo find a young woman who has barely survived a mob hit, they decide to put their current partnership issues aside to help her escape once and for all.
This is the first book in Mina's excellent Paddy Meehan series, about a young journalist seeking answers to a shocking case. Set in Glasgow in 1981, Paddy finds herself assigned to cover a shocking case: a young child has been murdered, and the suspected murderer is also a child. But as Paddy goes digging deeper for her story, she uncovers more about the dark underbelly of Glasgow than she expected—and she may not survive it.
Related: Why We Love Denise Mina's Mysteries
It has been two decades since the heiress Patricia Lockwood was kidnapped during a robbery of her family's home and held for months. Patricia was finally reunited with her family, but her abductors disappeared along with the items they stole—until now. When Windsor 'Win' Horne Lockwood III learns that a suitcase bearing his initials and one of his family's stolen Vermeer paintings has been found in the Upper West Side apartment of a recluse who has been murdered, he decides he's going to use his smarts and his resources to solve the case himself.
Who better to write about a Los Angeles district attorney than one of the most famous district attorneys in Los Angeles? Marcia Clark gained huge notoriety as a district attorney in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, and she now proves she's an equally adept writer with this thrilling series about Los Angeles D. A. Rachel Knight. Rachel is used to working on court cases involving murders, but when one of her own colleagues is killed, she agrees to take over his most prominent case. But Rachel quickly learns that his case and his death may be linked. Can she solve them both and still walk away with her own life?