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COVER SYNOPSIS
Very Funny 9/10 BIG TROUBLE - DAVE BARRY
A humorous crime caper, which brings together a schoolboy prank, a corrupt businessman, the Mob, a couple of Russian arms dealers, the Miami police and a very strange toad, in one very strange day that will change the lives of all of them forever.
Funny 7/10 BIGTIME - MARC BLAKE
Its Valentine's day and Andy Crowe has been dumped. He's also driving to Birmingham with his most hated rival, and it's raining. Could things get much worse? Oh yes. Three small-time villains are about to pull off a job, and they are heading for the same motoroway services as Andy and Rob.
Funny 7/10 24 KARAT SCHMOOZE - MARC BLAKE
Rox Matheson is in London to take on the London Scammers in their own backyard. Reece is the minicab driver who falls for her, and Davey K is the snakey operator who wants to make life diffcult for both of them Valentine's day and Andy Crowe has been dumped. He's also driving to Birmingham with his most hated rival, and it's raining. Could things get much worse? Oh yes.
Very Funny 9/10 SUNSTROKE - MARC BLAKE
Sarah Rutherford, using a job in Fuengirola as a cover, is investigating her sister's death. Mike, a lonely sub-editor, is drawn into her quest after witnessing the death of a hotel manager. Things hot up in the British ex-pat community, culminating in a collision of double-crossing and wild dogs..
Great one liners 8/10 QUITE UGLY ONE MORNING - CHRISTOPHER BROOKMYRE
Jack Parlabane has a perfectly good hangover to be getting on with before he finds the corpse of Ponsonby - scion of a venerable Edinburgh medical clan. But his instincts as an investigative journalist (morally ambiguous or not), commit him to the case with an unusual tenacity.
Great one liners 8/10 ONE FINE DAY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT - CHRISTOPHER BROOKMYRE
Gavin's idea for a unique holiday experience involves a disused North Sea oil platform and facilities that would take your breath away. He invites old school chums along to test it but unfortunately a group of terrorists come along too.
Great one liners 8/10 COUNRTY OF THE BLIND - CHRISTOPHER BROOKMYRE
Following the escape of some prisoners, a young solicitor reveals that one of them had placed in her possession a letter which proves his innocence. Journalist Jack Parlabane is intrigued, but someone else is trying to get near - someone with political connections and evil intent.
Great one liners 8/10 NOT THE END OF THE WORLD - CHRISTOPHER BROOKMYRE
The crew of an oceanic research vessel goes missing in the Pacific along with their mini-submarine. An evangelical media star holds a rally next door to a convention in LA devoted to "nubile" cinematic entertainment. The cops have been expecting this, but not the Glaswegian photographer.
Great one liners 8/10 BOILING A FROG - CHRISTOPHER BROOKMYRE
Following the escape of some prisoners, a young solicitor reveals that one of them had placed in her possession a letter which proves his innocence. Journalist Jack Parlabane is intrigued, but someone else is trying to get near - someone with political connections and evil intent.
Fast paced Funny 8/10 WHILE I'M DEAD FEED THE DOG - RIC BROWDE
'My publishers are trying to convince me that books are like albums and sell better when they are released posthumously. Seeing the point, I ask if I can at least fake my own death, but it seems that is fundamentally dishonest and they flatly refuse to be involved in any such fraud. SSo just in case I've croaked by the time you read this (and everyone but me is filthy rich), here is my story: one day I'm trying to get into the pants of the most beautiful girl in the world, Nina Pennington, and the next day I'm in the back of a limo on the road to rock'n'roll superstardom opening up for Bowie. But we hit a bump or two - a few dead Mafia hitmen here, a nyphomaniac next door there, not to mention a few dying Latin teachers, narcoleptic nuns, inept policemen, unscupulous laywers, buffoon reporters, huckster televangelists and greedy relatives - and now for some unknown reason a lot of people don't want to talk to me anymore.S When sixteen-year-old Ric Thibault's story opens with his mother's attempted suicide note: 'While I'm dead ... feed the dogS and he can't stop laughing while the paramedics haul her away, you know you're in for some ride ... this is a hilarious novel with a beat you dance to.
Funny 7/10 FLORIDA ROADKILL - TIM DORSEY
As Sean Breen and David Klein head out on their trip to the Florida Keys, there's nothing on their minds except fishing, beer and baseball. But when five million dollars is left in the wrong car, a whole convoy of homicidal wackos sets off in pursuit, leaving behind a bewildering trail of bodies.
Very funny and pacey 8/10 HAMMERHEAD RANCH MOTEL - TIM DORSEY
Tim Dorsey's sparklingly original debut novel - Florida Roadkill - was a hyper, jump-cut, manic black comedy that took Florida Noir to new extremes. Fellow writers and critics were quick to acclaim the bright new talent that created a high-voltage crime tale suffused with blacker-than-black humour and an infectious fascination with Florida's strange beauty. In Florida Roadkill, the strangely lovable homicidal maniac Serge drove a series of stolen cars around Florida in pursuit of five million dollars hidden in the boot of the wrong car, leaving behind him a bewildering trail of bodies. Now, Serge takes up the chase once more, tracking the car and its hidden money to a dilapidated motel in Tampa - the Hammerhead Ranch Motel.
Had to Chew It 4/10 MR COMMITMENT - MIKE GAYLE
Duffy is engaged. He accepted Mel's proposal. But the trips to Ikea, dinner parties for couples and talk of babies are giving him itchy feet and now he's not sure if he can say goodbye to his extended adolescence.
Got bored with it 4/10 STARCROSSED - A A GILL
John Dart, poet and bookshop assistant, is a nobody, until he wakes one morning to find himself in bed with Lee Montana, a superstar.
Had its moments 6/10 THE LAWNMOWER CELEBRITY - BEN HATCH
Jay Golden has an unerring talent for being sacked. His deadpan diary takes readers on a tour of minimum-wage-land - Al's Golden Donor Kebabs, telesales, McDonald's, Molden's Lawnmower Shop - whilst his namedropping father despairs of his son's lack of ambition and his two-hour baths.
Funny 8/10 LUCKY YOU - CARL HIAASEN
Virtually unnoticed, JoLayne Lucks stops by the Grab'n'Go to play the same numbers she's played every week for five years. Each lotto number marking the age at which she dumped a tiresome lover. She doesn't know it yet, but the discarded men in JoLayne's life have finally amounted to something.
Funny 8/10 STRIP TEASE - CARL HIAASEN
Erin is a stripper. Her place of work, the tastefully named Eager Beaver, is the scene of an explosive encounter between sex and politics in the shape of Dave Dilbeck, a corrupt congressman who epitomizes crazed, slobbering lechery.
Funny 8/10 STORMY WEATHER - CARL HIAASEN
Nine-tenths of the population emerge unscathed from the hurricane that devastates Dade County in Southern Florida. But who cares about them? For everyone else, the aftermath of the direct hit - homelessness, looting, destruction - is the second goldrush and the year's hottest scam.
Bit grown up for me 7/10 ABOUT A BOY - NICK HORNBY
Will Behr lives on his own and does not want children, but he does see the point of single mothers, especially if they look like Julie Christie. Then he meets Marcus, whose parents have split up and who is being persecuted by bullies. Marcus discovers that Will has a lot to teach him about life.
Bit grown up for me 7/10 HIGH FIDELITY - NICK HORNBY
When Laura dumps Rob (on the very first page) he is aggrieved and exhilarated, 35 and petrified. Trying to work out what went wrong, obsessed with music, and running an ailing record shop, he sets out on the road to self-discovery. This is the first novel from the author of "Fever Pitch".
Enjoyable 7/10 PUNCHBAG - ROBERT LLEWELLYN
Nick hasn't achieved much in his life. At 35 he has a grotty flat and no proper job. Then an organizer of a women's conference invites him to San Francisco to be a padded assailant, the man inside the plastic who beats up women for a living every day. But Nick has no idea what he's getting into.
I cried in public 9/10 MAN AND BOY - TONY PARSONS
Harry Silver has it all. A successful job in TV, a gorgeous wife, a lovely child. And in one moment of madness, he chucks it all away. This is the story of how he comes to terms with his life and achieves a degree of self-respect, bringing up his son alone.
Fantasy Fiction 6/10 SNUFF FICTION - ROBERT RANKIN
This anarchic text chronicles the millennial collapse of civilisation and the great snuff-snorting revival.
Fantasy Fiction 6/10 SPROUT MASK REPLICA - ROBERT RANKIN
His great-great-grandfather died at the Battle of Little Big Horn after going to complain about the noise; his grandfather spoke only in rhyming couplets; his father practised body modification; and then there was him - he was the weird one. The theme of sprouts pervades this "family memoir".
Funny 7/10 THE NAKED DETECTIVE - LAURENCE SHAMES
Lazing naked in the hot tub in the garden of his house in Key West, PI Peter Amsterdam was contemplating his life as a detective when the blonde walked in, a situation taken straight from the pages of a cliched detective novel, and brought him a case that would overturn his life, and nearly end it.
Very Funny 8/10 WELCOME TO PARADISE - LAURENCE SHAMES
Big Al Marracotta, short, heavy on the chutzpah, head of New York's Fulton Fish market and low-level mafioso, is on his way to Key West for a little rest and relaxation. Little does he know that he's angered some people back in New York, people who think it's time to exact revenge.
Had to Chew It 4/10 SLAPHEAD - GEORGINA WROE
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