Humor is, by nature, subjective. Some books in this genre make you laugh out loud and hold your sides; others evince an ear-to-ear grin, a simple smile, or even an eye crinkle. If you find yourself exhibiting any of these behaviors, then the mystery you are reading falls in the Comic Caper genre.
Most often the sillier and lighter comedy is part of the Cozy genre. Examples of authors who do the gentle or silly humor well are M.C.Beaton, Jill Churchill, and Joan Hess. Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series is a good example of a series that straddles the line between light and dark humor.

Black humor is often found where the more violent scenes occur and realistic detectives ply their art. Harlan Coben, Tim Dorsey, Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, and Laurence Shames often include wry and clever commentary while describing their grittier fare, as well as the eccentric or dim-bulb character, and the bizarre or ironic occurrences that convolute the plot. The following is a list of authors who fit into this category. One or more of the titles in each series is given.

Aird, Catherine.
Religious Body (1966), Inspector C.D. Sloan.

Atherton, Nancy.
Aunt Dimity’s Death (1992). First in series, See list of Cozies.

Banbury, Jen.
Like a Hole in the Head (1998), See review of this title.

Beaton, M.C.
Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (1992), First in series, See list of Cozies.

Beck, K.K..
Body in the Cornflakes (1992).

Beechey, Alan.
An Embarrassment of Corpses (1997).
Murdering Ministers (1999).

Borthwick, J.S. Student Body (1986).

Butterworth, Michael.
The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (1983).
The Man in the Sopwith Camel (1975).

Cannell, Dorothy.
God Save the Queen (1997).
The Thin Woman: Ellis Haskell Series. First in series, See list of Cozies.

Carvic, Heron (Hamilton Crane).
Picture Miss Seeton (1968). First in series, See list of Cozies.

Childress, Mark.
Crazy in Alabama (1993).

Churchill, Jill.
Grime and Punishment:Jane Jeffies series,(1989).
Farewell to Yarns (1991).
Quiche Before Dying (1993).
Knife to Remember (1994).
Class Menagerie (1994)
From Here to Paternity (1995).
War and Peas (1996).
Silence of the Hams (1993).
Fear of Frying (1997)
Merchant 0f Menace (1998) .
Groom with a View (1999).
Mulch Ado About Nothing (2000).
House of Seven Mabels (2002).
Anything Goes: Grace & Favor series (1999).
In the Still of the Night (2000).
Someone to Watch Over Me (2001).

Coben, Harlan.
Deal Breaker: Myron Bolitar series (1995).
Dropshot (1996).
Fade Away (1996).
Backspin (1997).
One False Move (1998).
Final Detail(1999).
Darkest Fear(2000).

Cody, Liza.
Bucket Nut: Eva Wylie series(1993)
Monkey Wrench(1995) .
Musclebound(1997) .

Cooper, Susan Rogers. Funny as a Dead Comic (1993) .
Funny as a Dead Relative (1994) .

Dorsey, Tim. Florida Roadkill (1999) .
Hammerhead Ranch Motel (2000) .
Triggerfish Twist (2002) .

Edwards, Ruth Dudley.
Saint Valentine’s Day Murders (1984) .
English School of Murder (1990) .
Clubbed to Death (1992) .
Matricide at St. Martha’s (1995) .
Ten Lords A Leaping (1996) .
Murder in the Cathedral (1997) .
Publish and Be Murdered (1999) .
Anglo-Irish Murders (2000) .

Elton, Ben.
Popcorn (1997) .

Evanovich, Janet.
One for the Money: Stephanie Plum series (1994), First in series, See list of Female Private Investigators.

Friedman, Kinky.
Greenwich Killing Time (1986)
Case of a Lone Star (1987)
When the Cat’s Away (1988)
Frequent Flier (1989)
Musical Chairs (1991)
Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola (1983)
Armadillos and Old Lace (1984)
God Bless John Wayne (1988)
Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover (1996)
Roadkill (1997)
Blast From the Past (1998)
Spanking Watson (1999)
Mile High Club (2000)
Steppin’ On a Rainbow (2001)
Meanwhile Back at the Ranch (2002)
Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned (2003)

Follett, Ken.
Paper Money(1977) .

George, Ann.
Murder on a Girl’s Night Out: Southern Sisters series, (2001). First in series, See list of Cozies.

Girdner, Jaqueline.
Fat Free and Fatal: Kate Jasper series (1993), NOT IN NOBLE | OUT OF PRINT.
Tea-Totally Dead (1994), NOT IN NOBLE | OUT OF PRINT.
Murder Most Mellow (1994), NOT IN NOBLE | OUT OF PRINT.
Adjusted to Death (1994), NOT IN NOBLE | OUT OF PRINT.
Last Resort (1995), NOT IN NOBLE | OUT OF PRINT.
Stiff Critique (1995).
Most Likely to Die (1996).
A Cry for Self-Help (1997).
Death Hits the Fan (1998).
Murder on the Astral Plane (1999).
Murder My Deer (2000).
Sensitive Kind of Murder (2002).

Hayter, Sparkle.
What’s a Girl Gotta Do?: Robin Hudson series, (1994).
Nice Girls Finish Last (1996).
Revenge of the Cootie Girls (1997).
Last Manly Man (1998).
Chelsea Girl Murders (2000).

Hess, Joan.
Strangled Prose: Claire Malloy Series (1986).
Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn (1986).
Dear Miss Demeanor (1987).
A Really Cute Corpse (1988).
A Diet to Die For (1989).
Roll OVer and Play Dead (1991).
Death By the Light of the Moon (1992).
Poisoned Pins (1993).
Tickled to Death (1994).
Busy Bodies (1995).
Closely Akin to Murder (1996).
Holly, Jolly Murder (1997).
Conventional Corpse (2000).
Out on a Limb (2002).
Malice in Maggody: Arly Hanks Series (1987).
Mischief in Maggody (1988).
Much Ado in Maggody (1989).
Mortal Remains in Maggody (1991).
Madness in Maggody (1991).
Maggody in Manhattan (1992).
O Little Town of Maggody (1993).
Martians in Maggody (1994).
Miracles in Maggody (1995).
Maggody Militia (1997).
Misery Loves Maggody (1998).
Murder @Maggody.com (2000).
Maggody and the Moonbeams (2001).

Hiaasen, Carl.
A Death in China (1984) .
Tourist Season (1986) .
Double Whammy (1987) .
Skin Tight (1989) .
Native Tongue (1991) .
Strip Tease (1983) .
Stormy Weather (1995) .
Lucky You (1997) .
Powder Burn (1998) .
Trap Line (1998) .
Sick Puppy (2000) .
Basket Case (2002) .

Hunter, Evan.
Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972) .

Isenberg, Jane.
The “M” Word: Bel Barrett series (1999).
Death in a Hot Flash (2000).
Mood Swings to Murder (2000).
Midlife Can Be Murder (2001).
Out of Hormone’s Way (2002).

Leonard, Elmore.
Get Shorty: Chili Palmer series (1990).
Be Cool (1999).

Lyons, Nan
Someone is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe(1976).

Malmont, Valerie S.
Death, Snow, and Mistletoe (2000) .

Maron, Margaret

Corpus Christmas (2001)

Marsh, Ngaio.
Tied Up in Tinsel (1972) .

McBain, Ed.
And All Through the House (1984) .
Downtown (1991).
Ghosts (1980) .
Sadie When She Died (1972) .

McCall Smith, Alexander.
The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency: Precious Ramotswe (1998)
Tears of a Giraffe (2000)
Morality for Beautiful Girls (2002)
Kalahari Typing School For Men (2003)

McCrumb, Sharyn.
PMS Outlaws: An Elizabeth MacPherson mystery (2000) .

Murray, Lynne.
Larger Than Death: Josephine Fuller series (1997) .
Large Target (2000) .
At Large (2001) .
Ton of Trouble (2002) .

Sawyer, Corinne Holt.
Murder By Owl Light: Benbow & Wingate (1992).
Ho Ho Homicide (1995).
Geezer Factory Murders (1996).
Murder Ole (1997).

Shames, Laurence.
Florida Strait (1992).
ScavengerReef (1994).
Sunburn (1995).
Tropical Depression (1996).
Virgin Heat (1997).
Mangrove Squeeze (1998).
Welcome to Paradise (1999).
Naked Detective (1992).

Westlake, Donald E.
Fugitive Pigeon (1965).
Spy in the Ointment (1965).
God Save the Mark (1965).
Curious Facts Preceding My Execution (1968).
Who Stole Sassi Manoon? (1969).
Somebody Owes Me Money (1969).
The Hot Rock(1970).
Adios, Scheherazade (1970).
Cops and Robbers (1972).
Bank Shot(1972).
Gangway! (1973).
Jimmy the Kid(1974).
Help! I Am Being Held Prisoner (1974).
Two Much(1975).
Brothers Keepers(1975).
Dancing Aztecs(1976).
Nobody’s Perfect (1977).
Enough! (1977).
Castle in the AIr(1980).
Kahawa (1982).
Why Me? (1969).
A Likely Story (1984).
Levine (1984).
High Adventure(1985).
Good Behavior (1986).
Trust Me On This (1988).
Tomorrow’s Crimes (1989).
Sacred Monster(1989).
Drowned Hopes (1990).
Humans (1992).
Don’t Ask (1993).
Baby, Would I Lie?: A Novel of the Ozarks (1994).
Smoke(1995).
What’s the Worse that Could Happen? (1996).
The Ax (1997).
The Hook (2000).
Bad News (2001).
Put a Lid on It(2001).
Money For Nothing(2003).

White, Randy Wayne.
Sanibel Flats (1990) .
Heat Islands (1992) .
Man Who Invented Florida (1993) .
North of Havana (1997) .
Mangrove Coast (1998).
Ten Thousand Islands (2000) .
Shark River (2001) .
Twelve-mile Limit (2002) .

Whitney, Polly.
Until the End of Time: Ike & Abby series(1995) .
Until It Hurts (1997) .

Categories: Book Buzz, Booklists, Mystery, Supper Sleuths