Crime Fiction (with a chuckle)
I’m not sure if there is a particular genre name for light-hearted crime fiction. Until I find out, I’ll call the likes of books by Richard Osman, Susan Juby, Ron Base, Prudence Emery, Kate Hilton and Elizabeth Renzetti: crime fiction (with a chuckle). Novels by these authors with their amateur sleuths, remind me somewhat of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. Usually, the Christie novels, as well as those of P.D. James, were set in a particular setting such as a small village, a school, a theatre, and we got to meet all the characters among whom is the murderer. That way we readers could be sleuths as well.
My favourites of the light-hearted crime novels I’ve read recently? I appreciated Bury the Lead by Kate Hilton and Elizabeth Renzetti because I knew women wouldn’t be denigrated – or if they were, something would be done about it. (See my review, below.) I liked Mindful of Murder by Susan Juby with its quirky characters from an “outer island” and it’s B.C. locale. (Susan has new book out with the same protagonist, Helen Thorpe, see below.) I found the gossipy nature with reference to famous people the most fun aspect of Ron Base’s and Prudence Emery’s Death at the Savoy. (They have a third book out in their Priscilla Tempest Mystery series, see below.)
Bury the Lead: A Quill & Packet Mystery (House of Anansi Press, 2024) is hot off the press with a March 5th publication date. It’s a novel smartly done by Kate Hilton and Elizabeth Renzetti. Kate is a bestselling author of three novels and works with psychotherapy and life coaching clients in Toronto. Elizabeth Renzetti also lives in Toronto and is a bestselling author and journalist. […]