Ten crime novels that strike a balance between humor & noir

Adi Tantimedh is the author of Her Nightly Embrace, Her Beautiful Monster, and Her Fugitive Heart.

At CrimeReads he tagged ten funny crime novels that have influenced him, including:

Metzger’s Dog by Thomas Perry

One of the few spy novels not by Ross Thomas that’s also a comedy, and the only one of its type written by Thomas Perry, who went on to write the June Whitfield novels, which are not known for their humor. I wonder if Perry was influenced by Ross Thomas’ books here. A suave career thief and his smart girlfriend set out to steal a large box of cocaine but ends up with secret CIA papers that The Agency desperately wants back. This kicks off a story of the thief and his girlfriend cook up a scheme to ransom the papers and end up running rings around a bunch of clueless and inept CIA agents who think they’re up against ruthless terrorists and nearly destroy Los Angeles in their pursuit of the papers. It’s too bad Perry never wrote more books about these characters. This is still my favorite of his novels.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue