Noir by Christopher Moore

Through the years  I have read and enjoyed many of Christopher  Moore’s books. Typically, I find them extremely funny and Noir is a very funny trip through a quirky underworld, using both humor with a great storyline . A story set against a backdrop the reminds the reader of a classic film noir.

From Moore’s website…

The absurdly outrageous, sarcastically satiric, and always entertaining New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore returns in finest madcap form with this zany noir set on the mean streets of post-World War II San Francisco, and featuring a diverse cast of characters, including a hapless bartender; his Chinese sidekick; a doll with sharp angles and dangerous curves; a tight-lipped Air Force general; a wisecracking waif; Petey, a black mamba; and many more. Read More

The Bottom Line – Christopher Moore’s Wit Shines Through

The Bottom Line is Noir deserves between around 4.5 stars. What the plot lacks, the setting and characters and Moore’s quick wit more than make up for, leaving me (and you if you read it) laughing and happy! But don’t just take my word for it here’s what some others say about Noir….

Moore is a master of metaphor and a sultan of simile. . . .It takes an author of remarkable talents to keep a profitably urinating snake, a dame named for a dairy product, and a slimy extraterrestrial all running through a narrative.”
– Washington Independent Review of Books

Raymond Chandler meets the SyFy Channel… Fans of noir film and fiction will find a lot to enjoy in this loving genre tribute, and those already familiar with Moore’s books will simply be in love.”
– Library Journal (starred review)

So Check it Out! As for me I will be checking out Moore’s latest book Razzmatazz soon!

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Table of Contents

Originally Posted July 2017 revised April 2026

Ok so maybe juts maybe Parnell Hall is not going to win any major literary awards for his Puzzle Lady series. But if you are looking for a fast, funny and just enjoyable read try a Puzzle Lady book! I admit I have not read even close to the majority of the book series. I usually just pick up one of them at the library when I need a laugh break from all the murder and mayhem that I read.

The latest one that I just finished A Puzzle to Be Named Later was a welcome break after the last few intense books that I’ve finished. Especially, Chris Carter’s I Am Death and of course the ongoing circus of the Trump Administration.

My History with Parnell Hall

I first started reading the books of Parnell Hall way back in 1991 when I read my first Stanley Hastings mystery. Strangler, which was the fourth book in the series. Since then I have read all but two of the books in the now 20 book series.

One of the books that I haven’t read is A Fool for a Client which is book 20 in the series. I totally missed the release of this one. But is now being held at my local branch of the Burlington County Library System. Anyway, the point is that I have always preferred Stanley over Cora but after reading more of the Puzzle Lady books, Cora is growing on me. Booklist writes this about Cora……

“If sweet-looking, gray-haired Miss Marple cursed, smoked, and carried a gun in her purse, she’d be a ringer for Cora Felton.”

AboutA Puzzle To Be Named Later

In A Puzzle to Be Named Later  Cora is once again in the middle of a Bakerhaven murder investigation. This time the murder revolves around an up and coming new star pitcher for the New York Yankees – Matt Greystone. After signing a huge contract Greystone, who came to the Yankees as a “player to be named later”, breaks his arm in an automobile crash.

Greystone moves to Bakerhaven to avoid the bright lights of  New York and rehab in peace. When a sleazy New York gossip columnist is found dead in Matt’s sauna, during a welcome to Bakershaven bash, Matt’s wife becomes the prime suspect. There is also a crossword puzzle found with the dead man. The solution to the puzzle says “you’ll find a surprise in the file of this guy”. That sends Cora onto the trail of the killer and she won’t stop to she finds out who did it!

Bottom Line:

The Cora Felton Puzzle Lady books are a fun and welcome change from gruesome murder mysteries. Parnell is a master of witty dialogue. He also is great at creating characters, who are foils for his lead characters. Cora Felton has two foils. First. Captain Harper of the Bakerhaven police. And secondly, Sargent Crowley of the NYPD. Cora’s relations with both policemen are some of the best parts of the books.

So let’s see A Puzzle to Be Named Later gets 5 stars for a fun character and snappy dialogue, 3 stars for artistic style i.e descriptiveness, creation of a sense of place, etc. Finally 4 stars for a twisty turning plot that kept my interest. Those twists never stopped until the last pages of the book.  Averaging those three ratings gives the book a solid 4 star rating.  That means that I really, really liked A Player to be Named Later.

Now I must admit that I am a lot like Cora Felton, when it comes to doing crossword puzzles. I don’t do them very well. In each book puzzles from Will Shortz provide clues to solve the mystery. I guess in one of these books, I really have to try to solve some of these puzzle. Does anyone else who read these books, do the puzzles? Just curious!

Links

Author’s Website
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads

About Parnell Hall

If you like a little humor in your books….

You might enjoy these authors:

Whether you’re solving crosswords with Cora or running from the mob with Stephanie Plum, these authors prove that a good mystery is always better with a side of laughter.

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Christopher Moore may be very near the top of my list of authors that make me laugh out loud when I read their books!! His latest book Secondhand Souls certainly did that in many places! Secondhand Souls is the second book in the Grim Reaper series, that feature Charlie Asher and his daughter Sophie and a crazy cast of characters.

From Goodreads.com…..

In San Francisco, the souls of the dead are mysteriously disappearing—and you know that can’t be good—in New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore’s delightfully funny sequel to A Dirty Job.

Something really strange is happening in the City by the Bay. People are dying, but their souls are not being collected. Someone—or something—is stealing them and no one knows where they are going, or why, but it has something to do with that big orange bridge. Death Merchant Charlie Asher is just as flummoxed as everyone else. He’s trapped in the body of a fourteen-inch-tall “meat” waiting for his Buddhist nun girlfriend, Audrey, to find him a suitable new body to play host. Read More

I really haven’t been able to get into Moore;’s last few books, i.e. The Serpent of Venice and Sacre Bleu, so I was really happy when I saw this book.

I slipped very easily into Secondhand Souls and all the old friends and fiends from the first Grim Reaper book  A Dirty Job. Wow – I just looked back and saw that I read  A Dirty Job back in 2006. I knew it had been a while, but I didn’t think it has been almost ten years since I read the book! I guess that’s why I didn’t remember all the details of the book!!

The Bottom Line

Anyway, the bottom line is that Secondhand Souls is another winner from the warped mind of Christopher Moore. It must be crazy to live with the man! So Check it Out! And I guess I really do have to check out the two previously mentioned books along with Fool that is on my TBR shelves!!

Secondhand Souls was the 45th book that I have read in 2015. That was the number of books that I  had set as my goal in the 2015 Goodreads Challenge. Yeah Me!! I still have 6 more books to read to reach that lofty goal I set back in January of 51 books for 2015!

Links

Author’s Website
Facebook Fan Page
Goodreads
Amazon

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Island of the Sequined Love Nun – Christopher Moore – Book 17 of 2015

So the question of the night is: Who is Your Favorite Author of humorous books?? Janet Evanovich? Carl Hiaasen? Terry Pratchett? Douglas Adams? Tim Dorsey?? Dave Barry??  The question arises because one of  my goals for April was to read a book on happiness or a funny book. I chose to read a funny book and one book that fit that description that was on my TBR pile was Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore.

The first book that I read by Christopher Moore was Coyote Blue, which I read way back in 1994 (Good gosh – 21 years ago)since then I have read most of his books. with Lamb being on of my all-time favorite books. i will say that I have had a hard time getting into his last three books Fools. The Serpent of Venice and Sacre Bleu. I guess I wasn’t in the right mood when I tried to start both Fools and Sacre Bleu. Anyway when I picked up Island of the Sequined Love Nun at the fall library book sale,  I knew it was one that I would enjoy. And who wouldn’t, it has everything you could want in a book. There’s the hapless protagonist Tucker Case who destroys his boss’s pink plane during a drunken airborne romp with a prostitute which causes Tucker to hurriedly leaves the US to protect his hide. He ends up flying shady missions for a doctor on the island of  Alualu in Micronesia, Other things to love in Island of the Sequined Love Nun include: the doctor’s wife aka the Sky Priestess, the natives of the Island the Shark people, including an ostracized cannibal, a cross-dressing navigator and of course your proverbial talking fruit bat!!  And I love them all!!

Bottom Line: Island of the Sequined Love Nun is a fun ride and definitely a four plus star book for me. In the words of the aforementioned Mr Hiaasen th book is……

“So delightfully warped and funny that no sane person could have written it”

Yes. Mr Moore is one warped,  twisted and very funny author whose work I love!! So Check it out…..as for me I think that I need to give those last three books a second chance and oh yeah I also haven’t read – Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings. What;’s that I hear was it Tim Dorsey’s Torpedo Juice calling me from my TBR pile. …..”Read Me Next…..Read Me Next”   Decisions, decisions.!! Ok so who is your favorite humorous author????

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NYPD Puzzle by Parnell Hall – (Puzzle Lady #15)

Through the years, one of my favorite mystery series has been Parnell Hall’s Stanley Hastings books. Looking at my Goodreads shelf, I see there are 18 in the series — and I’ve read all but one! (Note to self: finally read Caper — I could have sworn I had??) That’s not the case with Hall’s Puzzle Lady series. There are 15 entries, and I’ve only read three (#1, #8, and #15). The most recent for me was NYPD Puzzle, which also became book #11 on my 2014 reads list.

Why Fewer Puzzle Lady Reads?

I’m not really sure. Maybe it’s because I felt a little resentful that Parnell seemed to forget Stanley and preferred the Puzzle Lady, Cora Felton. Between 1987 and 1998, Hall wrote 13 Stanley Hastings mysteries. Then, starting in 1999, the Puzzle Lady books appeared annually throughout the 2000s, while there were sometimes four-year gaps between Hastings novels. Probably the Puzzle Lady was just more popular — and more profitable. (It’s the same reason Linwood Barclay abandoned Zack Walker in favor of standalones, which I grudgingly admit turned out better. But what do I know…)

The Mystery

NYPD Puzzle is a quick, fun cozy mystery. Attorney Becky Baldwin hires Cora to accompany her to New York to meet a new client. When they arrive, they find the man dead with a crossword puzzle on his chest. Cora hears the killer in the next room, barges in, shoots, misses, and watches the suspect escape out a penthouse window — leaving her standing with a smoking gun. Is it the murder weapon? The police can’t prove otherwise — the bullet is too badly damaged to rule it out. Suddenly, Cora’s a prime suspect.

Cora, along with NYC Sergeant Crowley and others, sets out to clear her name. The killer plays cat and mouse, leaving crossword puzzles and even some Sudoku (created by Will Shortz!) between New York City and Bakerhaven. Another body drops — the Bakerhaven Town Clerk, with whom Cora just happened to argue. The twists and turns pile up as Cora fights to prove her innocence and unmask the murderer.

What I Enjoy

Cora Felton is a fun character, always ready with a wisecrack. Hall’s humor shines through her dialogue, and the supporting cast — Sergeant Crowley and Chief Harper of Bakerhaven — provide plenty of friction and comic relief as they bicker over protecting Cora. She isn’t worried, though. After all, she has her guns… but will that be enough?

Bottom Line

NYPD Puzzle captures exactly what makes the Puzzle Lady books fun: witty dialogue, cozy mystery pacing, and playful puzzle tie-ins. It’s not as dear to me as the Stanley Hastings series, but it’s still a lighthearted, entertaining read that fans of humorous mysteries will enjoy.

NYPD Puzzle captures exactly what makes the Puzzle Lady books fun: witty dialogue, cozy mystery pacing, and playful puzzle tie-ins. It’s not as dear to me as the Stanley Hastings series, but it’s still a lighthearted, entertaining read that fans of humorous mysteries will enjoy.

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Book 33 for the year is a collection Lewis Black’s thought about religion Me of Little Faith. The book is hilarious and at times makes me laugh out loud as Black takes on all religions including his own!  I’ve said before that Black is one comedian who consistently cracks me up and I can watch the same concert performance over and over and laugh all the time “If it wasn’t for that horse. I wouldn’t have spent that year in college”.  John Stewart and George Carlin’s praises on the back of the book cover are so true!

“Lewis Black is the only person I know who can actually yell in print” – Jon Stewart. (Whenever you read those statement in all  caps throughout the book you can hear him yell!)

Whenever I’m asked, “Who makes you laugh” or “Who would you pay to see?” I don’t hesitate for a moment. Lewis Black! Period. He’s got it all: brains, balls and chops.” – George Carlin

Book 34 is a book off the Mount to Be Read Laurence Shames Virgin Heat. Time for a quick easy fun read – a lot like Elmore Leonard or Carl Hiassen! Going quickly so far!

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‘kayso, my new word from Abby Normal – so begins Book 22 for the year Bite Me by Christopher Moore.  In the words of Abby Normal:

The city of San Francisco is being stalked by a huge shaved vampyre cat named Chet, and only I, Abby Normal, emergency backup mistress of the Greater Bay Area night, and my manga-haired love monkey, Foo Dog, stand between the ravenous monster and a bloody massacre of the general public.

Like You Suck this book is a riot as Abby Normal, Foo Dog and their gay friend Jared are confronted with a vampire cat invasion of San Francisco. While vampires Tommy Flood and the Countess Jody are encased in bronze in the Love Lair and the cops Riveria and Cavuto are wondering what’s happening. Soon Tommy and the Countess are accidentally freed and the well you have to read it and roll on the floor with laughter like me!

In the words of Carl Hiaasen

“Christopher Moore is a very sick man, in the very best sense of the word.”

From the Harper Collins website

The undead rise again in Bite Me, the third book in New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore’s wonderfully twisted vampire saga. Joining his farcical gems Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck, Moore’s latest in continuing story of young, urban, nosferatu style love, is no Twilight—but rather a tsunami of the irresistible outrageousness that has earned him the appellation, “Stephen King with a whoopee cushion and a double-espresso imagination” from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and inspired Denver’s Rocky Mountain News to declare him, “the 21st century’s best satirist.

Everything that I have read by Moore is very funny! Check him out!

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So there are several authors who make me laugh out load as I read. One of them is Janet Evanovich, others include Terry Prachett, Douglas Adams and Christopher Moore

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Checking back on my Goodreads Bookshelf, I see that the first Moore book I read was Coyote Blue which I read in 1994. Then I kinda forgot about him and didn’t get around to reading Practical Demonkeeping until 2002 since then I’ve read about half of the books he’s written.(Note to self go back and read more Christopher Moore)

I haven’t read more because I usually am busy with mysteries, but when I need a good laugh I turn to Christopher Moore!  My favorite is Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal which is hysterical! A Dirty Job where Charlie Asher inherits a new job as DEATH comes in second, but it’s a close second!

Here’s a quote about A Dirty Job:

“To keep a straight face while reading this book, one would have to be dead already and in the final stages of rigor mortis.” Rocky Mountain News

Here’s some quotes from the back of Bite Me

“Everything I’ve come to expect from Christopher  Moore. It’s wildly funny, it’s touching, it’s unexpected. I think his imagination grew up next to Area 51 ” Charlaine Harris author ofr the Sookie Stackhouse novels

” Few things get the blood moving like a Christopher Moore tale about vampires.. Moore makes this trip a joy, filled with absurd characters who allow people in the dark laugh and see the light” Plain Dealer Cleveland.

So if you need a good laugh and enjoy as the Denver Post says ” the joke a minute comedy of The Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges, and the old screwball comedies of the 30’s and 40s with a touch of Buffy the Vampire Slayer then You Suck and Bite Me are books you’ll love along with all of Moore’s other work! So check him out!

Christopher Moore Books Read

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So Book 18 is Lewis Black’s book Nothing Sacred. Even though it’s a short book it’s taken me a while to get through, mainly because I only read it while I’m waiting for the computer in the back room to either boot up or load a webpage something that may take a long time and I need a laugh, and Lewis Black makes me laugh! Whenever I see him on TV either on The Daily Show or his own Comedy Specials, he makes me laugh. I could hear the same stories over and over and I’ll still laugh. Whether he’s talking about halftime at the Super Bowl with Britney Spears and Aerosmith or a Starbucks across from a Starbucks I’m laughing, And while some of the stories in this book I’ve heard before the book I’m still laughing out load. In very short chapters he tells his life story (which makes it convenient to read while you’re waiting for a computer) from his early years, through college and the start of his stand-up career!  So now I have to go find his next book Me of Little Faith because while the computer is working ok now I know it won’t last and I’ll need some good laughs!

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