Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Snorting and laughing...by Cathy Ace



“Can you name a writer or a work that made you Laugh Out Loud? (No inner chuckles)”

 

Before I answer this question I should stipulate one thing: I’m much more of an “inner chuckler” than a “laugh out loud-er”, so I’m going to allow snorts to count as laughs for this discussion. I hope that's okay with everyone :-)

I’m delighted to be able to tell you that one of my co-bloggers here writes books that make me grin, chuckle silently and snort aloud a good deal: Catriona MacPherson’s Dandy Gilver books are beautifully written in a style that’s so easy to read it belies the skill she employs on every page. She delivers the preposterous with a side-helping of the mind-boggling, and all the time keeps me – the reader – smiling contentedly as I wait for the next barbed comment or wry observation. All her Dandy Gilver books are a joy to read, and I suggest you try them, if you haven’t already done so. (There’s a new one due soon!)



If you’re not familiar with Catriona MacPherson’s Dandy, maybe you’ve heard of Douglas Adams’ Slartibartfast or Marvin (the paranoid android)? Just two of the bizarre characters in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, they wriggled their way into my life back in 1978 when they first appeared in the BBC Radio 4 series of the same name, then became manifest on the page. I’ll admit I enjoyed the BBC TV series of the first two of the Hitchhiker books, and even the movie they made (where Slartibartfast’s workshop was finally realized in much the way I’d imagined it). Pretty much anything Douglas Adams wrote makes me snort a lot – including Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. 



I hope my picks give you as much to smile about as they do me. 

Cathy Ace writes the WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries (book #2 THE CASE OF THE MISSING MORRIS DANCER was published in trade paperback on August 31st in the UK, and will be available in November in the US/Canada), and the Cait Morgan Mysteries (book #8 THE CORPSE WITH THE RUBY LIPS will be published in paperback in October in Canada, November in the USA). Find out more about Cathy and her work, and sign up for her newsletter at http://cathyace.com/   

5 comments:

Art Taylor said...

Nice to see one of our Criminal Minds giving another some shout-outs with this question! And yes to Douglas Adams too--years since I've read his work, but even thinking about it had me smiling. (And I'm one to chuckle inwardly more than laugh out loud too, I should add.)

Merrill Young said...

I couldn't agree more about Adams. I haven't read McPherson.....yet. May I add Jasper Fforde's Tuesday Next books? The early Evanovich books made me snicker, also.

Cathy Ace said...

Hi Art - an opportunity to give a shout-out I couldn't pass up :-)

Cathy Ace said...

Hi Merrill - Oh yes, I like Jasper Fforde's Tuesday Next books too :-)

Unknown said...

Thaks for your recommendations, Cathy. I've got Douglas Adams on the Will-probably-never-read shelf, so will add to my To-be-read shelf now.