5 Books That Inspired Jo Firestone’s Wacky New Mystery
The comedian’s gleefully ridiculous Sex on Murder Island—a sequel to the originally self-published Murder on Sex Island—finds Staten Island PI Luella van Horn wrapped up in all manner of rich-person depravity on an island in the East River.
In my opinion, there is nothing better than eating a grilled cheese while hunched over a funny, compelling book. Sure, it might be easier not to eat the world’s greasiest lunch while reading. But when a book’s great, I’m willing to risk oil-staining the pages, which ultimately happens no matter what safety measures I’ve taken.* For a while, I thought it best to stick with the e-reader, and now that thing looks like I tried to deep-fry it.
With the Luella van Horn series, I hope I’ve written books people want to stain with their greasy lunches. I come from a comedy background, and I’ve always appreciated books that make me both laugh and compulsively turn the page. Here are some of my favorite compelling, funny books that inspired both Sex on Murder Island and its predecessor.
*It goes without saying, but trust I purchased all of these books. I’m not out here spilling lunch on library copies, okay? I’m no freaking monster.
Stage Fright
This is the third installment of the Jane Lawless series, in which restaurateur/sleuth Lawless solves crimes while running a dreamy Minneapolis cafe. In this book, Jane must investigate the murder of a renowned theater actor, looking into both the dead man’s family and the cast and crew of the local production he was performing in. I should say my favorite genre of all time is Murder-Mystery-in-a-Community-Theater-Space, and Hart does not disappoint! FYI, I got mustard on the spine of this one.
Girl Walks into a Bar . . .: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle
Dratch is a natural storyteller. Her memoir dives into her upbringing, her work in comedy, and eventually her meeting the man she had a son with. Her jokes throughout are laugh-out-loud funny and they move the story forward. While reading this, I hoped it would go on forever and not actually end on page 256, but it did end on page 256, and that was a disappointment I’ve reckoned with. I dripped a little maple syrup on this book because I didn’t want to stop reading as I ate a stack of pancakes.
The Appeal
Presented as a police case file piecing together correspondence (email, text messages, etc.) between the various suspects, this whodunit is filled with flawed, hypocritical idiots making hilarious, awful decisions. I can’t wait until I forget who did it a couple months from now so I can re-read it all over again. This book I read on a Kindle, and I already told you what that thing looks like now.
Siracusa
In this mystery from Delia Ephron (sister of Nora), two couples travel to Sicily together. One of the couples has brought along their 10-year-old kid named Snow, which annoys the other couple to no end. Ephron loads the book with so many juicy, sexy secrets you don’t see the ending coming at all. And with the gorgeous descriptions of Sicilian sights, food, and wine, you can almost forget you’re reading the book while eating a Stouffer’s lasagna in your muggy apartment.
Rouge
This horror novel is freaky and riveting in the best way. Awad writes about grief against the disturbing backdrop of the beauty industrial complex. I found myself laughing at the industry’s extremes, both in the book and how it’s not that far from real life. Really enjoyed the ride! I destroyed the first third of this one because I read it with a big bowl of stew. I know that’s disgusting, and I’m sorry.
