Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
Worldly unwise country recluse William Boot, who writes the rural column for a London newspaper, is mistakenly dispatched to cover an imminent war in East Africa. A parade of unlikely characters sees him prevail against politics, fate, and other newspapermen.
True Grit by Charles Portis
Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross hires one-eyed Marshall Rooster Cogburn to help her track down the man who killed her father and stole the family fortune. The wit is desert dry, the writing first-rate.
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Tragicomic (but mostly comic) New Orleans classic. The hero might be compared most closely to Comic Book Store Guy on the Simpsons.
Mapp and Lucia novels by E.F. Benson
Social combat in pre-war English town of Tilling-on-Sea. Six novels were written in total, and they are so good, the BBC filmed them not once, but twice (The first foray is superior.) Other writers attempted to maintain the franchise. Stick to the originals.
Forever Rumpole: The Best of the Rumpole Stories by John Mortimer
Honestly, it doesn’t really matter which of the Rumpole collections you pick up, they’re all of high quality. He excels at character creation.
Get Real by Donald Westlake*
Master thief John Dortmunder, whose multiple capers inevitably hit snags, is hired to perform a heist on live television. It does not go well.
*The several Dortmunder books came about when Westlake writing as noir crime novelist Richard Stark began writing (another) of his Parker novels, only to find that it kept coming out funny. It is instructive to read how a true professional manages two separate voices, both equally compelling.
Breakout by Richard Stark
Master thief Parker must assemble a team to escape a correctional facility before prison officials realize he is not the man they think he is.
