7 Clever Novels Exuding British Humor and Spirit

The first novel by British comedian Bob Mortimer, THE CLEMENTINE COMPLEX, follows 30-year-old legal assistant Gary Thorn as his life takes an abrupt turn after one fateful night at the pub. Alone in London, Gary agrees to grab a drink with private investigator Brendan Jones, but while there it is someone else that he finds himself fixated on. At the end of the bar, a woman reading a book titled The Clementine Complex distracts Gary until Brendan is urgently called away and he is then able to approach her. Little did Gary know that the next day Brendan would be discovered dead and this woman would be only a memory of Gary’s, as he was unable to catch her name before she snuck out in between drinks. Convinced that finding the woman may offer answers to Brendan’s death, Gary sets off on a good-faith investigation across South London. A witty, sweet story that is endearing through the end, THE CLEMENTINE COMPLEX is pure British humor and better for it.

A dark comedy with serious British spirit, Candice Carty-Williams’s sophomore novel, PEOPLE PERSON, tells the story of the Pennington family. Composed of five siblings and half-siblings spread across London, the only thing this family has in common is their playboy father, Cyril. Born to almost all different mothers, the siblings—as told by Dimple Pennington, an aspiring social media influencer—have no interest in knowing one another. Their father once tried getting them all together once and, boy, that did not end well but, sixteen years later, when Dimple accidentally kills her abusive boyfriend, she has no one else to turn to but her family. And so the siblings reconvene suddenly, but instead of catching up with one another, they’re trying to get rid of a body together. Along the way, though, they address urgent social issues including racism and, of course, intergenerational trauma. PEOPLE PERSON is a family drama told with proper British verve.

Janet Evanovich called this book a “delicious combination of Clue and The Great British Bake Off” so you know it’s the perfect fit for this list. While taking place in Vermont, THE GOLDEN SPOON very much feels set in the halls of a British manor as a locked-room mystery unfolds on the set of a baking competition. Jessa Maxwell’s debut features six contestants on the tenth season of Bake Week, filmed in the mountains of Vermont, at the manor of cookbook legend Besty Martin, where she and guest judge Archie Morris will be critiquing the chefs. What starts off as seemingly innocent acts of sabotage (believed to be perpetrated by the contestants seeking an unfair advantage) quickly becomes chaos when a body is found. Maxwell then proceeds to introduce the detailed backstories of these chefs and the juicy secrets they may be hiding. Sharp and suspenseful, THE GOLDEN SPOON is more and more entertaining with every twist.

Amusing while also exploring serious cultural themes, Robert Barnard’s THE BAD SAMARITAN is British humor at its best. Rosemary Sheffield, wife of the vicar at the Church of England’s St. Saviour’s parish, has recently lost her faith in God. When she elects to spend a few days on the coast to reflect on this fact, gossip begins to spread among the church members that an illicit affair may be happening. Instead, Rosemary has taken a maternal interest in a Yugoslavian refugee, Stanko, who is working as a waiter at the inn she’s staying at. Ultimately, Rosemary returns to the church, where she and her husband secure Stanko work in town. All seems to have returned to normal until a local is found stabbed to death nearby and Stanko suddenly becomes the prime suspect. With a clever plot and plenty of wit, THE BAD SAMARITAN is compulsively readable.

Nothing says British humor like the combination of dry wit and charming characters, and Richard Osman’s THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB is just that. Living in a British retirement village, four seventy-somethings spend their free time “working” old murder cases, thanks to their access to the club founder’s former police officer friend. They call themselves the Thursday Murder Club, and when the police constable comes to their village to deliver a routine safety talk, they charm him into discussing an ongoing case. His interest seems to be focused on the very retirement village they’re all living in, Coopers Chase, which appears to have been built with drug money. When a villain supposedly involved in the development of these plans is found murdered, the four septuagenarians set out to use their unique skills to solve a series of interconnected crimes. Filled with unforgettable characters, THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB is the kind of intriguing read you need in your life right now.

You can’t have a certain strain of British humor without a dynamic duo, and Inspector Hobbes and Andy Caplet are it. In INSPECTOR HOBBES AND THE BLOOD, the author Wilkie Martin introduces us to Andy Caplet, an incompetent, clueless reporter assigned to follow Inspector Hobbes, the crown jewel of the local police force. At first Hobbes seems focused on a recent burglary, but soon Andy finds himself in grave danger as he comes to realize some of the forces at play in Hobbes’ work are actually non-human. When the inspector suddenly goes missing, Andy must do his best detective impression and, against all odds, try to solve the mystery of his disappearance. A fast-paced comedy with puns and one-of-a-kind characters (if you think Hobbes is memorable—just wait until you meet his housekeeper, Mrs. Goodfellow), INSPECTOR HOBBES AND THE BLOOD is the first of a long series of mysteries that will make you laugh until you cry.

Finishing on a high note, MURDER YOUR EMPLOYER is Rupert Holmes’ hilariously funny novel about a “finishing school for finishing people off.” After failing to murder his boss, Cliff Iverson is taken in by authorities. He’s not headed for jail, as he assumed, but instead to the McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Art, where students are taught the homicidal arts. There on scholarship, Cliff befriends fellow students Dulice and Gemm, as they receive their first-rate education on killing. Following them from their charming campus and in-depth studies into the real world, we learn they must successfully execute their targets (for just causes, of course) and do so without getting caught as a part of their thesis projects. It’s a wholly original concept that delivers on its conceit. Filled with laughs, puns, and clever characters, MURDER YOUR EMPLOYER is a book that epitomizes British humor and shouldn’t be missed.