On the HahaFiction shelf
Diary of a Somebody
Brian decides that a poem a day might improve his life. It does little to simplify his office job, his relationship with his son, or his rivalry with fellow poet Toby Salt. When Toby disappears, Brian becomes a suspect. Diary entries and poems turn everyday frustrations into part of a suburban mystery, with poetic ambition creating problems of its own.
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What makes it funny?
Brian can turn advice about avoiding mixed metaphors into a procession of mangled sayings. Even a short poem about staying in bed bends its rhymes to suit his reluctance to get up.
The comedy at work
The diary lets Brian expose his own shortcomings without quite recognizing them. Poems interrupt the daily complaints, while unfinished books, biscuit cravings and his neighbor's bin-day troubles supply recurring jokes.
Try this if…
Puns, comic verse and a hapless diarist are the main attractions. The mystery shares space with poetry-club jealousies and ordinary domestic disappointments.
Good to know
Poems are interspersed through the novel. Reading Matters enjoyed the wordplay but found some recurring jokes wore thin over a full year of diary entries.
More funny cozy mystery
Sources & further reading
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