# Tricky Business

By Dave Barry

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/tricky-business-cc67c429/

A Florida gambling boat heads into a tropical storm because its owner has a drug deal to hijack. Sharing the voyage are cocktail waitress Fay Benton, an inept ship's band and two elderly escapees from a care facility.

## What makes it funny?

The ship's elderly runaways supply wisecracks, while a local TV station's increasingly disastrous storm reporting supplies slapstick. Barry keeps cutting from the criminal scheme to people spectacularly failing at their jobs.

### The comedy at work

Barry exaggerates crime-fiction conventions until the elaborate schemes and mounting deaths become part of the joke. Bungling authorities and incompetent performers make useful obstacles for criminals who already have a storm to contend with.

### Try this if…

This suits a taste for South Florida crime farce with a crowded cast and lowbrow jokes. The appeal includes slapstick and toilet humor alongside the robbery plot.

### Good to know

Expect numerous violent deaths, drug smuggling and marijuana use, plus nudity and sexual jokes. Publishers Weekly describes the sexual material as PG-rated, while noting the book's unusually high body count.

## What to expect

- Genre: Crime & thriller · Mystery
- On the shelf: Crime caper
- Kind of humor: Farce · Parody · Satire
- Format: Novel

## A few distinguishing details

- A casino cruise doubles as the setting for a drug-deal hijacking
- Disastrous television storm coverage alongside the shipboard crime

## Sources & further reading

- Review: [Tricky Business — Publishers Weekly](https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-399-14924-5)
- Publisher: [Tricky Business — Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/289192/tricky-business-by-dave-barry)