Showing titles in Dark Humour

It's a time of great discovery and adventure. William desperately tries to cement his legacy into this revolution of industry with little success until he is gifted some designs for a space rocket. William and his manservant, Mumbandi, build the rocket, keen to prove all of his peers wrong and be the first to travel to the stars.

Genteel, passive Ann works for the BBC in London and is engaged to a successful academic, fulfilling her snobbish mother's ambitions – more or less – while the Swinging Sixties happen elsewhere, to other people. Then she meets William: snub-nosed and generous, cunning and protean. She is first seduced, then transfixed, as William's past, present and future swirl around her kaleidoscopically, overwhelmingly, and Ann is herself irrevocably, and irreparably, changed.

Ein Mädchen verschwindet spurlos auf dem Heimweg von der Schule. Am selben Tag wird eine Frau aus einem Hotel entführt. Kriminalhauptkommissar Harry Stangl steht vor einem Rätsel – und vor einem noch größeren Problem: Sein eigenes Auto wurde am Tatort gesichtet. Während die Ermittlungen unter Hochdruck laufen, verdichten sich die Hinweise auf eine dunkle Wahrheit, die tief unter der Oberfläche der beschaulichen Küstenstadt schlummert.

In the tradition of Colson Whitehead's Zone One, a visionary debut novel about shelter, escape, family, violence, and dumpster diving. It's the story of a restless group of young squatters. They've run away from their families and their pasts, questing after knowledge of their most wild selves, roaming the half-empty suburbs of America, occupying the homes of the foreclosed or vacationing, never staying in one place long enough to attract attention while shoplifting beer at the local Speedy Stop.

The cornerstone of private investigation—insurance fraud. Doing it, obviously. And then there’s the taxi job. Run someone to the airport while being chased by who knows what? Mix that in with drugs, party boats, and the Virgin Mary, and you’ve got a pretty standard day for one Mr. Cole. All for a lousy paycheck. Full of infanticide, evisceration, sadists, and snuff, Alex Cole is part private detective, part mercenary...all sick f--k. Cole Investigations is open—once more—for business.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE AGE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 'A tender story about family, love, intergenerational grief, living up to family expectations and making your own way'. Nicole Abadee, Sydney Morning Herald Sorrow and Bliss meets Normal People in this utterly compelling, darkly humorous millennial...

Derald Grake's pursuit of the American Dream takes a hilariously dark turn when he puts his family home on the market. But what starts as a simple real estate transaction quickly turns into a nightmare when a body is discovered under the bed. Is it a prank, or something more sinister? As Derald and his family are drawn into a web of wild accusations, bizarre mishaps, and laugh-out-loud absurdity, they find themselves at the center of an outrageous conspiracy that threatens to unravel their lives. In this twisted world, nothing is as it seems, and no one can be trusted.

Paranoid, wilful, lazy, the young Adolf Hitler turns up in Liverpool to stay with his brother Alois and sister-in-law Bridget. Hailed by Alois as a student and an artist, Adolf soon irritates his family beyond measure by his constant sponging and his tendency to get into serious trouble with the English. Surely this is a young man who will never amount to anything.

Lindsey is blonde and beautiful and wants it all and more; she thinks she knows how to get everything if she plans just right. She knows how to make lists to help her every step of her successful life...but somehow, she is missing her ultimate happiness...searching for it could lead her to unexpectedly dark places.

Stan, an Elton John tribute act, has always believed his music career was destined for greatness. But with every missed opportunity and closed door, frustration mounts. One night, after a few too many drinks, Stan stumbles upon a startling theory: his lack of success isn’t bad luck—it’s because Sir Elton John himself is standing in his way. Desperate to change his fate, Stan concocts a reckless plan to take down the music legend and reclaim his own future. Enlisting his friends George and Ziggy, Stan sets out on a mission that quickly spirals beyond anything they imagined.

An old snapshot shows a group of friends lounging in the sunshine, on a weekend in the country at the invitation of bearded, satyric Claude and his wife Julia. The girl in the centre is dreamy Lily, whose latest failed love affair forms the purpose of the weekend, as Lily's friends set out to help her ensnare an unwitting father for her unborn child. Next to her is Norman, a Marxist romantic hell-bent on seducing his milk-white hostess; behind them is old, persecuted Shebah; and, slightly apart, the young man on whom all hopes are pinned: quiet, pleasant Edward.

The fourth in a new series of classic detective stories from the vaults of HarperCollins involves a tragic accident during a shooting party. As the story switches between Paris and Hampshire, the possibility of it not being an accident seems to grow more likely. “The Detective Story Club”...

In the spring of 2014, struggling musician Mike Bradley is forced to do some manual work over the spring bank holiday to make ends meet. What was supposed to be a routine decorating job turns into a life-changing decision. Is the Memorabilia Man all he appears to be? A story of loyalty and betrayal and a misguided sense of honor.

Maya's been able to get by in New York on her wits and a dead-end bookstore job for years, but when her husband leaves her and her favorite professor ends their affair, her barely-calibrated life descends into chaos, and she has to make some choices. Maya's struggle to be alone, to be a woman, and to be thoughtful and imperfect and alive in a world that doesn't really care what happens to her is rendered with dead-eyed clarity and unnerving charm. This book takes every tired trope about addiction and recovery, "likeable" characters, and redemption narratives and blows them to pieces.

Karl, Eleanor, and their daughter, Irina, arrive from New York City in the wake of Karl's infidelity to start anew. Karl tries to stabilize his flailing art career. Eleanor, a successful commercial novelist, eagerly pivots in a new creative direction. Meanwhile, 12-year-old Irina becomes obsessed with the brutal murders that occurred in the house years earlier. And, secretly, so does her mother.

Gli sdraiati è un romanzo comico, un romanzo di avventure, una storia di rabbia, amore e malinconia. Ed è anche il piccolo monumento a una generazione che si è allungata orizzontalmente nel mondo, e forse da quella posizione riesce a vedere cose che gli "eretti" non vedono più, non vedono ancora, hanno smesso di vedere.

Final story in a collection of interlinked tales of crime and retribution laced with dark humour, set around the festive season It’s Christmas Eve, but the criminals never stop working, so neither do the police. The raid is on … but things don’t go entirely to...

Fifth story in a collection of interlinked tales of crime and retribution laced with dark humour, set around the festive season There is never a good time to look upon the face of a dead loved one. But Mr Unwin has dedicated his life to helping the bereaved. While helping himself at the same...

The town of Lake Woebegotton, MN is a small town, filled with ordinary (yet above average) people, leading ordinary lives. Ordinary, that is, until the dead start coming back to life, with the intent to feast upon the living! Now this small town of above average citizens must overcome their petty rivalries and hidden secrets in order to survive an onslaught of the dead.

Coalville is on fire—from below. The old mines are burning, and everyone has poison gas in their brain. Maybe that’s why the town is so corrupt. Now that he’s a Benedictine monk, Tommy Martini never wants to see the place again—hell-raisers there hold a grudge till they die, and he’s on their wish list. But a girl he once loved has gone missing, and his best friend from childhood has been murdered. Among the living is a shy girl from Tommy’s past, who wants to help. Together, they learn the secret of the elephant’s graveyard, and it’s not in Africa.