Four top screwball thrillers

Sandra A. Block graduated from college at Harvard, then returned to her native land of Buffalo, New York for medical training and never left. She is a practicing neurologist and proud Sabres fan, and lives at home with her husband, two children, and impetuous yellow lab. Her work has been published in the Washington Post. Little Black Lies is her debut, a finalist in the International Thriller Awards, and The Girl Without a Name and The Secret Room are the other books in the Zoe Goldman series. What Happened That Night is her stand-a-lone novel, and Girl Overboard a Young Adult thriller. The Bachelorette Party is her newest novel.

At CrimeReads Block tagged four favorite screwball thrillers, including:

Janet Evanovich, Stephanie Plum series

With her Stephanie Plum series, Janet Evanovich is the queen of the screwball thriller. Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum quips her way through outrageous plots, with kooky (and hilarious) sidekicks, a spattering of romance, and of course some bad guys who need catching. When reviews call the series “banana-pants crazy,” you might be dealing with a screwball thriller. My one complaint with the books? They are disallowed in the bedroom, as the excessive laughter that they provoke bothers my “honey, please-I’m-trying-to-sleep-here” spouse.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Stephanie Plum is among Elizabeth Breck's five of the most realistic PIs in fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue