I Hold the World Record for Being Declared Dead by Twitter

~Ten Dead Comedians~
By Fred Van Lente
Amazon ~ Powell's

Fred Van Lente’s brilliant debut is both an homage to the Golden Age of Mystery and a thoroughly contemporary show-business satire. As the story opens, nine comedians of various acclaim are summoned to the island retreat of legendary Hollywood funnyman Dustin Walker. The group includes a former late-night TV host, a washed-up improv instructor, a ridiculously wealthy “blue collar” comic, and a past-her-prime Vegas icon. All nine arrive via boat to find that every building on the island is completely deserted. Marooned without cell phone service or wifi signals, they soon find themselves being murdered one by one. But who is doing the killing, and why?

A darkly clever take on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and other classics of the genre, Ten Dead Comedians is a marvel of literary ventriloquism, with hilarious comic monologues in the voice of every suspect. It’s also an ingeniously plotted puzzler with a twist you’ll never see coming.


While perusing through Quirk's back catalog, I came across another book by the author of The Con Artist. Since I enjoyed the mystery and wit of that book, and seeing that this one starred comedians as main characters, I figured I had to pick it up and give it a try. And boy, was this a good book to have on hand with the week I've been having. Even if it did have a lot of death.

If you've been at my blog long, you'll have no doubt noticed I'm not a big mystery reader. It's not that I don't enjoy mysteries, it's just not my first choice when browsing the shelves. So it should come as no surprise that when this book's blurb calls it a homage to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None I have no idea what that actually means. I've heard of it in passing, but not having read it I can only really infer hints about the two books' similarities from the title—having a group of people killed off one by one, possibly with unmanned traps set by a suicidal killer (hence the none).

Obviously I don't want to go much further than that in order to preserve the mystery and intrigue for future readers, but I will say that thankfully the 'none' part doesn't preclude an explanation behind the murders. We still get a satisfying conclusion to the mystery aspect of the book before the fun on Murder Island ends. And in skimming back through for a title for my review, I was pleased to see some clever foreshadowing towards that end, so kudos to the author there, too.

While all the death might normally be depressing to read about, stress only brings out our characters' wit, sass, and snark. All of the star comedians in the book have ties to real people—some more obvious than others—so those familiar with Larry the Cable Guy, Carrot Top, or Joan Rivers will no doubt get a few chuckles. It's important to note, however, that all these characters are fictional. That way it doesn't feel as bad when you inevitably root for their deaths.

You might think there's a little bit of a horror movie in here for all the terrible characters we're forced to follow. Not all of them are bad, mind you, so there are still those you can root for and feel sad about dying, but there's definitely a little bit of joy in seeing awful people meet grisly ends. And since the book jumps around through everyone's POV, we get to witness karma in full effect during each and every death.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if this was originally written as a screenplay. I mean, comedy itself works best in a visual and audible medium, so it makes some sense that the book is focused mostly on capturing visual details and dialogue. The scenes can be a bit jarring to jump between, working more like camera cuts than traditional literary transitions, but once everyone reaches the island they're much easier to follow.

Overall, this was a fun murder mystery to flit back to during a hectic week (full of wildfires and smoke). Not all of the jokes hit, and some were downright offputing, but I think the pairing of dark humor with regular humor worked well enough to keep my interest throughout. And while I'm not the most knowledgeable on mystery tropes, I think seasoned readers in the genre may be able to put the clues together before the big reveal based on the amount of clues I found on a second skimming. So whether you're looking for something to tickle your funny bone, or just in the mood for some grizzly murders of not-so-nice people, Ten Dead Comedians is a good place to start. And I'll definitely be coming back to Mr. Van Lente for future stories.