Getting Started on Florida Screwball Mysteries
 

Having read Dave Barry's two offerings (and wonderous they were), and have many times had Carl Hiassen and Elmore Leonard recommended to me for that particular Florida flavor that gets it its own tag on Fark, I wonder if anyone would recommend me some books to start with for each or either.

Muchos Garcias.
/ sic

The Dave Barry books were great, wish he would stop with the Peter Pan books and return to these. (He also did a young adult novel called Science Fair, which is worth a read; similar to Big Trouble, but less sex and profanity.)

Big Trouble has one of my very favorite endings of any book of any genre.

Did you see the movie? It's a bit lighter in tone than the book, but it still works as a great farce. The casting of the cops is perfect.

Also, have you read any Christopher Moore? It's not Florida, and a bit fantastical/horror, but it might work for you. Start with Practical Demonkeeping.

I haven't seen the movie, but it's on the short list of DVDs I need to get (along with Soap Dish, M, and a couple of recent releases).

I'll add Practical Demonkeeping to the list. Given that I have a pair of daughters, it sounds like it might come in handy.

Soap Dish! Hell yeah. I'll take anything with Kevin Kline. An equally good farce.

Speaking of Farce, Saw A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for the first time the other day. Good Stuff. Zero is my hero.

The stage version is better than the movie... see it if you can. Not Sondheim's best work, but fun nonetheless.

Also great farce (I've only seen the movie, not the play): Noises Off. It's about performing a farce. First act is the final dress rehearsal, which is disasterous. Second act is backstage as a performance is going on, and all the actors hate each other. Third act is a production of the show falling apart.