Books like 'Chart Throb'
Readers who enjoyed Chart Throb by Ben Elton also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary comedy mystery humor crime satire literary-fiction time-travel
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Last Orders by Caimh McDonnell
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAs a wise man once said, just because you're done with the past, doesn't mean the past is done with you. Paul can't let an incident from his past go. When he finds out a rival detective agency played a key role in it, he drags MCM Investigations into a blood feud that they can't hope to win... -
HOT MEN: A Contemporary Romance Box Set by Ashlee Price
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA Collection of 4 Amazon Best Sellers + 1 Exclusive! This guilty pleasure is for readers who love their bad boys, alpha males and billionaires hot, dark and ready to take the women they want..Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction satire action-adventure adult anthologies comedy contemporary -
When Harry Met Sally by Nora Ephron
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA romantic comedy about the difficult, frustrating, awful, funny search for happiness in an American city where the primary emotion is unrequited love. The complete screenplay... -
Whiskey, You're The Devil by Liliana Hart
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThings are looking up for Addison Holmes. She's about to take her P.I. exams, she's living in sin with the man of her dreams, and she hasn't had a phone call from her mother in three whole days. But she should have known things were too good to last... -
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The Day That Never Comes by Caimh McDonnell
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsRemember those people that destroyed the economy and then cruised off on their yachts? Well guess what – someone is killing them. Dublin is in the middle of a heat wave and tempers are running high... -
Sandraker by Heide Goody, Iain Grant
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe aristocracy abide by a different set of rules......or so it seems to Sam Applewhite when her job brings her to Candlebroke Hall, the stately home. The burglary definitely wasn't what it appeared to be, and the subsequent accidents suggest that it's a dangerous place to spend time... -
The Importance of Being Seven by Alexander McCall Smith
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe story of Bertie and his dysfunctional family continues in this sixth instalment alongside the familiar cast of favourites - Big Lou, Domenica, Angus Lordie, Cyril and others - in their daily pursuit of a little happiness. With customary charm and deftness, Alexander McCall Smith has, yet again, given us a clever, witty and utterly delightful new novel... -
Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsEbullient and perverse, thrice married, Barney Panofsky has always clung to two cherished beliefs: life is absurd and nobody truly ever understands anybody else. But when his sworn enemy publicly states that Barney is a wife abuser, an intellectual fraud and probably a murderer, he is driven to write his own memoirs... -
The Stellar Debut of Galactica Macfee by Alexander McCall Smith
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe latest installment in the warm and welcoming 44 Scotland Street series finds all our favorite residents of Scotland's most celebrated address navigating their enchanting and eventful lives. Angus Lordie is approached in the park by a shadowy, Deep Throat-like figure with government secrets to share, who mistakes him for a journalist... -
One Way Ticket by Kate O'Keeffe, Melissa Baldwin
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWould you switch lives with someone you just met? Sabrina Monroe is poised and ready for her future as Mrs. Todd Edward Blakely. Everything seems perfect, but on the big day, suddenly she’s not so sure. Her nicely mapped out life ahead of her, she finds herself in her own movie scene as the runaway bride, climbing out of the bathroom window. All she can think is escape... -
You Only Live Once by Haris Orkin
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJames Flynn believes he's an expert shot, a black belt in karate, fluent in four languages and irresistible to women. He’s also a heavily medicated patient in a Los Angeles psychiatric hospital. Flynn believes his locked ward is the headquarters of Her Majesty’s Secret Service and that he is a secret agent with a license to kill... -
Einstein's Beach House by Jacob M. Appel
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA couple adopts a depressed hedgehog; a stranger shows up, claiming to be the father of a girl's imaginary friend; a woman kidnaps her ex-husband's turtle; a family is evicted from their home, but was it ever really theirs? Heartbreaking and hilarious, the eight stories of Einstein's Beach House examine how we deceive ourselves and others, all to arrive at something far more real... -
Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsDetective Thursday Next has had her fill of her responsibilities as the Bellman in Jurisfiction. Packing up her son, Friday, Thursday returns to Swindon accompanied by none other than the dithering Danish prince Hamlet...Categorized as:
crime humor literary-fiction satire time-travel 21st-century action-adventure alternate-history -
Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo, Joseph Farrell
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn its first two years of production, Dario Fo's controversial farce, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, was seen by over half a million people. It has since been performed all over the world and is widely recognised as a classic of modern drama... -
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The Bertie Project by Alexander McCall Smith
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOnce more, we catch up with the delightful goings-on in the fictitious 44 Scotland Street from Alexander McCall Smith . . .Bertie's respite from his overbearing mother, Irene, is over. She has returned from the middle-east, only to discover that her son has been exposed to the worst evils of cartoons, movies and Irn Bru, and her wrath falls upon her unfortunate husband, Stuart... -
Grave Talk by Nick Spalding
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTime is a healer, but it helps to have a friend.The last thing Alice expects to see at her husband’s graveside on his birthday is a giant, talking frog. On closer inspection, it’s a grown man dressed as Kermit... -
What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIf Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie had ever managed to collaborate, they might have produced this shamelessly entertaining novel, which introduces readers to what may be the most powerful family in England--and is certainly the vilest. A tour de force of menace, malicious comedy, and torrential social bile, this book marks the American debut of an extraordinary writer... -
Love in the Time of Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe latest installment in the delightful 44 Scotland Street series finds all our favorite residents up to their usual hilarious hijinks. In the microcosm of 44 Scotland Street, all of life's richness is found in the glorious goings-on of its residents... -
Stranger Things Have Happened: An Adrien English Write Your Own Damn Story (The Adrien English Mysteries) by Josh Lanyon, Catherine Dair
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWHO KILLED ROBERT HERSEY? Book store assistant and all around bad boy Robert Hersey has been murdered -- and you are the #1 suspect! To clear your name and get your life back, you must figure out who killed your best friend and first love. What happens next in the story all depends on the choices YOU make. How will the story end? It's all up to YOU... -
His Surprise Package by Ashlee Price
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA Marriage Mistake RomanceAm I really married to a billionaire?!This must be some mistake.Or is it...Being married to a handsome, chiseled, rich hottie is every woman's dream come true.But playing the role of Aaron Walsh's wife felt more like a nightmare.He's my husband but why is he so ice cold?I spend most of my time trying to figure him out... -
Mr. Monk Gets Even by Lee Goldberg
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAn all-new original mystery starring Adrian Monk, the brilliant investigator who always knows when something’s out of place.... It may be a foggy San Francisco summer, but for Adrian Monk the future is looking bright... -
Dead Men's Trousers by Irvine Welsh
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA spectacular return of the wild, dissolute gang from Trainspotting, from the author the New York Times called “Blisteringly funny…. ”The gang from Trainspotting have mostly cleaned up their act…until they are drawn back together to Scotland for one last scheme—a scheme one of them won’t survive. It’s an action-packed, hilarious and rollicking trip, as well as a moving elegy to the crew... -
Nuclear Jellyfish by Tim Dorsey
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratings“Dorsey’s brilliantly, profanely funny 11th novel…zips along like P.G. Wodehouse’s best work.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch Tim Dorsey’s outrageously zany, gleefully violent, and uproariously funny Nuclear Jellyfish marks the triumphant return of lovable, thrill-killing Florida historian and tireless civic booster Serge A. Storms... -
Sunshine on Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith, Robert Ian MacKenzie
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWith customary charm and deftness, Alexander McCall Smith gives us another instalment in this popular series, now running in its eighth season in The Scotsman... -
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Убивать осознанно by Karsten Dusse
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsБьорн Димель — «грязный адвокатишка», вынужденный прикрывать и оправдывать преступления большого криминального авторитета. Брак Бьорна Димеля разваливается на части, его жена вот-вот сбежит с обожаемой дочкой в неопределенном направлении. В отчаянии Бьорн записывается на курс тренинга по осознанности... -
The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe BookWorld's leading enforcement officer Thursday Next is four months into an enforced semi-retirement following an assassination attempt. She returns home to Swindon for what you'd expect to be a time of recuperation. If only life were that simple... -
The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine by Alexander McCall Smith
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBusiness is slow at the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, so Mma Makutsi persuades Mma Ramotswe to take her first-ever holiday. When a new client arrives just as she's about to depart, Mma Ramotswe almost cancels her trip. But Mma Makutsi is adamant that she and Charlie have the situation in hand... -
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsIf Thursday thought she could avoid the spotlight after her heroic escapades in the pages of Jane Eyre, she was sorely mistaken. The unforgettable literary detective whom Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times calls "part Bridget Jones, part Nancy Drew and part Dirty Harry" had another think coming. The love of her life has been eradicated by Goliath, everyone's favorite corrupt multinational...Categorized as:
crime humor literary-fiction satire time-travel 21st-century action-adventure alternate-history -
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsProtecting the world's greatest literature—not to mention keeping up wit Miss Havisham—is tiring work for an expectant mother. And Thursday can definitely use a respite...Categorized as:
crime humor literary-fiction satire time-travel 21st-century action-adventure alternate-history -
Całe zdanie nieboszczyka by Joanna Chmielewska
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTo pierwsza powieść Joanny Chmielewskiej o charakterze przygodowym. W nielegalnej szulerni Joanna zostaje przypadkowo wzięta za inną osobę. Na skutek tej pomyłki to jej właśnie umierający mężczyzna powierza wskazówkę do odnalezienia cennego skarbu.. -
The Scapegoat by Daniel Pennac
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsPathetic, contrite and hapless, Benjamin is nonetheless the scapegoat at The Store: there is nothing for which he cannot be blamed. While his blunders remain minor, most of his unwitting victims can find it in their hearts to forgive him, but when violent explosions begin to follow him around, he inevitably becomes the prime suspect... -
A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away by Christopher Brookmyre
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBack when they were students, just like everybody else, Ray Ash and Simon Darcourt had dreams about what they'd do when they grew up. In both their cases, it was to be rock stars. Fifteen years later, their mid-thirties are bearing down fast, and just like everybody else, they're having to accept the less glamorous hands reality has dealt them... -
Miss Julia Hits the Road by Ann B. Ross
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMiss Julia—that Southern spitfire of a certain age who is never less than charming, even when she’s at her most opinionated—has been praised by Fannie Flagg as “one of the most delightful characters to come along in years... -
Hammerhead Ranch Motel by Tim Dorsey
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThere's a different schemer or slimeball behind every door: cocaine duckpins who have survived only by the dumbest fortune, hard-luck gigolos desperate to score, undercover cops busting undercover cops who are running sting operations on undercover cops. And just down the row, local historian and spree killer Serge A... -
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Country Of The Blind by Christopher Brookmyre
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe murder of a media mogul in his country mansion appears to be the result of his disturbing a gang of would-be thieves. The robbers are swiftly caught, but when they are unexpectedly moved to a different prison they escape. Back in Edinburgh, a young solicitor reveals to the press that one of the subjects had left a letter with her some time before the break-in which proves his innocence... -
The Big Bamboo by Tim Dorsey
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSerge A. Storms returns!The world's most lovable serial killer is back, bringing together an Oscar-worthy cast of Sunshine State nut jobs with his insatiable passion for All Things Florida.During this latest cavalcade of nonstop felonies—from Tampa to Fort Lauderdale to Orlando—Serge finds time to resurrect his obsession with movies, particularly those showcasing his beloved home state... -
Handling Sin by Michael Malone
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOn the Ides of March, our hero, Raleigh Whittier Hayes (forgetful husband, baffled father, prosperous insurance agent and leading citizen of Thermopylae, North Carolina), learns that his father has discharged himself from the hospital, taken all his money out of the bank and, with a young black female mental patient, vanished in a yellow Cadillac convertible... -
We Have Lost The Chihuahuas by Paul Mathews
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLondon, 2046. The British Republic has a new First Lady. She’s Californian, ‘in-your-face, for sure’ and she’s got big plans for a Buckingham Palace refurb. When her three Chihuahuas go missing, one man is determined to avoid getting dragged into it all. His name is Pond. Howie Pond – presidential spokesperson, retired secret agent and cat lover... -
Dancing Aztecs by Donald E. Westlake
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom the "master of the rolling scam," here is a hilarious crime caper set in New York. A hot hustler is searching for a million-dollar Aztec sculpture that is accidentally mixed with cheap plaster copies. From Harlem to Greenwich, a motley cast chases the lost piece... -
Absolute Zero: Misadventures From A Broad by Margaret Lashley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLa Dolce Vita or BustWe’ve all dreamed about ditching everything and running off to another country. But almost no one actually does...Well, Val Jolly feels like she's almost no one. Invisible to her husband and dissatisfied with her life, deep in her soul Val yearns to be someone else. Someone sexy. Someone happy... -
I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsA standalone darkly humorous thriller set in modern America's age of anxiety, by New York Times bestselling author Jason Pargin.Outside Los Angeles, a driver pulls up to find a young woman sitting on a large black box. She offers him $200,000 cash to transport her and that box across the country, to Washington, DC.But there are rules:He cannot look inside the box.He cannot ask questions... -
The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch, Martha C. Nussbaum
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBradley Pearson, an unsuccessful novelist in his late fifties, has finally left his dull office job as an Inspector of Taxes. Bradley hopes to retire to the country, but predatory friends and relations dash his hopes of a peaceful retirement... -
The Authorities™ by Scott Meyer
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSinclair Rutherford is a young Seattle cop with a taste for the finer things. Doing menial tasks and getting hassled by superiors he doesn't respect are definitely not “finer things... -
Boiling a Frog by Christopher Brookmyre
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJack Parlabane, the investigative journalist who is not averse to breaking the law for the sake of a good story, has finally been caught on the petard of his own self-confidence and is experiencing accommodation courtesy of Her Majesty. The fledgling Scottish parliament is in catatonic shock after experiencing its first dose of Westminster sleaze... -
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6 1/2 Body Parts by Stephanie Bond
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe BODY MOVERS series continues with a very special novella! Carlotta Wren has always wondered what her life would've been like if her father hadn't been charged with a white-collar crime, and if her wealthy parents hadn't fled town to avoid facing the music, leaving her to fend for herself and to raise her younger brother Wesley. And with a twist of fate, she's about to find out.. -
The Lonely Heart Attack Club by J.C. Williams
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen Helen walked out on Jack, she left him with three things: 1. The lease on a decrepit flat that fortunately only had a couple of months to run. 2. The lease on a failing coffee shop - that had ‘always been her dream’. 3. Horace the cat. The client base on the once thriving shop was now threadbare... -
Switch Bitch by Roald Dahl
Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsIn Switch Bitch four tales of seduction and suspense are told by the grand master of the short story, Roald Dahl.Topping and tailing this collection are The Visitor and Bitch, stories featuring Dahl's notorious hedonist Oswald Hendryks Cornelius (or plain old Uncle Oswald) whose exploits are frequently as extraordinary as they are scandalous... -
The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA burnt-out political aide quits just before an election — but is forced to run a hopeless campaign on the way out. He makes a deal with a crusty old Scot, Angus McLintock — an engineering professor who will do anything, anything, to avoid teaching English to engineers — to let his name stand in the election... -
The Organ Grinders by Bill Fitzhugh
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBill Fitzhugh strikes again! Following his widely acclaimed debut novel, Pest Control (The [London] Times called it "one of the funniest, most off-beat thrillers in years"), Fitzhugh turns his satirical eye to the merging of medical science and big business -- with hilarious and outrageous results... -
The Onieses: Winter by Josie Brown
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIN BOOK 2 OF THE TOTLANDIA SERIES Five mommies are just one misstep away from entry into the elite Pacific Heights Moms & Tots Club. Everyone has a scandalous secret to hide, but who will be the next to fall? As the club's founder, Bettina, ratchets up the stress level with a series of holiday-themed challenges, the cracks begin to show...
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