Murder by Death

This is the rare book I've told my husband he has to read, it's non-negotiable.  Brilliant, funny, poignant.  It's also one of those rare books that has a summary that exactly captures the flavour of the book itself.

But it GUTTED me.  I was laughing like crazy and then suddenly I wasn't.  I considered dinging it 1/2 star for this but it doesn't deserve it - the story couldn't have ended any other way and still have the same gravitas.  Then, I read the "About the Author" at the end and well... gut.ted.

If you like baseball (loving baseball works even better) and the era of the 40's and don't mind a fair amount of strong language coming from the mouths of 12 year old boys, and truly enjoy laughing, this book is perfect.  The vernacular used is in keeping with the time and place, but it might be a bit confusing - the slang isn't always easy to translate, although the context clarifies most of the obscure ones.

In my love of books, I put this one up with 84 Charing Cross Road.  Even if I ended up gutted.

SPOILER ALERT:  Great conversation in the comments below - but the conversation is riddled with spoilers and since we currently don't have a way of clearly marking them, take this as a general blanket warning that reading the comments will likely give away significant plot points.