The Exploding Detective

With "The Exploding Detective," John Swartzwelder has figured out what worked in "The Time Machine Did It" (and refined and improved upon it) and what didn't work in "How I Conquered Your Planet" (and eliminated/fixed it). The result: the best entry in the Frank Burly series so far. The book follows Frank Burly as he tries to improve his detective business through a series of disastrous and hilarious marketing campaigns (Swartzwelder was formerly in advertising so he really shines here). He finally hits upon something that catches the public's attention (while greatly injuring himself in the process): a jet-pack! That's just the beginning of things in a book that does a successful and wonderful job of satirizing detective stories (and many "great" detectives), super-heroes (and super-villains) and time travel. It's laugh-out-loud funny THROUGHOUT the book I highly recommend any fans of Swartzwelder or comedy-in-general pick it up.

this is a must buy for any simposns fan. it has familiar humor to the show. i actually found myself laughing out loud at a book. real easy read and i reccommend reading the 2 books that came before it.

The fart joke in this book is so good that I cried. I don't know any one else writing now that I enjoy more. I mean it's fantastic. But buy it on eBay. He will sign it for you, or someone else will. you can't watch him sign it. however, they also come at a discount.

This book is actually laugh-out-loud funny. It's very animated, so everything is easy to picture in your mind. The imagery that is created plays just like an episode of futurama. I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone who loves the simpsons and can laugh at historical references.

Detective Frank Burly has traveled through time and to Mars and back. This time around he travels through time again, but this time destroys some of time in a very significant way. This book will destroy some of you too in a very significant way with laughter.