You may want to check out Kevin J. Anderson’s private eye novels. Fun reads. Written in first person, starring detective Dan Chambeaux, aka “Shambles.” Dan runs a little supernatural detective agency. His girlfriend is a ghost, his clientele consists of vampires, golems, werewolves, and so forth.
You’d think he’d be a little nervous about his clients. It’s okay, though. Dan’s a zombie.
Fun books with complex characters? I’d say the Humanity’s Fire series by Michael Cobley. Three colony ships depart from Earth prior to an alien invasion. The first one, populated by Scots, Russians and Norwegians, finds a planet that’s populated by sentient forests with humanoid caretakers. When they land, their AI tries to kill them, so they fight it off and outlaw AI from then on, which the natives fully understand, because their prophecies warn them to avoid “The Dreamless.” Their moon happens to be the hiding place for the most powerful weapon in the universe. The forests know this.
As it turns out, Earth wasn’t invaded after all - another alien race came to Earth’s rescue and are now assuming the role of benevolent dictators on this forest planet. They go so far as to stage rebellions to get the inhabitants sympathetic to them. In the meantime, the second colony ship, carrying all Chinese passengers, settles on a world where they are promptly enslaved by the inhabitants. They send one of their best pilots out to find the other colonies, but he’s waylaid by con artist robots and a terrorist who’s trying to destroy the universe. The third colony ship transported Americans, who wound up siding with a military empire, then half of them decided to break away.
Reading the series is a bit like riding the inside of a washing machine. You get tossed all over the place, but it’s a lot of fun.
I will second the Jasper Fforde recommendation. Great fun. Be sure to read them in order, though - it does make a difference. After “The Eyre Affair”, I just grabbed whatever book was available at the library at the time, and it was not only hard to follow, it was also kind of spoilery.
Another recommendation: Nick Harkaway’s “The Gone Away World”.
Has anyone mentioned the obvious answer yet? “Catch-22”.
The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, by Michael Chabon. Alternate history in which millions of Jews emigrated from Europe to Alaska just prior to WWII.
Fool on the Hill, by Matt Ruff. Fantasy about Cornell University.
Both great, fun reads.
Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series is super-fun and excellent, especially for real literature lovers, but I’m not sure that its strength lies in complex characters.
My recommendation might be Robertson Davies’ ‘The Fifth Business’. I’m not sure how ‘fun’ it is to everyone*, but it was captivating for sure, with gentle humor, complex characters and amazing prose.
I like Tom Powers, but I would skip THE ANUBIS GATES for LAST CALL (1992), which incorporates characters who switch bodies, professional poker, the Tarot, chaos theory, Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” and the legend of the Fisher King.
ANUBIS GATES was ruined for me by the characters constantly diving into the Thames in the 18th century bits, as if it were a jolly stream of spring water instead of an active sewer. It’s hard to get casual with the gorgeous heroine when she’s covered with human turds.
Steven Erikson, Gardens of the Moon. It’s epic fantasy, and the first of 10 (thick) books in the series “Malazan Book of the Fallen”, but it’s not stereotypical, black & white, good vs. evil epic fantasy.
Did I miss the post where Sitnam was looking for series recommendations and not just a novel for his book club?
Because what is not explicitly permitted is forbidden, after all.
Company by Max Barry. Or Jennifer Government.