I love the TV show House. Hugh Laurie is a big part of the reasons that I tune in every week to watch the exploits of the irascible Dr. House and his compatriots. I also love to read detective stories, from Sherlock Holmes to Dirk Gently. And as I’ve shared before, I do have an affinity for goofy books by British authors. Combine the three, and you’ll see why I absolutely loved The Gun Seller.
I found it quite by accident, trolling the local yard sales with my family. As I had no idea that Hugh Laurie was a published author, it came as a real surprise when I stumbled upon a copy of The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie on the quarter table in some stranger’s driveway. But a published author he is, and there was a quarter in my pocket, so I quickly became the proud owner of a book I knew nothing about.
The Gun Seller was written and first published in the 1990s, well before House was on the tube. This copy was obviously published later, evidenced by the “Hugh Laurie, star of the Fox-TV series House” in large, friendly letters on the front cover. (According to Google Images there have been at least five different covers, meaning at least five different printings, of the book over the years.)
For those of you who are familiar with Laurie only from his role on House, you may be surprised to learn that he is shockingly British. His accent (or lack thereof depending on your frame of reference) on the show is pure thespian-ism. Accents aside, it is his inherently British sense of humor that makes The Gun Seller such a fun read.
The Gun Seller is a detective story in the same sense that The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction story, which is to say that the underlying genre is merely a platform to convey the author’s giddy humor in the written word. Laurie’s liberal use of expletives notwithstanding, The Gun Seller is a fun, escapist read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
