One of my favourite authors is P.G. Wodehouse and when Tom Holt told me that he thought I therefore might like Damon Runyon I was very keen to get a hold on his books. "Runyon from first to last" is a collection of stories that range from the first stories he ever wrote to the very last he wrote laying sick in bed. This omnibus is divided into four parts: 'The First Stories', 'Stories a la Carte', 'The Last Stories' and 'Written in Sickness'. The best stories are in my opinion those in 'Stories a la Carte' and 'The Last Stories', where the scenario is Broadway sometime in the '30-'40's. One person that often figures in these stories is a news scribe by the name of Ambrose Hammer and a typical story begins with that Mr. Hammer enters the restaurant called Mindy's, takes a seat at the same table as the books teller and share a recent episode out of a news scribes life. These episodes vary from parrots that escapes from their cages, to beautiful young girls trying to kill their husbands. One of the amusing stories is about how a young wife gets involved in a bridge-game where the winner receive a small bottle of cyanide to serve her husband. Another favourite is the tale of Dark Dolores, that manage to get three bigwigs from the underworld to participate in a rather unusual swimming-competition. The book is full of gamblers, turf advisers, coppers, dolls and other suspicious creatures of the night. Judging by this book is seems likes gambling was the major income supply during the second world war in the US. It is all very humorous pictured and almost makes you wish you lived in that era. The first stories are very much characterized by Runyon's soldier life and tells about episodes involving soldiers that are not that disciplined. 'Written in Sickness' consist of eight short scetches that he wrote when he stood right before death, and are all telling how it is to be sick, but it's told as everything else in a a humorous way, very impressing. Opposite Wodehouse's stories, you can find violence in Runyon's stories, but of course that is a very friendly and humorous kind of violence and not raw in any sense. To one that loves P.G. Wodehouse and have read all his books I really recommend that that very person takes a look at Damon Runyon, I've been told that these books shall still be in print, but if you can't find them in the bookstore, have a go at the public library. Other books within the same category humourous   Bachelor Kisses by Nick Earls e by Matt Beaumont