I haven't read anything else by him, I was only familiar with his blogging. I actually really enjoyed this book even while it seemed to be struggling with itself. It kind of reminded me of the earlier 'Tales of the City' books in the episodic pacing and zaniness, and also in the range of depth in the characters (e.g. that some have lots and some have none and are completely forgettable). there's so many good concepts and observations, to the point that I was surprised at how it tried to wrap itself up so neatly at the end– it made me wish it'd been conceived as a series, or published serially, since there seemed to be so much room for the characters to develop and bounce off each other, for example I wish there'd been more buildup for Ruth and her horrible horrible living conditions, though that final scene still got a big reaction from me from the sheer invention.
I understand that he's written at least one more of these, but the tying up of the all the characters' stories in advance feels like a constraint. It seems to me that he's great at shortform humorous fiction & hasn't yet found a way to expand his strengths to novel length. However: I loved his love for mediocrities, there was a plaintive/tender note to this book that combined with the silliness and his old-fashioned voice to prevent it from being a truly 'cozy' book even as it strove to be light.
I guess all of this is to say it's worth picking the book up even if the star ratings are pretty bad online
by udibranch