...familiarity can breed contempt. But not always -- and Keith Snyder's Coffin's Got the Dead Guy on the Inside is a case in point. Snyder has an eye and an ear for seedy Los Angeles, that well-trampled landscape. What keeps his book from being an also-ran is its unlikely cheerfulness -- hardly the note you expect in a computer crime thriller.

Snyder's reluctant spy is Jason Keltner, who lives in a rundown Los Angeles apartment building with his friends Robert and Martin. As the book opens, Jason is meeting a man named Platt to discuss a job Platt is offering.

"Platt pulled out the other chair, sat down, and said, 'What's the difference between musician and a savings bond?'

"Jason said, 'A savings bond eventually matures and earns money. What do you call a musician without a girlfriend?'

" 'Homeless. What did the drummer get on his IQ test?'

" 'Drool. Uh... did you hear about the drummer who locked his keys in the car?'

" 'They had to break the glass to get the guitarist out.' Platt thought for a moment. 'You know the difference between cello and coffin?'

" 'Yeah, I know that one.' "

For those who don't, the coffin's got the dead guy on the inside.

Platt's job proposal has Jason keeping an eye on someone for him, an ssignment that quickly involves a complicated heist. The plot in Coffin's Got the Dead Guy on the Inside is overly ornate, but Snyder's funny, realistic characters keep the story moving along through a happy Los Angeles of daytime margaritas, car chases, and disingenuous, snarky friends.

Snyder has a real flair for dialogue and for observing the world around him, and he manages to be silly and sardonic at the same time, an unusual feat. For the reader, this means that almost all Snyder's jokes are worth getting.

-- Ellen McGarrahan
San Francisco Chronicle