History Literature / TheLustLizardOfMelancholyCove

* AnythingThatMoves: Steve; he even tries having sex with a fuel truck at one point. [[spoiler: Molly doesn't seem to mind too much, ultimately.]]

* DirtyOldWoman: Mavis, full stop.
* FantasticComedy:

* TheSlacker: Theo, which is directly related to his being:

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* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Val certainly ''means'' well when she [[spoiler:replaces her patients' medication with placebos]]; unfortunately, [[spoiler:most of them actually ''need'' the meds, and she inadvertently turns the entire town into a CityOfWeirdos.]]

* AnythingThatMoves - Steve; he even tries having sex with a fuel truck at one point. [[spoiler: Molly doesn't seem to mind too much, ultimately.]]
* AttackOfTheKillerWhatever - The titular Lust Lizard (a.k.a. Steve). It's sort of a giant, deep-sea chameleon that feeds on clinically depressed people.

* ButtMonkey - Theo. The [[spoiler:county sheriff is blackmailing him into ignoring a meth shack on private property]], the entire town knows he's a [[TheStoner pothead]] and so nobody takes him seriously, Steve tries to eat him, and even [[CloudCuckoolander Molly]] initially thinks he's messed-up.
* CaptainErsatz - H.P. is the owner of the local cafe and is ''clearly'' supposed to be Creator/HPLovecraft (or an AffectionateParody of him). He even names all the dishes at the cafe after monsters from the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.
* CloudCuckoolander - Molly Michon, schizophrenic former B-movie actress and Pine Cove's resident crazy lady. Gabe the biologist also falls into this category, as he's extremely socially inept and focused almost completely on his work.
* TheCuckoolanderWasRight - Again, Molly, who's the only one who can communicate, more or less, with Steve. Of course nobody believes her at first when she says there's a man-eating sea monster roaming Pine Cove, but she didn't expect them to.

* DirtyCop - Sheriff Burton, who uses Theo's pot habit to blackmail him into becoming town constable and [[spoiler:runs a meth lab on an adjacent ranch.]]

* FantasticComedy

* HearingVoices - Molly has one she calls the Narrator, who she argues with throughout the book.
* INeedToGoIronMyDog - Molly, while trying to distract town constable Theo so she can go save Steve, tells him she has broccoli in the dryer. Given that it's her, he doesn't find this unduly odd.
* LocalHangout - The Head of the Slug saloon, Pine Cove's only bar, which does booming business when [[spoiler:Dr. Val cuts everyone off their meds]]. Theo eventually just turns it into his base of operations, since half the fights in town start there anyway.

* NoMedicationForMe - Molly first starts hearing the Narrator because she's gone off her meds.

* TheSlacker - Theo, which is directly related to his being:
* TheStoner - Theo's pot addiction goes back a good twenty years.
* ThereAreNoTherapists - Subverted; there ''is'' a therapist, she just manages to screw up half the town [[spoiler:by replacing all her patients' antidepressants with placebos. Nice going, Val.]]
* WhiteDwarfStarlet - Molly, sort of. She was never a huge star in America (her movies only released to theaters overseas), and while she's given up any hope of returning to film her whole trailer is filled with movie memorabilia, and she still has her old costumes and broadsword.

* MoneyDearBoy: For a long time, Val is mostly in her line of work for the paycheck. It isn't until she (supposedly) loses a patient to suicide that she actually starts to really care. Unfortunately, what she decides to do next does not end well.

* CaptainErsatz - H.P. is the owner of the local cafe and is ''clearly'' supposed to be Creator/HPLovecraft (or an AffectionateParody of him). He even names all the dishes at the cafe after monsters from the CthulhuMythos.

A 1999 novel by American humorist ChristopherMoore. Set in the sleepy little town of Pine Cove ([[TheVerse previously featured]] in the novel ''Literature/PracticalDemonkeeping'' and later in ''Literature/TheStupidestAngel''), it tells the story of drug dealers, dolphin-philiacs, psychologically unstable psychiatrists, retired B-movie stars, and the prehistoric sea monster who loves them.

* CaptainErsatz - H.P. is the owner of the local cafe and is ''clearly'' supposed to be [[HPLovecraft H.P. Lovecraft]] (or an AffectionateParody of him). He even names all the dishes at the cafe after monsters from the CthulhuMythos.

* DirtyCop - Sheriff Burton, who uses Theo's pot habit to blackmail him into becoming town constable and [[spoiler:runs a meth lab on an adjacent ranch.]]