After reading Christopher Moore's Fool, which is a sendup of William Shakespeare's King Lear, it was only a matter of time before I discovered it had sequels. And, of course, they had to be read, too. And quickly.

The Serpent of Venice tackles not one but two Shakespearean plays: The Merchant of Venice and Othello. Not only that, but Moore works in Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado for good measure. Oh, and there's an intrusive but invisible chorus providing narration. And a mermaid (maybe).

It is quite surprising how well the various characters and plots blend together under Moore's deft hand.

The titular Fool, aka Pocket, aka Fortunato, has come to Venice after the death of his beloved queen, Cordelia, to meet with a senator (Brabantio, aka Montessori), a soldier (Iago) and a merchant (Antonio), all of whom wish him ill. By the end of the first chapter he has been drugged; by the end of the second, he has been walled up in the damp catacombs beneath Venice. He is resigned to his fate until the senator admits that Cordelia's death was from poison, not a natural fever, and now Pocket is pissed.

This is where the mermaid (maybe) comes in.

Later, freed from his watery tomb, Pocket disguises himself, assumes the unfortunate sobriquet of Lancelot Gobbo, and takes service with Jessica, daughter of the Jewish moneylender Shylock, who in this story is a more sympathetic character than in Shakespeare's portrayal. Although, let's face it, Shylock has been treated badly, and he wants his pound of flesh -- literally and figuratively -- from Antonio, who wants to help Bassanio to win the hand of Portia, who is Brabantio's youngest daughter. Brabantio's eldest, Desdemona, is married to Othello, a general who once saved Venice from an attack by Genoa and once saved Pocket from suicide by drowning, and whom Iago plots to displace with the unwitting help of Cassio and the half-witting help of Rodrigo. Meanwhile, Jessica wants to run away with the handsome Lorenzo, but their disparate faiths make that problematic for everyone concerned. And Marco Polo's in prison.

There's more, but that gives you a pretty good idea of what's going on.

Much like Fool, The Serpent of Venice is hilarious. At times, sidesplittingly so, which is par for the course when Moore (not to be confused with the Moor) is writing. At the same time, there is plenty of intricate plotting going on (of both sorts: Moore is plotting his story, and Iago, among others, is plotting against Othello, among others). And there are even some deeply emotional touches along the way.

And sex, too, although not so much as was present in Fool.

It goes without saying, but Moore's denouement for some of these characters is not exactly the same as the denouement provided by Shakespeare. Not that I'm complaining; Moore's prose version is certainly funnier and, in many cases, happier than Shakespeare's iambic pentameter.

There is still another book in Moore's Fool trilogy, and I can't wait to see what Shakespearean masterpiece he lampoons next. No matter what it's source, I'm sure it will be a hoot and a half.