Five Favorite Mystery Series +

Crackers in Bed by Norman Rockwell.

Are you a series reader?

These days it's hard to get away from series since every publisher seems to favor them - the better to get return readers, I suppose.  Also, trilogies appear to be making a comeback - if they ever left the scene.

Well, I'm a series reader from way back so I'm all for it.

But the problem is, to my way of thinking, that some books are best left as stand-alones. There are characters and stories not really meant to continue, book after book. Also, not every author has a series in her. I'm never for forcing the issue.

Then too, some series just get weighed down after awhile, they become tired. Spent. It's obvious the author can't think up anything else to do with the characters. Time to call it quits. Easier said then done, I suppose.

Series are more popular than ever.

I'm pleased.

But what about you? Is this a happy trend?

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5 Favorite Mystery and/or Thriller Book Series:

1) The Sherlock Holmes and Watson stories, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Well, of course. These are timeless books to which we return again and again. 221-B Baker Street will always be a very special address. The allure of these stories has been theorized about and dissected many times. I won't do it here. It's enough to know that Holmes and Watson live forever.

The first Hercule Poirot story.

2) The Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple series of books by Agatha Christie.

I'm grouping them together because they're written by the same author of course. These books show how genre series should work in the hands of a master. But they are done in a fairly specific way: the main character never really changes much. Thank goodness.

Well, Poirot ages a bit, but not enough to prevent him solving crimes. (Except in the last book.) And Hastings does marry eventually and move to South America - which I always found odd - but then he comes back and everything is all right again. In these stories, Poirot and Jane Marple are the fixed points in their particular worlds.

The first Jane Marple story.

I've often wished that Christie had written a story in which they meet. But perhaps she was wise not to.

3) The Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin books by Rex Stout. 

This is another perfect example of a series in which the main characters, the orchid loving genius and his wise-cracking alter ego, never change, nor do they age. In fact, it is essential that they NOT change. Again, they are fixed points.

That is part of their attraction, I think. No matter what, you know you can go visit the brownstone on 35th Street and all will be the same. It's only the mysteries that are brought to Wolfe's door that continue to change. It all works remarkably well. Possibly because Stout was a genius.

The first Elvis Cole and Joe Pike story.

4) The Elvis Cole and Joe Pike books by Robert Crais.

My first encounter with a non-vintage L.A. private detective was, thankfully, luckily, with Elvis Cole - the world's greatest detective. (At least according to Elvis.)

I was never one for the L.A. lifestyle, I much prefer books set in NYC or Boston, but Robert Crais, Elvis Cole and Joe Pike soon changed my mind. These characters remain unchanged as well, though Elvis does, eventually, fall in love. But even that doesn't change him much. He's not going anywhere. He'll be there in that little A-frame California hill house forever. I hope.

Joe Pike, Elvis's silent, enigmatic and very dangerous partner does get a series of his own. But Elvis appears in that as well. It's just that those books are told from Joe's point of view.

The first Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes book.

5) The Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes books by Laurie R. King.

Here Holmes is not so much a fixed point. Nor is Watson - he has aged and is not really much of a part of King's series. Instead it's the Holmes of old but with a new side-kick, an apprentice who happens to be a young woman. Mary Russell tells these stories (with a few rare exceptions) in the first person, from her point of view. 

Russell is just brilliant enough, just fussy enough, just eccentric enough to suit Holmes. This is an exceptionally inventive series. Especially so in the early books.

 Honorable Mentions:

The Roderick Allyn books by Ngaio Marsh -- Scotland Yard

The Lew Archer books by Ross MacDonald - L.A. Detective

The Jack Reacher books by Lee Child - Ex- Army M.P./Modern day knight in shining armor.

The Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters - Victorian Egyptologists - humorous

The Inspector Appleby books by Michael Innes - Scotland Yard - Literate.

The Spenser books by Robert Parker - Boston Private Detective

The Richard Jury books by Martha Grimes - Scotland Yard - Literate.

The Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde - Literary Detective - Fantasy - Very literate and wickedly humorous.

The Flavia de Luce books by Alan Bradley - Young prodigy as detective - 1950's England.

The Chet and Bernie books by Spencer Quinn - Dog and private detective - humorous.

The Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich - Hapless Trenton, NJ bounty hunter - Very humorous.

The Toby Peters books by Stuart Kaminsky - 1940's L.A. Private eye - Very humorous.

The Fred Taylor and Clayton Reed books by Nicholas Kilmer - Boston art dealer and literate henchman.

The Gideon Oliver books by Aaron Elkins - Forensic archaeologist

The Stanley Hastings books by Parnell Hall - NYC detective - Humorous

The William Monk books by Anne Perry - Victorian detective

The Thomas Pitt books by Anne Perry - Victorian policeman

The Maigret books by Georges Simenon - French policeman

The Philip Marlowe books by Raymond Chandler - L.A. Detective

The Rachel Alexander and Dash  books by Carol Lea Benjamin -  NYC Dog trainer and private detective

The Adelia Aguilera books by Ariana Franklin - Historical mystery set in Medieval England.

The Alex McKnight books by Steve Hamilton - Upper Michigan Private Eye - ice cold setting.

...I know I've forgotten a few, but in the meantime, there's plenty of good reading here.