Category: series

bingeable series, series

Bingeable series: Aurora Teagarden

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It’s the run up to Halloween, so I was thinking that I probably ought to try and do a spooky or vampire-y series post at some point this month. Trouble is, I don’t read a lot of books with spooky or supernatural stuff in them. I’ve already written about Sookie Stackhouse (vampires! werewolves! all sorts!) and I’ve put more links to Terry Pratchett recently than I can shake a stick at (but I’ll throw you some more). But tangential thinking takes me to another Charlaine Harris series – albeit one that doesn’t have any supernatural shenanigans.

When we meet Aurora Teagarden in the first book, she’s a librarian in Lawrenceston, Georgia. Along with some of her friends, she’s part of a Real Murder club – who meet every month to discuss and analyse famous true crimes. Her mum doesn’t approve, but Aurora doesn’t see any harm in it until a member gets murdered – and the other group members are suspects. Of course she solves the murder, but it’s just the start because over the course of ten books she just keeps stumbling across bodies and murderers!

If you like cozy crime and you like Charlaine Harris, these will really work for you. I find Harris incredibly easy to read and her mystery plots are pretty solid. I can sometimes figure out who did it, but not always, and not usually particularly early in the book, and you can’t say that about everyone! Aurora is an engaging heroine and she manages not to fall into the too-stupid-to-live trap too often – and I like the slightly antagonistic relationship she has with the local police because it’s not *just* about the fact that she keeps poking her nose into their investigations – although that is also a factor. Sidenote: some series are better at managing the amateur and the police relationships than others – some go too cozy (why aren’t they bothered this person is inserting themselves?) or some too antagonistic (which is just anxiety inducing for the reader and not what I come to cozy crime for).

Anyway, I have one proviso to mention with this series; and that’s that the final two books were written after a considerable gap and are… perhaps not one hundred percent consistent with some aspects of the earlier stories but that’s probably only something oyu would notice if you really did binge-read these from start to finish. As to why there was such a big gap – or rather why Charlaine Harris came back to the series, well I would point the finger at the success of the Hallmark Movie versions of the books – which again, are not entirely consistent with the books but are among the better cozy crime TV adaptations that I’ve watched (and I’ve watched a few) and you can pretty much just see them as a separate thing.

They should be fairly easy to get hold of on Kindle, and there were definitely fairly comprehensive paperback releases of the first eight in the series (because that’s how i read them – from the works or the library) and the kindles have new covers now which suggests there may have also been a release at some point.

Happy Weekend everyone!

books, Children's books, series

Children’s series: Wells and Wong

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The second book in Robin Stevens’ new series is out this week, so I’m taking the opportunity to talk about her Wells and Wong middle grade mystery series this Friday.

So Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells meet at Deepdean School for Girls in the 1930s. In the first book, Murder Most Unladylike, they’re desperate for adventure and form their own secret detective agency in the hope of excitement, but it’s all pretty boring until one of their teachers is found dead in the gym and they start to investigate. And then across the next nine books they keep stumbling across bodies and intrigue in a variety of settings inspired by the best Golden Age mysteries. It’s doing Agatha Christie crossed with Enid Blyton.

I read these as they came out – and various of them were reviewed here at the time. I think my favourites are First Class Murder (Daisy and Hazel do Murder on the Orient Express), A Spoonful of Murder (Hazel on getting home advantage over Daisy in Hong Kong) and Death in the Spotlight (Daisy and Hazel do an Inspector Alleyn theatre mystery) but the books are a lot of fun and I think if I’d read them at the right age (if you know what I mean) it would have been a delightful gateway to Agatha Christie and Peter Wimsey. As it was, I went straight to Miss Marple when I was about eleven and loved it right up until the point I scared myself! I’ve bought these as gifts for the middle graders in my life – and loaned them out to the middle graders in my work colleague’s lives (although I’m still not sure how I ended up with Jolly Foul Play in ebook *and* paperback!

By the end of the series, Daisy and Hazel are almost grownups and it gets a little bit melodramatic in the Death on the Nile Homage, but I forgave it because I had enjoyed the series so much – and it was also setting up the Ministry of Unladylike Activity series, which you can also see in the picture above, where the new main character is Hazel’s little sister May.

I’ve read both of the new series too – which are World War Two-set spy adventures. I liked the first one better than the second but I think the premise of the new series is fundamentally a little harder for an adult to get on board with than the first series is. But if you are looking for a Christmas book for an older primary age child this Christmas (and they’ve already read Wells and Wong) they would be a safe bet. And they have cameos from Daisy and Hazel too.

You should be able to get these basically anywhere with a children’s section because they’ve been hugely successful – and the ebooks go on offer from time to time too.

Have a great weekend!

bingeable series, books, series

Mystery series: Mrs Pargeter

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This week I’m taking a look at Simon Brett’s Mrs Pargeter books as the ninth in the series is out this week. I read the new one a few weeks ago (thank you NetGalley!) and then went back and filled in all the others in the series that I hadn’t read already.

Mrs Melita Pargeter is a widow in her sixties, left in comfortable circumstances by her late husband who was engaged in business, although she never really enquired although he did leave her a very handy black book of contacts for his many friends and colleagues. Across the course of the series she makes generous use of this black book to help her solve the various mysteries that come her way – from a death in a private seaside hotel (definitely not a boarding house) to stolen paintings that need returning.

I’ve written about Brett’s Charles Paris series before, and this has the same sly sense of humour but with quite a different set of characters and vibe. Where Charles is borderline alcoholic (you could definitely debate the borderline depending on where in the series you are) and often stumbles across the right culprit in the process of trying to unmask a different one, Mrs Pargeter is shrewd and clever and plots very carefully. She’s also usually working at slightly parallel purposes to the police as her methods and ends do not necessarily fit in with what is legal!

The series is definitely best read in order – so you meet her regular friends but also because they’ve been written across about thirty years so time gets a little blurry and a few details have adapted or adjusted somewhat over the years! I think you would notice that more if you read them back to back, but I’ve jumped around a bit in the series and I’m fairly forgiving on that front if the books are fun – and these are fun. If you like Richard Osman, these wouldn’t be a bad bet to take a look at – although they are more straightforwardly funny than the Thursday Murder Club is.

The latest in the series is Mrs Pargeter’s Patio where our heroine’s morning coffee on her patio is disturbed when a paving slab break and exposes a skull underneath. Rather than bother the police immediately she sends for a couple of Mr P’s old associates to make sure that there are no nasty surprises in the investigation. And so the fun begins, and it is a lot of fun.

The first eight books in the series are available in an omnibus edition in Kindle Unlimited or to buy for just 99p – which is pretty good for more than 1500 pages of fun! And the latest is available in Kindle and Kobo although I’m going to go right out and say that the price is bonkers because they are not massively long books.

Have a great weekend everyone.

books, series, Series I love

Series I Love: Stockwell Park Orchestra

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It’s nearly the end of my 2023 Proms odyssey, and I’m still looking for romances with musicians or orchestras, and I’ve already recommended you some books featuring bands. So now I’m going to take the opportunity to write about a great series that features an orchestra in it – Isabel Rogers’s Stockwell Park Orchestra series.

This is a light comedy series about the members of an amateur orchestra, who meet weekly to rehearse and regularly perform concerts to a pretty high standard. The only trouble is there always seems to be some kind of drama going on in the background. There is a core group of main characters – most of whom are in the orchestra, although one notable exception isn’t – and there are also some regular side character for extra comic relief. So far the adventures have included a dead conductor, a continental tour and a certain level of fame.

There are four books in the series – two of which were Books of the Week. And as I said in both of reviews – I’m a band person, a lapsed clarinettist with a dislike of public performance and love of being part of music happening, but these guys are much better than I ever was. And because of that I find it quite hard to judge how these will land with people who aren’t musicians – or who don’t have experience with bands. But if you are someone who has experience with large groups of artistic types, I’m fairly sure you’ll recognises some of the personality types here. No news yet on whether there will be a fifth, but I’m really hoping it’s going to happen.

They’re available from all the usual ebook retailers, but if you get them direct from the publishers, Farrago Books, you can buy them as a set with a handy discount *and* get a free short story featuring the gang. Here’s the link. Enjoy!

books, series

Mystery series: Mitchell and Markby

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So as I discovered earlier this month that there is a new book in the series after a nearly 20 year gap, so this week’s I’ve taken the opportunity to write about Ann Granger’s 1990s cozy detective series.

The Mitchell and Markby of the title are Meredith Mitchell and Alan Markby. She is a civil servant for the Foreign Office who has spent several years working abroad and he is a Detective Chief Inspector. When they meet in the first book, Meredith is visiting Alan’s Cotswold patch to attend a wedding, but they become friends (ahem) and she starts visiting him and eventually she settles in the area as a base from her foreign postings. They’re both slightly older than a lot of cozy crime duos and if I remember correctly quite cautious about the possibility of a romantic relationship. The mysteries are good – police procedurals of the old school sort (ie not thrillers or psychological) and obviously contemporary to the time that they were written.

I read the first 15 books seven years ago, having borrowed the paperbacks from a friend and gave them back to her afterwards – I was delighted to spot a couple of them in Waterstone’s Gower Street this week but it’s the first time I’ve seen any in yonks. But the good news is that they’re all available in nice shiny Kindle editions – some of them at a really reasonable price. The cheapest is the latest one – 99p! – but I really do suggest you start with some of the earlier ones to get the best sense of the series. If you like American cozy series – or like watching TV series like Midsummer Murders, these would be a good options for you. Granger has a couple of other series too – I’ve read about half of her Campbell and Carter series which she wrote after the Mitchell and Markbys, and I’ve read one of her Lizzie Carter series, which are set in the Victorian period. Gower Street actually had quite a good selection the other day – so you never know, I may go back and fill in some gaps!

Happy reading!

books, Forgotten books, series

Mystery Series: Nancy Spain

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I’ve actually named this post for the author of the series because it feels too complicated to do anything else. Today I’m talking about Nancy Spain’s post-WW2 detective (well sort of) novels that feature Natasha DuVivien and Miriam Birdseye – particularly the four that have been republished by Virago in the last couple of years.

Written in the late 1940s and early 1950s the books follow a madcap theatrical duo who stumble across murders in the course of their (more or less) glamorous lives. Miriam is an actress and Natasha is a dancer and as I said in my BotW post about Death Goes on Skis it’s more about the satire and the black humour than it is about solving the actual mysteries. Depending on your reading tastes there’s a lot that she’s satirising here – school stories, mysteries set in theatres, etc. But there’s also a lot of hiding in plain sight queer representation that Nancy Spain snuck in there.

I think they’re going to divide opinion – I enjoyed them, but mum gave up on them I think because they were too much of a mishmash of mystery and also Evelyn Waugh-y satire. And your reaction to that sentence may determine whether these are going to work for you at all!

Virago have done reissues of but there are others in secondhand/collectible only that I haven’t read. You should be able to get hold of the Viragos in bookshops with a reasonable sized fiction section.

Happy Reading!

books, romance, series, Series I love

Series I Love: The Rules of Scoundrels

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And after finally doing that post about some of my favourite Marriage of Convenience romances this week, it’s time to do a series I love that has a marriage of convenience in it’s opening novel!

So the Rules of Scandal series features four aristocrats who have been caught in a scandal and find themselves in the London underworld running a gaming hell. In each book one of them finds love and reclaims their rightful place in society. Or at least the place that they would like to be in anyway! A Rogue by Any Other Name is a marriage of convenience by a hero trying to claim his inheritance, One Good Earl Deserves a Lover has a nearly engaged heroine looking for a taste of the scandalous side of London before she settles down, No Good Duke Goes Unpunished has a hero who is suspected of murdering a woman on the eve of their wedding whose victim reappears alive and Never Judge a Lady by her Cover has a hero who is determined to uncover the secrets at the heart of the gaming hell.

I read these in order as they came out and it has one of the most gasp-worthy reveals at the end of the third book that I have come across in the genre – so surprising that I went back and reread the previous books to check that I hadn’t missed something and that it really was as clever as I thought it was! And I’ve tried not to give too much away in this review – even though if you read the blurb for the last book it gives it away! So don’t do that if you don’t want to be spoiled.

These are fairly old now – but they are available on Kindle, which they weren’t when I first started buying them I don’t think – or at I wouldn’t have started acquiring them in the US mass market format! And yes, it does annoy me that my set doesn’t match. And no I’m not 100 percent sure why because the UK format one isn’t signed so I didn’t get it at one of Sarah’s yea parties – and although the final one is I think it was the first one I ordered from Word. Anyway if you need a good romance series to binge this summer, these would be a good option.

Have a great weekend!

books, romance, series

Romance series: The Fitzhugh trilogy

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The topic of today’s post probably shouldn’t come as a surprise to you if you were paying attention on Monday because I basically read these (slightly out of order) in less than three days!

So this trilogy follows the Fitzhugh siblings – two sisters and their brother as they find their happy endings. Each book centres on one sibling but also has bits of the other siblings’ stories – I read Ravishing the Heiress (book two) first because I got an offer for it and went back for book one straight afterwards because of the split narratives. Book one is Beguiling the Beauty featuring Venetia, who has been widowed twice and hears herself being insulted by the Duke of Lexington and decides to get revenge – and of course falls in love with him in the process. Book two is Ravishing the Heiress – Fitz’s marriage to Millie was arranged – he got her fortune to save his estates and she got to be a countess. EIght years on they’re best platonic best friends but he has no idea that she’s been in love with him all along. Will he realise before it’s too late. And then book three Tempting the Bride is Helena – who has been risking her reputation through the first two books after falling in love with a man who has married someone else. But she ends up engaged to her brother’s best friend who has been tormenting her for years (because he’s secretly in love with her) after a rendezvous goes wrong. And then she loses her memory…

The amnesia plot – and the disguise plot in the first book – are pretty wild but they do work. The third book is actually my least favourite of the three – despite or maybe because of the slow build you’ve seen with Helena and David through the other books. But then I don’t really love amnesia plots usually although as far as they go this isn’t too bad and it does round off the series nicely. My favourite (of course?) is book two because I love a marriage of convenience historical – to the point where I’m sure I must have written a post about my favourites but it seems not. Like their cousin the Fake Relationship contemporary, they are just my absolute catnip and Fitz and Millie are a great couple – friends where one of them hasn’t realised that they’ve fallen in love after all and that the other has been in love with them the whole time.

Anyway, thoroughly recommend. If you’ve read Sherry Thomas‘s Lady Sherlock series I think you’ll recognise the writing style, but these are definitely straight romances rather than the historical mystery with a romantic subplot that she’s doing with Charlotte Holmes. Which reminds me, I’ve got the latest in that series waiting on the shelf. I should really go and read that shouldn’t I…

Have a great weekend everyone.

books, historical, romance, series

Romance series: The Survivors Club

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Mary Balogh has a new book out this week – Remember Me is the second book in her Ravenswood series, so today I’m taking the opportunity to talk about one of her other series – the Survivors Club books.

The six novels and one novella in the series follow six men and one woman who are injured in the Napoleonic Wars and end up convalescing at the same place – the home of the Duke of Stanbrook. In the way of such series, each book follows one of the group as they find love, with glimpses of previous couples as you go through as well and building to the final romance as you get to know the whole group.

I’ve read five of the novels and the novella as well and like reading Mary Balogh when I want something a bit less dramatic than some of the other equivalent historical romances. The heroes and heroines are a little older – old enough to have been soldiers for the men, and som of the women are widows, others have remained unmarried for Reasons. They all have real problems to overcome, but the angst is low and there don’t tend to be many stupid misunderstandings that could be solved with a conversation along the way. Basically you’re getting non-cookie cutter heroes and heroines and characters who grow and fall in love and mature without much melodrama. Although at the end of the series there is a touch of that. But by that point if you’ve read most of the others, then you’ll let it off because you’re getting the romance you’ve been waiting for for a couple of books!

These should be fairly easy to get hold of, I’ve seen all of them in the shops in paperback – although they came out a few years ago (the series was completed in 2016) so it may be slightly trickier now. But they’re also all on Kindle and Kobo.

Happy weekend everyone!

books, historical, mystery, series

Mystery series: Cornish Mysteries

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Happy Friday everyone, I hope you’re all having a good week and have a delightful weekend planned. Allow me to usher you towards it with a post about a 1960s-set cozy crime series!

It’s the 1960s and Eleanor Trewynn is a retired widow who is living over the charity shop she’s running in a Cornish village. Her niece Megan is a police detective who has recently transferred to the local force and now finds herself with a commanding officer who doesn’t really think female officers are a good idea. There’s an artist living next door and a cast of side characters who work in the charity shop. Eleanor and her husband lived all over the world working for a charity and this life experience means that she can handle almost anything and is used to trying to solve problems. And thus you have all the ingredients for a satisfying mystery.

As I’ve mentioned before, I really like Carola Dunn’s other mystery series – the 1920s-set Daisy Dalymple series. I don’t love these quite as much, but they have good puzzles to solve and an interesting premise and it’s nice to read a series set in the 1960s – there are lots of interwar historicals, and some immediately post war and 1950s ones, but not as many sixties ones. Yes Inspector Alleyn gets into the 1960s, but none of them are my favourites, his age is getting a bit fuzzy and Ngaio herself was in her 60s when she was writing them. There are only four of these which is a shame but I’ll take what I can get in these cases.

My copies all came from various bookshops – I read most of them when they first came out a decade ago, but the last one came out a year or two later (as you can tell by the non matching cover…) and I hadn’t seen it in the flesh (or at least I don’t remember seeing it) until I spotted it in Gower Street Waterstones the other week when I was on that little buying spree. What a fortunate circumstance. They’re also on Kindle and Kobo.