Robin's comments

Robin's comments from the mystery lovers group.

Note: Robin is no longer a member of this group.

I am a fan of series mysteries and was just complaining the other day that I'm all caught up on my authors so now I am at the excruciating point where I have to wait til they publish something new every two years or so to read a good book. That is the one problem I think series have. If they are any good you devour them and then you are left with nothing to read.

It is rare that I can find a stand alone book that engages me as much as a series can.

I'm always out there hunting for a new author of a series that I haven't read to engage me so I can explore their back catalogue.

I follow authors such as:

Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, Patricia Cornwell (Though I find her Scarpetta series going down hill), Kathy Reichs, Simon Beckett, PJ Tracy, Jeffery Lindsay among others.

I tend to find myself going for the darker themes in stories but lately I'm finding (since the arrival of nieces and nephews) myself put off by gore or violence that is over the top. Though at the same time I find cozies a little boring and too cute to hold my interest. So I'm floating in the middle.

I just finished reading Dead Hunt: A Diane Fallon Forensic Investigationand definitely recommend it if you like forensic science books. The lead character is a forensic anthrolopologist who works as the head of a museum and a crime lab. Not the best in the series (That would be One Grave Too Many, her first). Highly enjoyable reads.

I remember reading a series of books by Eric Wilson here in Canada. Mysteries that take place at various Canadian cities involving two children around 8-10. But these are grade 3-4 type books so they can't be the first. (I did have the pleasure of going for lunch with him when I was 11 and it still is one of my favourite memories)

I have a story I wrote in grade one that was about a detective named Pinky, who drove a pink car and had a pink phone and one day she was put on a case about some pink dust. I believe that was the only colour I knew how to spell :)

So I guess that I've been into mystery stories since a wee age.

I agree about Lippman's What the Dead Know. It is on my top reads of the year.

I like both but I do think discovering a new series is a lovely pleasure. Reading a good book and then discovering there are further ones to read is thrilling to me. Finally I won't have to just take a shot with any book I find but will have (more or less) a guaranteed good book for a little while longer. So I tend to dive into series and devour all the author has written.

I'm becoming a big fan of Peter James. He's only written three books with the character D.S. Grace and I can tell he will be one I will follow for a long time.