Read a mystery series together

[Jannene]

Hi all, is anyone interested in reading a mystery/thriller series together from start to finish next year? A few of us did a fantasy series but it really isn't my favorite genre.

[Jenn]

I could be up for that. Not my usual genre, what do you have in mind?

[Jannene]

I would think a series that has less than 12 books. I have a few on my TBR list.

Face of a Killer - Sydney Fitzpatrick series (5 books)
Birdman - Jack Caffery series (6 books)
One Grave Too Many - Diane Fallon series (9 books)
Taboo - Reilly Steel (8 books)
The Quiet Game - Penn Cage (6 books) **edited to add**

[Kristie, Moderator]

I'd probably join. This is one of my favorite genres. I'm not a big fantasy fan, but was planning to join that read. Unfortunately, the series in the lead is the only one not available through my library, so I'd have to buy it. I haven't decided if I want to do that yet.

I have a bunch of these series on my TBR. Let me take a look and I'll add some suggestions for you. :) Do you want to use the same guidelines as the other thread? Series finished or close to and not too many or too long books or just suggest whatever looks good?

[Kristie, Moderator]

These are the first I thought of and all are on my TBR. Any interest in any of these?

A Drink Before the War - Kenzie & Gennaro (6 books)
Monkeewrench - Monkeewrench (9 books)
A Curious Beginning - Veronica Speedwell (book 4 due March 2019)
The Watchman - Joe Pike (6 books)
My Sister's Grave - Tracy Crosswhite (6 books)
Ashes to Ashes - Kovac and Liska (5 books)
Triptych - Will Trent (8 books)
Little Girl Lost - DI Robyn Carter (5 books)

[Cherie]

I would be interested in the LeHane series or the Caffrey one. I have the first books of each of them on my TBR list. I have never heard of any of the others. Doesn't mean I can't be persuaded to switch though. I am still trying to get back to Harry Hole. Mystery/Thriller has never been real high on my go to genre. It depends on the characters. I really don't like most of the Pendergast plots, but the characters keep me coming back for more, except for Bill Fishback. I don't like him!

I am probably not going with the fantasy read, at this point.

[Sarah]

I might be interested, depending on the series and timing. I don't want to over commit as I'm a bit slow at reading at the moment. I'd prefer a series that was 6 or less for that reason.

[Sarah]

I have Under a Silent Moon
Someone Else's Skin
The Keeper of Lost Causes

I've only read book one of the latter.

[Claire]

For me it would depend on the series and the availability. Not everything is allways easy available or expensive in my country.

[Cherie]

I read the first book of Department Q too, Sarah. I really liked it.

[Esther]

I may be in depending on the series chosen.

[Jannene]

We can do a doodle poll as well. I have Joe Pike but it overlaps with another character that starts earlier than Pike.

I am super excited there is interest.

Maybe we second a book or we all get one pick then vote. Thoughts?

I have a feeling we may have a few others that will be interested. I am sure my buddy Dominique will be down.

[Dominique]

Jannene wrote: "We can do a doodle poll as well. I have Joe Pike but it overlaps with another character that starts earlier than Pike.

I am super excited there is interest.

Maybe we second a book or we all get..."
Yup, l'm down!

[Saar The Book owl]

I think I might join too. I'm interested in Risoli and Isles and the books of Karin Slaughter.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Jannene wrote: "We can do a doodle poll as well. I have Joe Pike but it overlaps with another character that starts earlier than Pike."

Are you referring to Elvis Cole? I want to read that too, but it is 17 books, so I thought much too long to suggest. Are you already reading the series?

I think a doodle poll is a good idea.

[Sarah]

I really think it best to limit the scope of the buddy read by choosing a smaller series. When we tried organising a more sweeping buddy read for the dark tower series and associated books it didn't work as it was a big commitment. 17 books to a series is way too much.

[Cherie]

I agree, Sarah. 5 or 6 books would be ideal. Six books allows for two months between, or one every month, depending on the length. Department Q, currently has 7. I am not sure it is ended or not. Are we going to try for a series that is finished, like the fantasy buddy read?

I don't know, maybe mystery/thriller authors are not so good at ending their series, like fantasy authors. Maybe because they do not have to keep making up new stuff for their fantasy worlds. Brett is ending his current series, but a new one will pick up in the same world, but a different time, from what I understand. I think many others have done the same. Even science fiction series go this way, for the most part. One or two main characters in a m/t series can keep on and on for a long time. The only one I have seen end, after 8 books, was the Frieda Klein series that I just finished. (Personally, I think the authors painted themselves into a corner and had nowhere to go.) Even dear Miss Marple had 14 books.

[Kristie, Moderator]

I agree, Sarah. That’s why I didn’t suggest that longer one. I had a few like that, but thought people would lose interest at some point or it may get difficult to schedule.

I think part of the trouble with The Dark Tower series was that people couldn’t agree on which books to include or what order to read them and no one took control of it and got it started. This should be better because because there are set books and they’re ordered.

Cherie, I also thought we should try to get completed series, but it looks like that may be really difficult in this genre. Not only do the authors seem to not stop, but the final books aren’t always labeled as such. They just sort of stop adding books without a wrap up book. So, it’s difficult to determine if the series is completed or not.

[Jannene]

Kristie wrote: "Jannene wrote: "We can do a doodle poll as well. I have Joe Pike but it overlaps with another character that starts earlier than Pike."

Are you referring to Elvis Cole? I want to read that too, bu..."

Yes, it is Elvis Cole and heck no did I mean we would read that!! I just meant that I think it needs to be read first so you can be introduced to the friendship of Joe Pike. I accidentally read a book out of turn and feel I would have benefited more by reading that series first.

I was thinking of max 6-8 books as long as they aren’t chunky. Like others have said you can then split them up in months. I figure if the series ends up getting more then we would have to read the orphans on our own or do a buddy read later. The idea for me at least was to start and complete the series in the year.

For my number one, I am torn...either of these.
Face of a Killer - Sydney Fitzpatrick series (5 books)
Birdman - Jack Caffery series (6 books) - I would reread Birdman.

How about we each pick our favorite, I’ll add them to the list and after a week I can create a doodle poll. Or do you think we will have too many book responses?

[Janice, Moderator]

I have the following mystery series that I own the first book:

Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake series) - 7 books
Silent in the Grave (Lady Julia Grey series) - 5 books
Tilt-a-Whirl (John Ceepak Mysteries) - 8 books
The Life We Bury (Detective Max Rupert) - 4 books

I have read a couple of first books in the series already mentioned, and some I have on my wishlist, so I could probably fit something in. Like Sarah, I don't want to over extend myself.

[Janice, Moderator]

Can we add The Gods of Gotham (Timothy Wilde Series) - 3 books?

[Cherie]

Janice wrote: "Can we add The Gods of Gotham (Timothy Wilde Series) - 3 books?"

Oh, I loved Faye's Dust and Shadow book.
I have added this one to my TBR list, Janice.

[Jannene]

So, can we all pick our favorite of our own? We can then vote. If we get a series picked that has 2-3 books we could probably kill both series in a year.

I also have Someone Else's Skin on my list.

[Janice, Moderator]

Let's do like they did with the fantasy series - put them all on the poll, vote for as many as you're interested in, and then select one or two series that get the most votes.

[Jannene]

Sounds like a plan.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

I am lurking. I have some of these, and millions of others. Will have a dig

[Almeta]

Uh oh! I missed this thread somehow. AND I WAS PROBABLY BETTER OFF WHEN I WAS UNAWARE OF IT. LOL! Already added to my TBR.

Mysteries are my favorite genre.

I would like to join in on this buddy read.

[Jannene]

Hi all,

I have created the google sheet. It is so much easier for me. Just put a 1 in the column and I can sum up. Pick as many as you want and we will weed it down by numbers of votes. I only put series we spoke about that were 6 or less. I left out Joe Pike because the first book is number 11 in the Elvis Cole series.

For new people put in your name and vote.

I can leave it open until next Saturday.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Thanks for setting up the poll, Jannene.

The google sheet is set up as view only. Is there a way for you to give us all access without us each needing to request access from you individually?

[Janice, Moderator]

Thanks Jannene!

[Jannene]

Kristie wrote: "Thanks for setting up the poll, Jannene.

The google sheet is set up as view only. Is there a way for you to give us all access without us each needing to request access from you individually?"

I think it is fixed now.

[Janice, Moderator]

Silly question... how do you save your changes. I don't know what language this document is in.

It auto-saves. I had to open it in Chrome to read it in English and figure things out.

[Jannene]

It auto saves. Your votes are in. :)

[Kristie, Moderator]

Thank you!

[Janice, Moderator]

Jannene wrote: "It auto saves. Your votes are in. :)"

LOL! I finally figured it out.

[Jannene]

Esther, Jenn, Sarah and Rus don’t forget to vote. :)

[Sarah]

I can't access the document on my phone or tablet, well not to edit it anyway. I'll do it when i'm on my laptop.

[Sarah]

I've voted but only on the two I own. And no one else has voted on those. I don't think I'll end up participating in this one as most of the others aren't already on my wishlist. Plus starting to feel slightly overwhelmed with reading commitments. I'll see what happens when a series is chosen.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Unfortunately, the series I own didn't make it to the spreadsheet which is completely fine, but limited my voting. I voted for one that I am interested in :)

[Sarah]

Also, the one I'm most interested in didn't make it to the spreadsheet either but no worries.

[Jenn]

Again, not my normal genre, so am not as familiar with the authors. I voted for the six that I either have, or have access to in their entirety.

[Jannene]

If I missed something on the spreadsheet let me know. I purposely didn't put down the series that had more than 6 books.

[Jannene]

I just looked at the spreadsheet. I see that there are two clear winners. We can do one series of 6 books and one of 3 books. If people are interested. It looks like we have a few that wants the 3 books.

We could do another poll of the top 2 that have 6 books and put a few of the smaller series. If we do that we could do less than one a month if people were interested. I don’t have issues either way.

We could even start in November or December so we could add another book/series.

Thoughts?

[Dominique]

We can do the most popular in the 6 and 3 books

[Janice, Moderator]

Which two? Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro (6 books), and Timothy Wilde (3 books)?

I'm feeling a bit of pressure with the buddy reads coming up, too. If Timothy Wilde is selected, I'll participate in it. December works best for me.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Janice wrote: "Which two? Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro (6 books), and Timothy Wilde (3 books)?

I'm feeling a bit of pressure with the buddy reads coming up, too. If Timothy Wilde is selected, I'll participat..."

Those look like the highest in the 6 and 3 categories. If we go with those two, I'd join for Kenzie & Genaro.

I think waiting until December would be best too. There are a couple other buddy reads going on in November.

[Esther]

i just voted (sorry not online a lot, I have a $/%""$?"?$ of a week.

As with the fantasy, I kept my vote for series that was available to be and for which I had not read the 1st one.

if you start the Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro series, i'll join you for the last 2. :)

[Claire]

I will join for the Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro, not for the 3 books.
There were only two series with 3, so it feels a bit arbitrary to me.

[Jannene]

Claire, I am not trying to cause any problems. I definitely will be going with the highest rated series regardless of the number of books.

I am offering or throwing out the idea of an additional read of maybe a 3 book series since some did indicate they wanted a smaller series.

Jannene

[Laura (Lclwags)]

I'd be interested in joining. This is my favorite genre and I'm always up for discovering new series! Whatever y'all vote for is fine with me, as long as I can find it somewhere.