What is the most compelling reason to stop reading a cozy mystery series?

[Karen]

L J wrote: "jaxnsmom wrote: "I didn't think about the fashion thing and I have quit books and series due to it.
Even when part of the character's trademark or job it can get to be too much for me. It depends how the character deals with it and whether the fashion info interrupts the flow of the story."

I find this is true about any undercurrent themes. For example, I love Cleo Coyle's Coffeehouse Mysteries and enjoy reading about coffee, but sometimes there's more than I care to know. If it gets to be too much, I just skim the information. It's the same with anything extraneous to the mystery whether is baking, running a restaurant or B&B or any business, puzzle creation, being a mom, descriptions of streets or buildings or backgrounds, etc. If the "extra" information it gets to be too much, I just skim away (rather than skip it entirely in case there's a clue hidden within the reference!).

But, part of the fun of cozies is learning things about crafting, baking, fashion, "restauranting"/B&Bs, puzzle-making, even old movies, etc. while reading a good mystery so I really don't mind the extra information and descriptions. It adds color and flavor to the story. I've actually learned things I've used in my life -- even answering Jeopardy questions(!!). I haven't come across any series whose use of "color" is enough to make me stop reading the entire series. However, I have come across a couple books in series that have the mystery so buried in "color" (overuse), including so much information about the town and townspeople and what they're all doing as opposed to featuring the mystery, that skimming past it meant I read the stories in record time! Don't know if that's a plus or minus, but a couple of books out of a series isn't going to kill a series for me. (And, I do have to say that some of that extraneous information has featured in subsequent books -- thank the stars for skimming!).

[L J]

Karen wrote: "...I haven't come across any series whose use of "color" is enough to make me stop reading the entire series. However, I have come across a couple books in series that have the mystery so buried in "color" (overuse), including so much information about the town and townspeople and what they're all doing as opposed to featuring the mystery..."

A few have the opposite problem. There is so little about the theme, setting and secondary characters it feels like the author is making it as it goes along.

[L J]

Characters becoming more stupid, less competent and doing more stupid things as series goes on. I recently realized this was a more common reason for me to quit a series than violence against children or animals.
I don't usually start series if I think main character is going to annoy me. In these series the characters have become less competent and done more stupid things as series progresses. Maybe the authors do it to add humor but for me they cross the line that separates funny from too stupid to live.

[QNPoohBear]

Excessive love triangles that go on too long
Childish heroines who think they know better than the police
Really stupid implausible plot
Unlikeable/unrelatable characters/lack of character growth
Poor writing including relying on gross or crude humor

See Stephanie Plum series after book 12 for examples of most of the above.

[Karen]

QNPoohBear wrote: "See Stephanie Plum series after book 12 for examples of most of the above."

Uh-oh... I have this series TBRed at this point. Sounds like it will be moving down the list.

A lot of what you mention as turn-offs seem to be standard cozy themes these days.

I don't mind some of the stuff you -- actually y'all have -- mentioned. It all comes down to the writing. If the author is good, keeping it fresh and interesting -- and maybe humorous! -- I will stick with the series regardless of the obvious formula being used, especially if I've invested in a few books.

Otherwise, I tend to shelve series in favor of others -- at least for a while. I don't think I've ever completely given up on a series. I've stopped purchasing books in different series (and fall behind), but I usually wind up getting them from the library/e-library or from friends at some point. There's something to the familiar. And, there's a part of me that hopes the series will return to what charmed me to begin with --that is, break out of its rut! (please, Joanne Fluke) -- or at least gets better as new(er) books come (Kaitlyn Dunnett).

I liken reading cozies to watching soap operas (I guess now, for some, that would be like watching crappy, scripted "reality" programming). You get interested and invested in the characters -- if the author is good! -- and want to see what happens with them. Some episodes (or stretches of episodes) are boring or ridiculous so you stop tuning in. A few months (or books!) later, you tune in again to see what's going on. That's what I do. If I pick up a "stale" series, I tend to skim/speed read to catch up on the characters. If I'm lucky, the series has improved. If not, it's "tuned out" again.

[L J]

QNPoohBear wrote: "Excessive love triangles that go on too long
Childish heroines who think they know better than the police
Really stupid implausible plot
Unlikeable/unrelatable characters/lack of character growth...
See Stephanie Plum series after book 12 for examples of most of the above."

I made it through more Stephanie Plum but I think that's because I started listening to them and enjoyed the narrator. In spite of some problems I stuck with Evanovich's Fox and O'Hare series but book 4 was the end of my reading Evanovich. I haven't read any of hers since.
I quit buying Sookie Stackhouse after book 8. I borrowed them, skimmed or read them, but something had changed for me and I don't read Harris anymore.
There are other authors I quit reading because I no longer enjoy them.
There are times when a author writes something I can't get past. I can't erase it from my mind and when I try to read other books by the author I don't find it relaxing. I no longer trust them. I read various genres and what I expect in some I can't tolerate in others. A torture scene in a military suspense book is not something I enjoy but it is not unexpected. Insert that same scene into a cozy or a fun caper mystery and I find it intolerable. In most cases I can't re-read the authors' books I previously enjoyed because my attitude toward them has changed and I see the darker aspects of what is happening instead of enjoying the characters and stories.

[QNPoohBear]

I quit Stephanie Plum around number 20. They just sounded like someone else was writing them, especially the jokes which sounded like a 12 year old boy was coming up with them. If Stephanie stops fooling around with Roger and Joe and chooses one, I'd probably return. I really enjoyed the first 12 or so. I recommend reading them now so you're not in public. If you read them in public people will look at you like you're crazy for laughing out loud so often.

[Rebecca]

I responded to this one when it first started, but it looks like I left out one of my other reasons for stopping a series: when it takes a turn to the dark side. I have a couple of authors I have loved for years who have taken to plumbing the depths of warped human evil a little too deeply. I just don't want to go there. They have ceased to be anything I'd call cozies, and I'm out, which saddens me, because their characters are people I've come to care about a lot!

[Cynthia]

I would stop reading if there is too much profanity, gory details, sexual scenes. I may sound like a prude but sometimes I just don't need all that when I just want a quick escape. Recently I also stopped reading a book because I found the character too snobby and the descriptions were too too much that it became wordy (of course this is my own personal opinion, this particular author seems to be a very successful writer with many books but just didn't jive with me). It felt like she was looking down at people who weren't the same as her and that just totally turned me off.

[Icewineanne]

Silly characters + when a book loses sight of the actual mystery.

[Barb, Co-Moderator Challenge Expert]

Karen wrote: "I liken reading cozies to watching soap operas (I guess now, for some, that would be like watching crappy, scripted "reality" programming). You get interested and invested in the characters -- if the author is good! -- and want to see what happens with them."

It doesn't have to be a cozy series for me to get invested and interested in the characters. Any (good) series will do that, and the situations are rarely as melodramatic as what I remember seeing on the soap operas my college roommate loved to watch :)

[Suzanne]

I can't read a book if it doesn't draw me into the world farily quickly. If it is boring, doesn't make sense, I'm moving on.

[L J]

I've found another writing style that causes me to quit cozy series and it's something I hadn't seen until the last year or two. It annoys me greatly when common information about characters that all other characters know is held back from the reader and treated as Big Reveal later in book. It makes it hard for me to become interested in characters.

Waiting chapters after meeting characters to find out common things like their marital status, their ties to characters they are with, their job... Makes me feel the author is making up things about the characters as they go along.

[Cathy]

The TSTL heroine is the biggest turnoff for me. Too much emphasis on recipes (seriously, I read one recently that had more recipe than mystery) is another big stopper for me.

[QNPoohBear]

Cathy wrote: "The TSTL heroine is the biggest turnoff for me. Too much emphasis on recipes (seriously, I read one recently that had more recipe than mystery) is another big stopper for me."

I like the recipes. I'm less interested in the Hannah Swenson mysteries than the recipes! Yes I have the cookbook but it hasn't been updated in awhile.

[Karen]

Barb wrote: "on the soap operas my college roommate loved to watch"
College roommate, huh? ;o)

My mother was a soap watcher. I got into them as a kid. My mom even had my sister and me watching her "stories" so we could tell her what happened when she couldn't be home to see one or another (early show recorders!).

Suzanne wrote: "I can't read a book if it doesn't draw me into the world farily quickly. If it is boring, doesn't make sense, I'm moving on."
Ditto... I'm attracted by new-to-me series by covers and titles, then blurbs. But if I don't know the author well or I'm on the fence, I open the book and read a few paragraphs here and there. If it doesn't grab me -- like you say, "doesn't draw me into the world farily quickly -- back it goes, especially if I'm buying (rather than borrowing or a freebie).

[Karen]

QNPoohBear wrote: "I like the recipes. I'm less interested in the Hannah Swenson mysteries than the recipes! Yes I have the cookbook but it hasn't been updated in awhile."

I like the recipes, too. What I don't like is that they take up pages within the story itself. I don't mind hearing that the character added a dash of this or a pinch of that while thinking about the mystery or something, but to have the recipe then take several pages after that breaks up the action of the story. It throws off my reading rhythm as I flip pages to get back to the action. I much prefer the recipes show up at the end of the book in one fell swoop. (Plus, it makes them easier to find if I want to try them later.)

[Icewineanne]

Cathy wrote: "The TSTL heroine is the biggest turnoff for me. Too much emphasis on recipes (seriously, I read one recently that had more recipe than mystery) is another big stopper for me."

Not a fan of the recipes. If I want a good recipe, I’ll pull out my Ina Garten or ATK cookbooks. When I’m reading cozies, all I want is a good mystery (hopefully with a few surprises thrown in).

[Santhiya]

I have a few.

1. Love triangles

2. Character butchering

3. Too many murders ( unnecessary deaths turn me off)

[Cheryl A.]

Wow, I must be the luckiest reader around. I have only given a poor review once and that was only because there were more grammar and misnaming throughout the book that I was confused throughout the whole book. I wrote the author first, with no reply so I did the review. This was an eBook given to please read/review. I would NEVER have picked the book on my own.

Everything else, I just overlook. No matter how much editing is done, it seems there is still some very minor errors (usually grammatically and, more rarely, character misnamed.) I guess I am just better at picking what I want to read.

[Alice]

Poorly developed characters and and ridiculous plot. I can live with a murder happening book over book in the same town but it must be well written.

[Kirsten]

I think the main reasons would be if the characters started acting out of character, if the series "jumped the shark", or if it seemed they were just rehashing and phoning it in.

[Angie]

If I’m annoyed by the main character, or the writing is just plain bad.

[Kirsten]

Angie wrote: "If I’m annoyed by the main character, or the writing is just plain bad."

Good point