Revisiting My Favorite Series By E. B. Davis

If you are reading this blog, you must be a reader. I’m stepping out of the closet to admit, not only am I a reader, but I’m a reading addict. So far, I have suffered no ill effects. When I read, other members of the family watch TV so it’s not as if I ignore relationships any more than they do by tuning into their shows. My addiction goes a bit deeper—I fall asleep reading. I read if I wake up at night. Because Kindle has a clock, it’s also convenient. I fear a day may come when my eyesight fails—I’ll probably go into withdrawal and insanity.

 

I’m on my fifth Kindle, and I now trade back and forth between my phone and Kindle to read. While I’m on one, the other is charging. If we have storms that threaten the Internet, I download a bunch of books so that I have plenty to read. (We have a partial-house generator.) In my Kindle library, I have almost 1600 books and another 925 books in my documents. The library was started in 2012 when I got my first Kindle. This doesn’t include those books I read on Kindle Unlimited, which is as annoying as when I used to check books out of the library. I never took the time to write the authors/titles down. I still don’t. So, I often end up starting books only to realize I’ve already read them. I also read my all-time favorite short story in an anthology from the library, and I don’t know the author or the title. I thought it was P. G. Wodehouse and titled “The Slingshot,” but I must have been mistaken. I thought it was first published in The Strand magazine. I wrote to them. They have no record of such a story. That is the price of not buying books.

 

When other people wax poetic about the allure of real pages, I think about the dust and how many books I had to give away when we moved. At the rate I read, every square inch of my house would be filled with nothing but books. I’d never want my kids to have to deal with my book horde when I ascend to the larger heavenly library. I like ebooks not only because of the space/dust problem presented by physical books, but ebooks allow me to highlight passages and define words I don’t know.

 

Recently, I took the time to go through my Kindle library, earmarking those series that I’ve liked and look forward to reading the next in series. I have aim with this exercise. I’m planning on re-reading some of my favorite series, which I’ve never before done, to pinpoint what it is about my favorites that attracts me. I want to include those elements in my own writing. To start—here is my list, which is in no particular order. No, it doesn’t include the classics, just contemporary series. It also doesn’t include series written by WWK authors, and there are some that are my favorites, but that’s my secret. I know I’ve missed most of those authors on the bestseller lists—they just aren’t my cuppa. But otherwise, please let me know if I’ve missed some wonderful series.

 

My Favorites

·      Julie Mulhern—Country Club

·      Jana DeLeon—Miss Fortune/Mudbug—Ghost-in-Law

·      Janet Evanovich—Stephanie Plum/Diesel

·      Bobbi Holmes—Haunting Daniel

·      Spencer Quinn—Chet and Bernie

·      Mary Daheim—Bed and Breakfast/Alpine Emma Lord

·      Susan M. Boyer—Liz Talbot

·      Sue Ann Jaffarian—Odelia Grey/Granny Apples

·      Kelsey Browning/Nancy Naigle—Seasoned Southern Sleuths

·      MC Beaton—Agatha Raisin/Hamish Macbeth

·      Maggie Pill—Sleuth Sisters

·      Jess Lourey—Murder by the Month

·      T E Kinsey—Lady Hardcastle

·      Martha Grimes—Richard Jury-Melrose Plant

·      Charlotte MacLeod—Peter Shandy

·      Nancy Martin—Blackbird Sisters

·      Donna Ball—Dogleg Island/Raine Stockton Dog

·      Alan Bradley—Flavia de Luce

·      Simon Brett—Mrs. Pargeter

·      Rhys Bowen—Royal Spyness

·      Jacqueline Winspear—Maisie Dobbs

·      Krista Davis—Domestic Diva

·      E. J. Copperman—Haunted Guesthouse

·      Shirley Rousseau Murphy—Joe Grey

·      Margaret Maron—Deborah Knott

·      Connie Shelton—Samantha Sweet

·      Karen MacInerney—Gray Whale Inn

·      Alyssa Maxwell—Gilded Newport

·      Sue Grafton—Kinsey Millhone

·      Deborah Crombie—Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James

·      Susan Rogers Cooper—Milt Kovak

·      Barbara Ross—Maine Clambake Series

·      Robert B. Parker—Spenser and Hawk

·      Karen Baugh Menuhin—Heathcliff Lennox

·      Libby Klein—Poppy McAllister

·      Ellen Byron—Cajun Country

·      G. A. McKevett—Savannah Reid

·      Carolyn Hart—Death on Demand bookstore

·      Michael Malone—Justin & Cuddy

·      Dorothy Cannell—Ellie Haskell

·      Jean Dams—Dorothy Martin

·      Peter Robinson—Alan Banks