Mystery Book Series are the Best!

I love reading mystery books in a series.  

When the same cast of characters continues to appear in sequential stories, the author has time to build more depth and breadth into them to flesh out their personalities.  The readers can grow to love (or hate) the cast as they 'live' through various situations.

Sometimes the authors must get a little tired of their creations.  Next thing you know, a main character gets killed.   (See Elizabeth George's book With No One as Witness where she kills off a main character)

Also, consider the relationship between Sir Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes.  After killing Sherlock in the Reichenbach Falls in The Final Problem, Doyle was forced to bring him back due to fan fervor, including his own mother's request.

Sidney Paget's illustration of Holmes and Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls

I've been following Sue Grafton's alphabet series starting with A, of course, and currently at letter W.  A is for Alibi and W is for Wasted and many good stories in between featuring Kinsey Millhone as the feisty female detective.Wonder what clever title Sue will find for X? We'll have to wait for it to be published in 2105.

I have a great memory of meeting Sue Grafton at a book signing in a Squirrel Hill bookshop outside of Pittsburgh, PA.  That bookstore is long gone.

For 'Santa Teresa!' - Nice personal touch from the author

A new favorite is the Gaslight series by Victoria Thompson.  I started reading these somewhere in the middle with Murder on Marble Row and have read all of them up to the last one published - Murder in Murray Hill.  I  can't wait for the next one to come out.  In the meantime, I have gone back to the beginning to read the ones I missed starting with Murder on Astor Place.

My bookshelf is full so these are double-stacked.  Uh-oh, that's a no-no!

Dame Frevisse series by Margaret Frazer.  The first one I read was The Widow’s Tale and it got me hooked.  I also loved The Sempster’s Tale as both a mystery and love story.  I have collected as many hardbound editions in this series as I could find.  The early ones apparently were not published as hardbound so I've been looking for e-reader versions.  I love this series due to the wonderful Dame Frevisse and her life as a nun in the 1400's.  

If I love this series so much, I'm sure I will love the Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters which was serialized on PBS's Masterpiece Theater.  There's 21 books in the Cadfael Chronicals for me to read one day.

A few of the 21 in the series

Anne Perry has several series that I've been following since the beginning - Monk, the ex-policeman turned detective who lost all memory of his prior life, and the charming Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series. There is also an annual Christmas series of tales.  And the 5 book WWI mystery series.  All very enjoyable!

5 of the Christmas Mysteries

World War I mystery series

 Many years ago, I drove to Pasadena to the Book'em Mysteries bookstore for one of Anne's many book signings there.  Too bad this independent book store went out of business in May 2014.

Pentecost Alley featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt autographed by Anne Perry

Book'em Mysteries in Pasadena

Elizabeth George's Thomas Linley series has been my favorite since her first - A Great Deliverance in 1988.  That was an awesome start to a wonderful series.  I've only skipped one in this series - What Came Before He Shot Her.  It didn't get very good fan reviews and readers were unhappy that a main character was killed.  Unlike Conan Doyle, it was impossible to revive this character.  George used this death to build more substance and layers into the remaining characters in the following books.  We're all still reeling from it - the fans and the characters.

She explained very clearly why she made the choice to kill one of her 5 main characters on her website.  Her argument is rational, well thought out and supports why I love her books so much.  She does not want her characters to stop growing and thus get boring.

I met Elizabeth George at a book signing in Orange County, California.  Yet another bookstore gone...

To Terry - With Best Wishes from Elizabeth George 12-June-1993

And recently a new series for me featuring Armand Gamache by Louise Penny is completely captivating.  The mysteries are very good but the emotional lives of the characters stays with you long after each book ends.  Her latest The Long Way Home was just published and I can't wait to dive in.  She's also very active on Facebook and her posts are a pleasure to follow.

So many great series- so little time to read all of them!

A few last thoughts...

While I mourn the loss of so many brick and mortar bookstores, I confess that I've probably contributed to their demise by ordering most of my books on the web.  I enjoy browsing in bookstores and I especially love the remainders table for great deals.  But a majority of my purchases are via amazon.com.  Unfortunately, 'Engulf and Devour' is toppling many of the independent booksellers!

Just thought I'd mention this so you'd know I am aware...

Reading the Instructions and Following Them

I decided to knit a new scarf to wear for St. Patrick’s Day this year.  A pattern named Irish Mesh Cowl in beautiful green Koigu yarn caught my eye.

Irish Mesh Cowl by Jo Strong

Ordered 2 skeins of yarn from Jimmy Beans online yarn store which were delivered in a flash.

Beautiful skein of Koigu KPM wound and ready for knitting

So of course I can’t wait to start a new project with this beautiful yarn even though I’m not quite finished with my current work in process, the Canaletto Cowl knitted in Noro Ayatori.  Also quite beautiful.

My Canaletto Cowl is in process and the end is in sight

Nevertheless, approaching midnight last night I decided to try casting on 220 stitches for the Irish Mesh Cowl.  When that proved successful after only one attempt with the long tail cast on method, I was primed to begin knitting the 5 border rows of seed stitch in the round.  You can’t beat the great feeling of estimating the correct length of yarn for the long tail cast-on!

Knitting in the round is a new technique for me, only done twice before on the Canaletto Cowls.  So I decided to search for some on-line help.  I found the ‘how-to’ instruction guide that I used previously and reviewed it again to jog my memory on how to get the stitches connected on my circular needles.

Picture with big needles shows how it's done!

Make sure to keep your stitches untwisted!

The instructions warned several times about ensuring that your stitches don't get twisted on the needle.  As I knitted my first row and then the second, I wondered how is it possible that the stitches would get twisted.  Mine look just fine. Knit, knit, knit. 

Maybe you can see where this is going.

Deep into the third round of knitting the seed stitch border, I noticed a little twist.  But no, it can’t be.  Keep knitting; it’s just my imagination.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.  There is a definite twist in the knitting no matter how many times I try to straighten out the loops on the needle!

The unfortunate twist

What's a knitter to do?  Naturally, pull the yarn off the needles and try again!