Book Club

[Must Love Dogs]

Good evening:

I have read all of the Miss Julia novels by Ann B. Ross.  Though an older author, Ross cranks out a new Miss Julia book each April.  I also so enjoyed the Mitford series by Jan Karon.  That series finally came to an end, and I miss the characters.  Frederick Backman is my new favorite author but not a series guy that I can tell.

[bluebellePA]

Yes, I have to read them in order too because of the character development.  The settings are so wonderful that I want to go back and see what happens in the town or their shops and the characters lives.  I'll read other books in between a series though.  If you like cozy mysteries, here are some great ones:  Lucy Meier (Lucy Stone Mysteries), Diane Mott-Davidson; Joanne Fluke (Hannah Swensen Mysteries); Mary Dahiem (Emma Lord Mysteries); JoAnna Carl (A Chocoholic Mysteries); Lorna Barrett (Booktown Mysteries) to name a few.  They all have GREAT locations and a lot have recipes.  And of course the Sue Grafton (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) which are wonderful.  Any of these books in any of these series could be read as stand alonesbut each book builds upon what has happened to the characters in the previous books. 

Happy reading!

[stevieb]

I've read more series than I can possibly remember, mostly mystery but not all of them.

I've recently read all of the Fairacre and Thrush Green village books by Miss Read and they're utterly charming, as are the Darling Dahlia mysteries when looking for lighter reading material.

@Must Love Dogs, Though don't know that it's a fact I've been given to understand the next Miss Julia will be the last. I too have enjoyed this series for the most part.

[Must Love Dogs]

@stevieb Oh, no!  BUT not surprised either.  I'd rather the series end while the characters are alive and well.  

[stevieb]

@Must Love Dogs  I know. I'll really miss them. That said, it must become challenging after so many and truth be told, the last few I've read didn't seem to me to be quite up to some of the earlier ones. I consider myself lucky as I came upon the series after many had been written and was able to binge read them there for a while.

[Must Love Dogs]

@stevieb 

The delightful final installment of the beloved and New York Times bestselling Miss Julia series.

The above sentence was taken from Amazon, confirming your suspicion of this being the last book in the series.  All good things must come to an end.

[stevieb]

@Must Love Dogs Though really a good bit different, and these are mysteries, if looking for a fun series to perhaps help take the place of MIss Julia, you might want to consider Patricia Sprinkle's Thoroughly Southern Mysteries. I have to say, I've read all of her series, of which there are three, and very much enjoyed them all. I've always wished she'd written more in the other two series as well.

[teganslaw]

Ann Rice "Vampire Chronicles" series.

John Sandford "Virgil Flowers" novels.

Daniel Silva "Gabriel Allon" series. 

[ECBG]

---

@Mz iMac wrote:

Ann Rice vampire series

---

@Mz iMac 

Right along with ya!  I also read Christine Feehan.  Very interesting characters!  You may want to try her "Dark" series.  Do try to stay in order!

[sandy53]

I am a total sucker for a good series.  The lastest one I read is the Matt Royal mystery series by H. Terrel Griffin.  Sadly, the author died recently.  I would have loved more of that series.

Some series I read that I haven't seen mentioned yet are:

Anna Pigeon series by Nevada Barr

Joanna Brady series by JA Jance

Ali Reynolds series by JA Jance

Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series by Faye Kellerman

Cork O'Connor series by William Kent Krueger

Monkeewrench series by PJ Tracy

Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series by Julia Spencer-Fleming