September MysteryKIT: Series

Series in September MysteryKIT




This month’s MysteryKIT topic really needs no explanation: the challenge is to read a mystery that is part of a series. Fortunately, there are countless books that have recurring characters and/or story arcs, from a variety of subgenres, locations, and time periods. I’ve included pictures of a few of my favorite mystery series, but the sky’s the limit, so go nuts! For a little extra challenge, choose the next book in a series you’re already reading (i.e., not book #1), or read multiple books in one or more series. Please share what you read for this month’s topic below, and don’t forget to update the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/MysteryKIT_2020.

I have a bunch I could choose from. Top that I'd like to get to include:

Click Here for Murder / Donna Andrews (but not available at my library)
The Silkworm / Robert Galbraith
The Llama of Death / Betty Webb
Mew is for Murder / Clea Simon

"Mew is for Murder" has been on my tbr the longest, I think, plus it fits AlphaKIT, so I might go for that one.

Well, this is right up my alley for light reads. I will read next up in at least one of these series.

Dublin Murder Squad Broken Harbor
Inspector Gamache Bury Your Dead
Ruth Galloway The Stone Circle
Lady Charlotte The Art of Theft
Naomi Cottle The Butterfly Girl
Highway 59 Heaven My Home

I'm planning on Playing for the Ashes and the next Lord Peter Hangman's Holiday

Oh so many options as I’m in the middle of quite a few series. At the very least I’ll be reading Execution in E by Alexia Gordon since it’ll also work for the AlphaKit.

I'm sure I'll read plenty of "next in series" mysteries next month. Other than Lord Peter #9 which is a monthly challenge, I'm not sure which other books will surface their way to the top.

So many possibiities ......

Nice to have an easy KIT :)

As others have said, I have several series on the go (though I have recently finished up 2 multiyear efforts - the Dr. Thorndyke series and the Nero Wolfe series). Definite books are: The Templars' Last Secret by Martin Walker, Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers, and Mayhem in Margaux by Jean-Pierre Alaux and Nöel Balen.

>1 christina_reads: I had a big smile upon seeing Kate Ross's Cut to the Quick in your opening post - that is a great (though sadly short) series!!

Like everyone else, I have lots of series to choose from. I think I am going to go with Blood Men by Paul Cleave, fourth in the Christchurch Murder Series. I also have my eye on Kissing the Demons by Kate Ellis and This Thing of Darkness by Harry Bingham.

I am planning to read Mousse and Murder which I picked up quite some time ago. It is set in Alaska, so this will be my treat in lieu of the Alaska Land + Sea trip that got cancelled for June.

>8 leslie.98: I love the Julian Kestrel series! In fact, I'm due for a reread...

>11 christina_reads: I am too, I've been thinking for awhile I need to read the series again.

>8 leslie.98:
>11 christina_reads:
So you made me curious about Julian Kestrel and wonder of wonders, I have 2 of them on my TBR shelves. Thanks for the tip!

>13 nrmay: Yes! I hope you enjoy them. :) Cut to the Quick is the first one, but I can't remember whether they need to be read in order.

Piece of my heart by Peter Robinson happens to be next in line for me in the Inspector Banks series.

>14 christina_reads:
Finished cut to the quick and loved it. I have #3 on my TBR shelves. Just have to get hold of the second one - broken vessel.

>16 nrmay: Hooray, I'm so glad!

Finished Playing for the Ashes by Elizabeth George. I've been away from this series for too long.

>18 majkia: That is a good series, I will have to check where I left off. I know it's been a few years since I've read one. Thanks for reminding me ! Traitor to Memory is next for me, now to find it on the bookshelf.

I have completed Kissing the Demons by Kate Ellis, the third book in her D.I. Joe Plantagenet Series.

COMPLETED A Cold Blooded Business, Play With Fire, and Blood Will Tell, Nos. 4, 5, and 6 in Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak series set in Alaska.

Would Elizabeth Peters' books on Egypt count? I have been lsitening to the series.

>23 mnleona: Yes, the Amelia Peabody books are a series and work for this challenge.

I read the second Inspector Van der Valk story, Because of the Cats by Nicolas Freeling.

I read #25 in Martha Grimes' Richard Jury series - The Old Success.
I read #2 in Vaseem Khan's Baby Ganesh Detective Agency series - The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown.

I'm jumping on the Cut to the Quick bandwagon. It's been on my TBR list for years!

I've been binging the Gaslight Mystery series by Victoria Thompson and have so far finished Murder on Waverly Place and Murder on Lexington Avenue.

I also read Aunt Bessie Solves in the Isle of Man series and Execution in E in the Gethsemane Brown series.

More to come as the month progresses!

I've completed the 4th entry in the Dr. Frieda Klein series, Thursday's Child by Nicci French.

Mew is for Murder / Clea Simon
3.5 stars

Theda is a reporter and has an idea for a story on cat hoarders after she comes across an older lady in her neighbourhood who seems to have an abundance of cats. She may or may not be a hoarder, but the neighbour sure doesn’t like the woman or her multiple cats. When Theda comes around again, she discovers the woman dead. The police think she just fell, so it was an accident, but Lillian (the old woman)’s young friend and helper (and musician) Violet, doesn’t agree. She insists Lillian must have been murdered.

30-some years old and Theda’s still a bit of a partier, so I wasn’t crazy about that (I thought she acted way younger than her age). Wasn’t as interested in the bar hopping and the music, but loved the cats! So, it was up and down for how interested I was in certain parts of the book, but overall, I liked it enough to look into the next in the series. If it has more focus on animals, I’ll continue; if it’s more focus on music, it’s unlikely. (Another one with a cat title, so I will continue on.)

I am reading Claws for Alarm by T.C. LoTempio for this challenge. I hope to read Crime and Catnip. This will finish the series.

I am also reading the next book in the Lilian Jackson Braun Cat Who series. The Cat Who Said Cheese.

Piece of my heart by Peter Robinson

This was probably the disappointment of my reading year. It was next in the series for me and as I was unable to lay my hands on a print copy I settled for audio. The story may have been a winner but was ruined by Ron Keith's atrocious narration. I wish I had skipped this one entirely and jumped to the next in the series.

Based on my previous experience with Robinson, an author I've enjoyed, I'm awarding three stars. If the rating was based on the audio reading it would be much less.

>32 VivienneR: I don't think I've encountered a Ron Keith narration in the series. The ones I've listened to have been James Langton. I'll try to remember to just read the book rather than listening to Ron Keith if he's that bad.

>33 thornton37814: Lori, I replied to your message on my thread. The only other books narrated by Ron Keith that I've come across are children's books and he might be good at that - I can imagine his voice as the melodramatic bad guy. But he didn't work in a mystery novel where, for example, characters male or female sounded much the same meaning dialogue had to be repeated to make sense of it.

I finished Dough or Die by Winnie Archer, part of the Bread Shop Mystery series.

The October Thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/324350

I have finished Rotes Gold, second in a series about Xavier Kieffer, who owns a restaurant in Luxembourg, of all places. This one is about bluefin tuna, especially the fishing and trading of it.

Halfway through dog on it by Spencer Quinn. I love it!
Also just watched the movie of art of racing in the rain last night. Loved that book as well. And the movie.

I just finished Deadly Nightshade by Elizabeth Daly, book #2 in the Henry Gamadge series. I'm still digesting it -- I think the solution makes sense, but there are a lot of peripheral issues and red herrings to sift through! Still, I enjoyed the style of the series and will plan to continue, especially since I already own one of the later books.

COMPLETED Nine for the Devil by E. M. Mayer.

Starting A Cursed Inheritance by Kate Ellis, number 9 in the Wesley Peterson series.

Kupferglanz is a mystery set in a small Finnish town, where Maria Kallio substitutes for the police director during his vacation. She left the town fifteen years ago and now meets old acquaintances and an old flame which takes up much of the plot. I don't feel compelled to read more.

I've read a second mystery from a series, A Double Death on the Black Isle by A. D. Scott.

COMPLETED A Cursed Inheritance, The Marriage Hearse, and The Shining Skull, Nos. 9, 10, and 11 from Kate Ellis's Wesley Peterson series.

I have completed Blood Men by Paul Cleave, 4th book in his "Christchurch Murders" Series. This was missed the mark with me and wasn't as suspensefull as some of this other books, most notably The Cleaner which was excellent.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the "series in September" MysteryKIT! If you're still working on your series books, please continue to post about them here and add them to the wiki! Meanwhile, the October thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/324350.

Read the following this month:

Murder on Sisters Row
Murder on Fifth Avenue
Murder in Chelsea
Murder in Murray Hill
Murder on Amsterdam Avenue
Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue
All the Devils Are Here

>45 christina_reads: I bridged the September MysteryKIT and October GeoCAT with books Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 from Rebecca Tope's Cotswolds series:

Blood in the Cotswolds
Slaughter in the Cotswolds
Fear in the Cotswolds
A Grave in the Cotswolds
Deception in the Cotswolds

I only got to one that I listed as intentional for this month. I really loved Bury Your Dead and think its the best I've read yet in this Louise Penny series. I only have 10 more to catch up LOL!!