And to finish up the abandoned series posts…

Charles Finch‘s Charles Lennox

The only reason I read the second, was because Grandmom liked the first so much. I may have bought the third for her, but not bothered to read it myself.

Lenox is a dabbler and a man of leisure, which is how he can afford to investigate crime as a hobby. He also has some ideals that seem far more modern than seems likely for the Victorian era and a man of his class. Not that there weren’t people at that time who held what I would consider to be modern ideals, I just find it strange that historical mysteries are simply littered with open minded men and women.

 
 
Sue Grafton

I didn’t abandon these as much as I just kinda stopped reading them, and then found the thought of going back and re-reading all the books to get caught up rather daunting.

 
 
Michael Jecks

I had such hopes for this series I bought the first three books. But the writing was terrible.

Okay, I give up. At least for now. Michael Jecks is a good storyteller, I will give him that, but his writing… The Merchant’s Partner was slightly better than The Last Templar as far as his writing style, but A Moorland Hanging is just as frustrating to read as the first book.

Point of view changes from paragraph to paragraph, and not always clearly, so once again I kept having to stop, to try to figure out who was thinking and observing. It served as a major distraction from what was otherwise a very good mystery.

 
 
Sara Paretsky‘s V.I. Warshawski series

I know a lot of people love the V.I. Warshawski, but I am not a member of that group. Mostly, I thought V.I. Warshawski was an asshole.

 
 
Arturo Pérez-Reverte‘s Captain Alatriste series.

I just could NOT get into the series, which is too bad, because I love most everything else he’s written.

 
 
Anne Perry

This is kinda complicated. I think it’s possible that if not for the internet I might have blissfully continued reading her books, but unfortunately, this is a case where learning about the author’s personal life ruined the books for me. (See also Orson Scott Card)

 
 
Kathy Reichs‘s Tempe Brennan series.

This series ran into an entirely different problem. I liked the mysteries a lot. What eventually drove me away from the series was Tempe’s personal life.

Break No Bones (2006)
First and foremost: Good GRIEF is this woman EVER going to get her love life settled?! GAH! I’m really tired of her relationship with Andrew Ryan–not because of him, but because she can’t make up her freaking mind. ENOUGH ALREADY! Poo or get off the pot already!

ahem.

Bones to Ashes (2007)
First things first, I have had it with Tempe and Ryan. Really, I would just as soon not read another word about the relationship.

Devil Bones (2008)
I am beginning to feel like the Ryan Tempe saga WILL NEVER END. The only good thing I have to say on that front is that I didn’t have to listen to endless descriptions of how good looking Ryan is this book. Unfortunately, that’s the only good thing I have to say about it.

I’m beginning to think they deserve each other, since neither of them seems to have an ability to commit. Or even have a clue what they really want, for that matter.

So GAH!

So, that’s why I stopped reading THAT series.

 
 
Randy Wayne White‘s Doc Ford

I read through Ten Thousand Islands (2000) and then just kinda stopped picking up books in this series.

Looking through mystery authors, there are several series that I really like, that I need to pick back up again. I just wasn’t in the mood to read mysteries for a couple years, and so lost track of the series. But I think I’ll try and get back into the following:
Elizabeth George‘s Thomas Lynley series
J.A. Jance‘s J.P. Beaumont and Joanna Brady series
And I need to START reading Steven Saylor I’ve read and liked several of his short stories, so I don’t know what I’m waiting for.
Peter Tremayne‘s Sister Fidelma series.