There's More to the Story: Staff Favorite Series

 

The theme for National Library Week this year is “There’s More to the Story.” With that in mind, we asked staff to tell us the names of some of their favorite series and list the first book in the series. There were some repeat titles; Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter series showed up on the most lists with four staff members selecting that series as a favorite.  Here are some of the lists.

 

  

Tonia

44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith (44 Scotland Street)

An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor (Irish Country Doctor)

The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings)

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (Robert Langdon)

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse)

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (Dexter Series)

  

Brenda D.

The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (Mrs. Pollifax)

 Louisiana Longshot by Jana DeLeon (Miss Fortune)

Open and Shut by David Rosenfelt (Andy Carpenter)

The Ghost and Mrs. McClure by Cleo Coyle (Haunted Bookshop)

Elementary, She Read by Vicki Delany (Sherlock Holmes Bookshop)

Twelve Slays of Christmas by Jacqueline Frost (Christmas Tree Farm Mystery)

Ghost at Work by Carolyn Hart (Bailey Ruth Ghost)

The Sea Glass Sisters by Lisa Wingate

 

Kristin   

Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovich (Rivers of London)

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Handmaid's Tale)

Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr (Anna Pigeon)

Murder in the Marais by Cara Black (Aimee Leduc)

Open Season by C.J. Box (Joe Pickett)

A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers)

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk & Robot)

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton (Cuba Saga) 

Ghost at Work by Carolyn Hart (Bailey Ruth)         

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (Brown Sisters)

Desert Heat by J.A. Jance (Joanna Brady) 

A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones (Sunshine Vicram)

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes)

Granny's Got a Gun by Harper Lin (Secret Agent Granny) 

Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron (Deborah Knott)

If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O by Sharyn McCrumb (Ballad)

Time's Up by Janey Mack (Maisie Mcgrane)

Just Desserts by G.A. McKevett (Savannah Reid)

Edwin of the Iron Shoes by Marcia Muller (Sharon McCone) 

Indemnity Only by Sara Paretsky (V.I. Warshawski)

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters (Amelia Peabody)

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (Book Woman of Troublesome Creek)

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi (Interdependency)

Everywhere That Mary Went by Lisa Scottoline (Rosato and Associates) 

Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter (Grant County)

Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood (Pentecost and Parker) 

A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow (Kate Shugak)

Bubbles Unbound by Sarah Strohmeyer (Bubbles Yablonsky)

Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani (Big Stone Gap) 

An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helen Tursten (Elderly Lady)

 

Rita

Cat on the Edge by Shirley Rousseau Murphy (Joe Grey)

      

Christina

The Quiche of Death  by M.C. Beaton (Agatha Raisin)

Glad One  by Margaret Lashley (Val Fremden Midlife Mysteries)

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It  by Elle Cosimano (Finlay Donovan)

Class Mom by Laurie Gelman (Class Mom)

44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith (44 Scotland Street)

Cat on the Edge by (Shirley Rousseau Murphy (Joe Grey)

 

 

Laura

Postmortum  by Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta )

Deja Dead  by Kathy Reichs (Temperance Brennan)

One for the Money  by Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum)

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross (Miss Julia)

The Quiche of Death  by M.C. Beaton (Agatha Raisin)

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke (Hannah Swensen)

The Question of the Missing Head  by E.J. Copperman (Asperger’s Series)

A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton  (Kinsey Millhone)

Catering to Nobody by Dian Mott Davidson (Goldie Schulz)

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun (Jim Qwilleran)

Malice in Maggody by Joan Hess (Arly Hanks)

Strangled Prose by Joan Hess (Claire Malloy)

Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth by Tamar Myers (Pennsylvania Dutch)

  

TJ

Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian (Aubrey/Maturin)

  

Andrew

Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (Song of Fire and Ice)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson (Millennium Series)

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris (Hannibal Lecter Series)

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (Dexter Series)

Jeanne's Favorite Series: Hillerman, Christie, Peters, and so many more!

 I’m trying to restrain myself, but it isn’t easy.  I love books in series, and there are so many I want to share! I’m trying to mix old favorites with new discoveries because an old book is still new to someone who’s never read it.

 

Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovich (Rivers of London):  I’m working my way slowly through this series just because I don’t want for it to end.  Peter Grant is a young police officer in London when he is recruited by Thomas Nightingale, England’s last government-sanctioned wizard.  Peter is the narrator, and he has a breezy, off the cuff style I enjoy. There’s fantasy, magic, folklore, a bit of romance, and wonderful information about London. 

 

The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman (Leaphorn/Chee): When Tony Hillerman first tried to sell this book, he was told he should “take out all that Native American stuff.”  He didn’t, and I am so glad. Not only did I learn about Navajo culture from someone who obviously respects them, but the descriptions of the country are so vivid I almost felt I was there.  The mysteries are good, too.  The series is being continued by Tony’s daughter, Anne Hillerman.

 

Death Pays the Rose Rent by Valerie Malmont (Tori Miracle): I kept hearing about Valerie Malmont on Dorothy-L, a mystery listserv, as a series people missed most. I picked up one and thought it was cute, but it wasn’t until the second that I really got into it. Tori is a New Yorker with some cash flow problems who ends up in Lickin Creek, Pennsylvania because a friend has invited her to visit.  There’s a certain amount of culture clash, some humor, romance, cats, and a love of the The Wizard of Oz.

 

A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters (Brother Cadfael): This mystery series is set in 12^th century England in a Benedictine monastery.  Brother Cadfael is a former soldier who returned from the Crusades and took up the cowl.  He’s an herbalist who takes an interest in solving mysterious deaths. Peters (actually Edith Pargeter) books are well researched, absorbing, and filled with memorable characters.

 

Curiosity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly (Magical Cats Mysteries): This is a fun, light-hearted series about a librarian with two cats, both of whom exhibit some supernatural abilities.  The plots are well done, the cats are adorable, and there’s a good bit of snappy dialog.  Mostly I love it for the strong relationships between characters, especially the female bonding.  There’s usually a romance or two as a bonus.

 

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (Miss Marple): Although she is probably better known for her Hercule Poirot mysteries, I always liked Miss Marple better.  The seemingly harmless little spinster who never misses anything and whose understanding of human nature can’t be surpassed is near and dear to my heart. I also love Christie’s fair play mysteries, in which she gives all the clues so that astute readers may figure out the solution. Alas, I was never that clever. 

 

Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey): Lord Peter starts out as rather a dilettante detective, taking on cases that interest or amuse him. Aided by his marvelous valet, Bunter, Lord Peter disguises his keen intelligence behind a façade of upper crust ignorance.  As the series progresses, the character deepens; we learn about his traumatic experiences in the First World War and he falls in love with a woman accused of murder. Sayers was a friend of C.S. Lewis and several of the Inklings.

 

Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe): Stout blended the American hard-boiled detective with the cerebral British one.  Archie Goodwin is a wise-cracking man of action who does the legwork for his boss, Nero Wolfe. Wolfe prefers to stay in his New York brownstone, tending his orchids, reading, and eating gourmet meals prepared by his chef.  When his bank account dips, he can be prodded into solving mysteries, relying on the information Archie gathers.

 

Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano (Finlay Donovan): I picked the first one up on a whim and found myself laughing so much I nearly fell off the treadmill.  I figured the second one wouldn’t be as good but surprise!—it was.  Finlay is a struggling romance writer with two small children, bills to pay, a jerk of an ex-husband, and a few problems with anger management that got her a restraining order and banned from Panera. She has a housekeeper/babysitter who keeps things on more or less an even keel.  Even though on one level I know some plot elements aren’t really plausible, I don’t care.  I want in on the wild ride that is Finlay’s life.

 

Caught Dead Handed by Carol J. Perry (Witch City Mysteries): Another fun series, this one set in Salem, Massachusetts. Young widow Lee Barrett returns to her hometown of Salem where she grew up under the watchful eye of her librarian aunt, Ibby.  Lee hopes to get a job as a reporter for the local TV station, but as it turns out they don’t have any openings—well, not until the woman who makes psychic predictions on the late night movie program is found dead.  Lee inherits not only her job but her cat, and discovers she has the gift (or curse) of scrying, of seeing visions in reflective objects. I really liked learning the behind the scenes of a TV station, the history of Salem, and I adore the cat, O’Ryan aka Orion who may be more than just an ordinary cat.

 

There are so many other series I love! Louise Penny’s Three Pines, Christopher Fowler’s Peculiar Crimes Unit, Elly Griffiths’s Ruth Galloway, several different Sherlock Holmes spin-offs such as the ones by Bonnie MacBird, Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason, and on and on. 

Nevermore: Read My Pins, Clay's Quilt, Once There Were Wolves, Beartown

 

Reported by Garry

 

Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box by Madeleine Albright. Part illustrated memoir, part social history, Read My Pins provides an intimate look at Albright's world-spanning bureaucratic life through the brooches she wore. Her collection is both international and democratic—dime-store pins share pride of place with designer creations and family heirlooms. Included are the antique eagle purchased to celebrate Albright's appointment as secretary of state, the zebra pin she wore when meeting Nelson Mandela, and the Valentine's Day heart forged by Albright's five-year-old daughter. Read My Pins features more than 200 photographs, along with compelling and often humorous stories about jewelry, global politics, and the life of one of America's most accomplished and fascinating diplomats. Our reader said that this book is “really beautiful” and full of stories that go along with the reasoning of why Albright wore what pins she did and at what times.  KM

 

Clay’s Quilt is the debut novel of now-bestselling author Silas House. Set in the rural hollers of Free Creek, Kentucky, this novel features Clay Sizemore who is a motherless young man in his mid-twenties who falls in love with Alma, a vibrant young woman on the run from an abusive husband. Our reader pointed out that even though Clay is the nominal main character, this novel particularly focusses on the women in his life and their effects on him as well as their struggles. House’s prose is very realistic in its descriptions of the small Eastern Kentucky towns that he set this book along with its two companion books The Coal Tattoo and Parchment of Leaves. House grew up in Eastern Kentucky, and our reader noted how very well developed and believable the characters are in this book.  AH

 

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy is a modern-day murder mystery set in the wilds of the Scotland highlands. Inti Flynn is a biologist who is in charge of reintroducing grey wolves to the Highlands – a task met with skepticism and fear by the local farmers. Inti’s belief that “her” wolves would never hurt a human are put to the test when a local farmer ends up dead in what looks suspiciously like a wolf attack. As Inti joins the investigation, it quickly becomes clear that the man she is falling in love with may also be a prime suspect in the slaying.  BM

 

Beartown by Frederik Backman. Loyalty to friends, duty, and the burden of truth collide in this character study of the people of a slowly dying Nordic town. The Beartown high school hockey team is poised to go to the World Championships when one of the star players rapes a young woman. The ramifications ripple through the town, leaving confusion, distrust, and anger in their wake. Backman, whose book A Man Called Ove is considered a modern classic, brings his trademark wit, insight, and pathos into the mindset of the characters that populate his hockey obsessed small, northern town.  MP

 

Also mentioned:

The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama

Monticello: A Daughter and Her Father by Sally Cabot Gunning

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac Azimov and Robert Silverberg

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson

The Gulag Archipelago Volume 1: An Experiment in Literary Investigation by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The Lightness of Water and Other Stories by Rhonda Browning White

Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Kids Roots and Wings by Kenneth R. Ginsburg

2018 World Almanac edited by Sarah Janssen

The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart

The Librarian of Crooked Lane by C.J. Archer

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

A Tyranny of Petticoats: 15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers & Other Badass Girls edited by Jessica Spotswood

In The Hands of the Great Spirit: The 20,000-Year History of American Indians by Jake Page

Manufacturing Consent: The political Economy of the Mass Media by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

 

New Books:

Our Best Intentions by Vibhuti Jain

Two Wars and a Wedding by Lauren Willig

Lone Women by Victor Lavalle

Tremors in the Blood:  Murder, Obsession, and the Birth of the Lie Detector by Amit Katwala

The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet's Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence by David Waldstreicher

Favorite Series: Ashley's Picks (Thomas Harris, Allie Brosh, and more!)

 

The theme for National Library Week this year is “There’s More to the Story.” With that in mind, we asked staff to tell us the names of some of their favorite series. Today we hear from Ashley who works in the Reference Department.

~Hannibal series by Thomas Harris, but it's hard to say which one is first. Some authors start a series, then they write prequels. 

 

In written order the books are: 
Red Dragon

The Silence of the Lambs

Hannibal

Hannibal Rising

Typically I go with what was written first, but Hannibal Rising is just so good and doesn't get enough love! I think part of my affection for it is that it was released after I'd already fallen in love with the others, so it was fun to get to experience it as it when it was released. It starts with Hannibal's childhood and tells what went before the other books. 

 

~Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay is another series that's one of my "go-to" reads since I like to re-read books so much. Yes, it's another serial killer series!

 

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Dearly Devoted Dexter

Dexter by Design 

Dexter is Delicious

Double Dexter

Dexter's Final Cut

Dexter is Dead

 

I feel like Darkly Dreaming Dexter might be one of my favorite books, ever. The author uses such gorgeous language and turns of phrase, that at times you almost forget the subject matter he's using it about! 

 

~His Majesty's Dragon/Temeraire series by Naomi Novik is soooooo good. It's the Napoleonic War, but with dragons! Everything is better with dragons. I particularly loved that this one did a fantastic job characterizing the dragons and the humans; often a book will pull off one while leaving the other underdeveloped, but it's clear from the very beginning that Naomi Novik adores all of the characters she's created. 

 

His Majesty's Dragon

Throne of Jade

Black Powder War

Empire of Ivory 

Victory of Eagles

Tongues of Serpents

Crucible of Gold

Blood of Tyrants

League of Dragons 

 

~Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is a time travel/romance/historical fiction series about a modern woman who ends up back in the 1700s in Scotland. I'll admit, I ended up quitting around halfway through The Fiery Cross, but I really enjoyed those first four! Maybe one day I'll get around to finishing them up? 

 

Outlander

Dragonfly in Amber

Voyager

The Drums of Autumn

The Fiery Cross

A Breath of Snow and Ashes

An Echo in the Bone

Written in My Own Heart's Blood

Go Tell the Bees that I am Gone

 

~The Memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan- I hesitated to include this, because I love/hate them. I loved the concept and the characters, but did spend a lot of time grumbling at the author's choices about what to include. I very much wanted to hear about a lot of things she skipped over and spent a lot of my time sighing at the repetitive nature of what she did choose to focus on. But! I would absolutely recommend them to people and the world needs more dragons, so... 

 

A Natural History of Dragons

The Tropic of Serpents

Voyage of the Basilisk

In the Labyrinth of Drakes

Within the Sanctuary of Wings

 

~The Chronicles of Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones is a series of seven books that are often in the children's section but are great stories for everyone! When I first read these in middle school, I was absolutely enchanted by the amount of worldbuilding she put into these! I'm also a fan of a series that can be read out of order and still make sense. 

 

Charmed Life

The Magicians of Caprona

Witch Week

The Lives of Christopher Chant

Conrad's Fate

The Pinhoe Egg

Mixed Magics

 

 

~Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe is a series of graphic novels re-telling the story of Persephone and Hades in modern terms. It started out as a webcomic, which I always struggle to keep up with but found myself excitedly checking for updates often. When the graphic novels started coming out, I was thrilled to see how well it translated from one medium to the other. There are three volumes so far, with a fourth set to come out soon. 

 

~Hyperbole and a Half and Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh were two I hesitated over, as I couldn't quite decide if they qualified as a series or not, given that there are only two? But Jeanne pointed out that since Solutions and Other Problems carries on where the other leaves off, it would be considered a series! These two are books that I struggle to get through because I have to put them down so often to get through a laughing fit, although the second one really goes in depth on some pretty tough topics and I found I was putting it down just as often to wipe away some tears, as well. These two just might be my most recommended books...