Favorite Authors

Most of my books are still packed up and in storage in another town. I need to down-size what I currently have in my apartment so I can bring them in, and to sort out and eliminate at least half (ow!). I can't afford to buy any books. The library's digital library is notorious for having only the first book of series. I'm not a reader who will willingly consider any mystery or romance novel. After recently losing my mother, mysteries have to offer me something besides preoccupation with murder and death. I still have so much to do that I feel guilty about reading for pleasure.  A reader is what I am though and sometimes I crave a good book so much it drives me nuts and reading one is the only way to regain my sanity.

At one point to regain some equilibrium I thought about the authors I like and whose newer books I would like to read, and hopefully purchase. This is my list in alphabetical order.

Barbara Allan's Trash N Treasures mystery series: (Hyperlinks aren't working so I'll have to add them later.) II found this book at a sale. I'm not sure why I like this series written by wife and husband team by Barbara Collins and Max Allan Collins. Maybe it's the unpredictability of life in a small southern town. 

Donna Andrews's Meg Langslow mystery series:  Once again I found this series by buying a book at a sale. I don't know if you could find a funnier mystery series. All the titles have a bird in them. The series' heroine is Meg Langslow in Virginia who seems to be in the eyes of storms involving her extended, eccentric family and murder, somehow finding a way to resolve everything.  So far my favorite is Owl's Well That Ends Well about a murder at a sale-of-the-century yard sale. Who wouldn't enjoy reading about people dressed up as giant birds dancing a chorus line on a Victorian porch?

Annie's Attic mystery series: Another book sale find. This series is a little unusual in that that authors change. The main character is Annie Dawson who moved to Maine after inherited her grandmother's house there and belongs to a weekly knitting group. Not all the mysteries involve death, which I find quite refreshing. One mystery is about the woman in an embroidered picture her grandmother made. Another was about the deed she found in the attic. I wish more authors would consider other types of mysteries that we know are in life.

 

 Lillian Beckwith's Hebrides series:  This time I found almost the entire series of novels at a church sale. The author had to relocate to Scotland's Hebrides Islands for her health and there beginning in the late 1950s started writing and publishing novels about her life there. It was a way of life only lightly touched by modernity. People worked hard as fishermen and crofters, partied just as hard, and attended church on Sundays. They still spoke Gaelic and were as likely to follow ancestors' teachings as they were a modern specialist's. I'm not sure if I have read them all yet because I thin they tend to be reprinted.

Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy mystery series: This series uniquely involves the main human character's pets Mrs. Murphy the tabby cat,  Tee Tucker the corgi dog, and Pewter the gray cat. Throughout the books they interact with the animals and wildlife on Harry Harristeen's Virginia farm and alternately help and protect Harry as she is irresistibly drawn to solve a murder. I enjoy the animals' dialogue and observations on life. In her later books the author began writing about Revolutionary War characters whose lives and mysteries are intertwined with Harry's community.

 

Laurie Cass' Bookmobile Cat mystery series: I found this in my library's digital offerings. Minnie Hamilton is a young librarian in rural Michigan whose cat Eddie stowed away in the library's new bookmobile to become an instant local celebrity within the book-reading community. I've only just started reading the series. I can identify with the main character since I am also a short, cat-loving book lover and I enjoyed visiting rural Michigan. 

Bailey Cates' Magical Bakery mystery series: I needed some interesting audio books to help me get things done and I found the first two novels in this series as audio books at the library near work. Young Katie Lightfoot joins her aunt's bakery in Savannah, Georgia, and in the course of events learns that her aunt is a witch. While I don't believe in witchcraft, I feel there are things that can't be explained and who wouldn't want a little help in making things come out right.

James Herriot's semi-autobiographical series on vet life in rural Yorkshire, England. I began reading the American editions of Mr Herriot's books when I was still borrowing books from the Philmont library. I read about care and concern for animals in pre-WW II England when medical care was very limited and rural people were still living and speaking as their ancestors had for generations. The stories are livened by the Farnon brothers and some of the practice's unforgettable clients and animals. I collected all the books and still read them occasionally.

Sofie Kelly's Magical Cat series: Kathleen Paulson is a transplant to rural Minnesota who finds and rescues two kittens who each grow up to have a magical ability. She is a librarian who was hired to renovate the Andrew Carnegie Library and after finding so many friends in her new community decided to stay. I wish I could relocate there myself since I like the friends in her books so much. I also wish the original artist would come back to design the book covers. I finally remembered to email the author/publisher to voice my opinion that the last four covers are boring.

Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series: Yet another book sale find. After her father becomes late, traditionally built Mma Precious Ramotswe decides to open up a detective agency in Botswana, Africa. These are slower paced books taking care to explain the country of Botswana and its traditional ways in a loving and entertaining way. Mma Ramotswe's new life brings in new people such as her ambitious secretary Mma Grace Makutsi and her steady friend and mechanic Rra JLB Matekoni as well as the unreliable and colorful apprentice mechanics who offer to save the ladies from a cobra in the office but have no idea how to do so.

I watched the first episode of the BBC series on YouTube and I was very disappointed. Mma Ramotswe is not driving her dearly loved white van, but a white pick-up truck. Rra JLB Matekoni's business is given the name of the garage that he had to take to task for shoddy work, not Tloweng Motors. The acting wasn't very sincere but campy. It was disrespectful to the author and to the series' fans.  Stay with the books.

Sofie Ryan's Second Chance Cat mysteries: Sofie Ryan is the same person as Sofie Kelly so I thought I would try reading this series as well.  I was not disappointed. Sarah Grayson owns a second-hand and repurpose store in Maine. She is assisted by handsome and enigmatic Mac, a talented teenager and her grandmother's retired friends. When one of their friends is accused of murder, the seniors band together as Charlotte's Angels to solve the murder and prove they are still useful and not to be underestimated. The cat in the series is Elvis, a black cat with a mysterious scar on his nose who charms customers and is addicted to Jeopardy!  The author has created another world that I would like to be a part of.

Patrick Taylor's Irish Country Doctor series: Retired doctor Patrick Taylor writes about medical practice in rural Northern Ireland in the 1960s. It is set in mythical Ballybucklebo that the Irish Troubles never reached. After writing a triology passed on the Irish Troubles, Taylor began the Irish Country Doctor series, admitting they were a balm for his soul. I think he must enjoy thinking up medical tales and mysteries and problems that the locals have to resolve. He's written 14 books in the series as well as a cookbook. He may have written An Irish Country Girl just to write a good Irish ghost story. Young Barry Laverty receives his medical degree and begins as assistant to family doctor Fingal Flaherty O'Reilly and to be taken care of by housekeeper Maureen "Kinky" Kincaid. He finds Fingal has his own way of taking care of his patients, his blustery temper a cover-up for a man who goes out of his way to help his patients with their problems and still holds dear a wife he lost while serving during WW II. At the back of each book is a glossary of Northern Ireland terminology and recipes. I discovered many of these terms have entered American language.