The Missing Clue - June 2017 - What Wendy is Reading

I think it is impossible to find a series, where one likes every title. Although interestingly enough, readers do not necessarily agree on which titles are disappointing. I have sometimes had to hold my tongue when customers say how much they enjoyed a title when I hated it and vice versa. Sometimes it is difficult to go back to the series after a disappointing read. I have just finished reading the latest Elly Griffith book, The Chalk Pit (9th in the Ruth Galloway series, HC $39) and I really enjoyed it. I thought that the previous title The Woman in Blue was also excellent. If you have not read this series it is well worth a try. The main character is an archaeologist based in Norfolk in England.

Anthony Horowitz is an author I had not read before, but I really enjoyed his latest offering The Magpie Murders (TP, $22.99). It has an interesting construct in that there is a novel inside a novel. There is a classic village murder ala Agatha Christie built around a contemporary whodunit.

In a different vein is Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent. The book, set in London in 1893, starts when Cora Seaborne is widowed. She has for much of her marriage to lawyer Michael Seaborne been a square peg in a round hall. His death liberates her and with her son Francis, and her maid/companion Martha she retreats to Colchester to pursue her interest in palaeontology. There she hears about the mythical Essex Serpent and then as they say the plot thickens.

Back to where I started this piece, the question of series. I have just rediscovered (thanks to our used shelves) a series that I used to enjoy very much, Janet Laurence’s ‘Darina Lisle’ series. The main character is a food writer. Summer is a good time to try new things and the used shelves are an excellent place to start. Thanks to a few customers who have been downsizing we have a number of almost complete runs of series. So you can either try something new or fill in any gaps in a series that you love or have like me with the Janet Laurence series lost track of.