I’m looking for a long running series with a single protagonist over all the books. I think those usually happen with mysteries with the detective as the protagonist. Romances are good, too, but those usually are more spinoffs like the Bridgertons, working their way by bouncing from protagonist to protagonist through the series. I’ve read the Sayers/Wimsey books, and the Marsh/Alleyn, Christie/Poirot, Christie/Marple, Allingham/Campion books, and the problem with all of the is there’s no real room to arc a relationship over twenty or more books. I’m completely at a loss on how to do that without interjecting a Big Misunderstanding (which I will never do again, apologies for the romances I tried that in).
So what’s a good long standing series where the protagonists do not keep repeating themselves but instead grow and change? Key word: Good.
Oh, and what did you read this week?
245 Responses
The first long running series that popped into my mind is the Mile Vorkosigan series. Basically one guy growing up, going on adventures, solving crimes etc., falling in love over and over again, finding love.
Big plus, at least for me: I didn’t read the books in the right order but still fell in love with this universe.
I like Bujold’s premise to think about the worst things that could happen to her MC and make it work.
Personally (un-passionate as I am) I love seeing the relationship between the main character(s) evolve but for me they don’t need to be strictly romantic, as I’m usually there for the community, not just the two main characters getting together. Needless to say, I’m also fine with a (very) slow burn.
I like that series as well although I haven’t read all the books or in order. Late to the stories which I discovered here. I’ve read more MC in three novels like The Bourne Identity. The books are better.
The Bourne Identity book is a masterpiece of misdirection.
I can vociferously agree with recommending Bujold’s Vorkosigan series. I’ll even tack on Bujold’s Penric and Desdemona series.
Coinkidinkly, I’ve just finished SHARDS OF HONOR, the first of the Vorkosigan series, featuring Miles’s mother Cordelia. I’ll be moving on to the second book, BARRAYAR, by noon. 🙂
OBS that the latest/last book in the series Gentleman Joe and the Red Queen is also mainly about Cordelia.
True although we do get to see Miles as a dad in action and also his reaction to learning about his parents’ romantic lives … and seeing your parents as people in their own right is a definite step in maturing.
Gretchen Archer’s Davis Way series would be good for that…
Reading this week:
I finished the audiobook of Charles by Con Riley (re-read as I’ve read the ebook years ago). For once I liked the narrator. I know that he does a very good job with other books, too. But like with love and sympathy, sometimes you cannot explain why you take a liking to someone and not to some other person who’s not bad either. I guess, his voice – to me – sounds so very mature (not old!). But it fit with the story. Which is far more tender than I remembered it to be (I mainly remembered that I found it very spicy and wasn’t to keen on spice back then). A favourite.
The Prince’s Playbook by Nora Phoenix was meh for me. I like her premise of 4 Euro princes taking one year off of their usual life and pretending to be “commoners” at college – or in Nils’s case as an assistant coach at an US college. Yes, a lot of suspension of disbelieve, but it’s escapism.
I like her choice of where the princes come from – Norway, Netherlands, Sweden and the last story will be about a Brit. Fictionalized and idealistic (I wish the Norwegian royal family were more like the one in her book…).
I particularly like the narrator for the princes – he’s got a peculiar way to narrate but is great with accents. His Norwegian accent hooked me totally – a big reason why I stay with the series.
This one left me somewhat angry (on a re-read of book 1 I also got a bit annoyed by the imbalance of the MCs ): I didn’t get the spark between those two (same in book 1), the princes seem to be there mainly as a foil for the US MCs. And it sems the case of yet another author jumping on the hockey band waggon. The hockey talk felt so stilted, it didn’t feel like the real sport.
Well treated: the power of assistant coach vs player. A lot of yearning, communication, reasonable side characters.
I chaffed a bit at the stereotypes – Nils is useless in assembling furniture – fine. But don’t have the Kallax pieces as example for his incompetence. Even I manage to assemble those!!
And a major crisis when the main conflict was resolved: the coach-player relationship is finally over, so they can get together because the young hot shot has signed his ELC. An out couple in the NHL (and one of them a rookie)? As if an ELC guarantees a big career? With one being a prince? Big sigh of frustration. If the league were fictional, I might have been able to overlook annyoing details. Or am I too jaded already?
Then the audiobook of Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey’s Awfully Ambrose.
Premise: Liam needs a date for a family gathering. His mom is too keen on seeing him happily settled. He hires drama student Ambrose to be a “bad boyfriend” – being obnoxious in order for Liam’s family to accept him not wanting a boyfriend (at the moment). Ambrose had come by this gig as Bad Boyfriend by chance and he’s good at it, but it takes a toll. Especially since he really likes Liam’s family. And Liam.
Fluffy, nice fun, but surprisingly layered and totally charming. The community (in this case Liam’s big Irish family dynamics) were great. I got the spark between those two. And the family. Even the dog had personality!
Gulped the audio down in almost one setting because I just didn’t want to stop listening. When traffic was too noisy, I even switched between audio and ebook! Loved every minute, what a lovely surprise!
Now, I’m continuing with Buzzed on You. Yep, I’m really slow and this does not reflect how much I like the story. I like it very much. I just savour it differently.
The rest of that Henry/Homey series is equally good.
I’m looking forward already to the next installment.
Love the Vorkosigan series and Miles really does grow across the series, including having a number of long and short term relationships before he finds his life partner.
I too concur with Bujold and the Vorkosigan books. Like Gary, I’ve picked them up again – starting The Vor Game the other day.
I have talked a lot about Bujold here and so I’ll second that wholeheartedly.
Her Penric adventures are also good that way. They are more episodic in nature but certainly not formulaic. Penric grows before our eyes from a naive honest man to an experienced honest family man.
Yes, a big tick for the Vorkosigan series. It’s the first and the best that springs to mind.
If you don’t won’t to read the whole Miles series. The Penric and Desdemona series is 16 Novellas by Lois Mcmaster Bujold.
For a long-running series with growth and change, there’s the Peter and Rina Lazarus novels by Faye Kellerman. Each volume is mostly a mystery, but she does stick in character growth, relationship changes, etc.
My first thought it the Audbrey Maturin Patrick O’Brien series. That is about 20 books long and the characters age and develop a lot, and of course life brings different challenges both in terms of action but other things too like money, love and family decisions.
I think following growing up, and different life phases works well for series set over a long period with the same characters. If the time frame is shorter most of the drivers for growth and change have to come from dealing with challenges in the world or from other characters.
Very little from me this week otherwise , as I am currently reading a marathon fanfic (Jegalus, Harry Potter fic) which I am enjoying but still only 20% in (which is about 120k (!)).
On audio, still loving ‘Service Model’ by Adrian Tchaikovsky which is funny and satirical, I have a few hours to go so have yet to see how it works out in the end. UnCharles is the service model, a sentient robot, but he doesn’t always make sense of things, or the other characters. Really, he just wants to serve as a valet for a human. Obviously not as straightforward as he hopes, especially as the world seems to be falling apart. He’s very likeable, probably because that is how he has been designed. I’d recommend it so far anyway. The reading is really good (author reads it).
Aubrey! sorry typo
I’ve been reading a long-running series by Anne Bishop about an extended group of animal-human shifters she calls “the Others”.
It includes the 5-book series set in the small town of “Lakeside” (begins with the book “Written in Red”). That book starts in a town setting, at night, where it’s started to snow, and the protagonist is suddenly aware that she has to find a place to shelter. She has run away from someplace where she didn’t feel safe, so by accident she wanders into the source of a light — a bookstore due to close in 10 minutes.
When she’s inside, she catches the attention of a man in jeans and a sweater who works there. He doesn’t exactly seem friendly, but she asks about a flyer she just saw taped up in a window around the corner, which announced a job opening. The man looks at her for some time, then gestures to a doorway into the shop next door serving coffee and snacks, and eventually agrees to hire her. Since she is obviously a runaway, she is relieved to hear that an apartment comes with the job, and when he agrees to hire her, and to take her to the apartment, the whole adventure begins.
Anne Bishop’s a wonderful writer, and these books are touching, sometimes frightening, but full of interesting characters and skilful plotting. I recommend them all highly
Anne Bishop is a gifted writer and these are VERY good!
But both of the FMCs (from The Others and the World of the Others series) come into the books with some major trauma, including SA and DV. It does not happen on-screen, but trigger warnings for those sensitive to such subjects.
(I’m just mentioning such things because I find them difficult to read and I know I’m not the only one from similar discussions in Fantasy book groups.)
The older I get the more uncomfortable I am with the kind of sexual violence depicted in Anne Bishop’s books
Same here. I liked book 1 of the series “written in red”, which just hints at sexual violence. But the rest of the books were too much.
And a lot of her worlds are very patriarchal. I can’t handle that anymore.
Oh yes! That too 🙂
Albeit the patriarchy is always portrayed as the source of the problems, of evil in those worlds.
Doesn’t make it easier to read about, but I find it cathartic some times.
Yes, The Others is a good example of a series of several books following the same protagonists and their relationship. Not 20 books, but 5 is enough. I love that series.
I think that the only series that I have read that qualify are all sci-fi or fantasy based. Slow arcs for the characters and each book focuses on saving the world, so that provides the necessary tension with it having to come from the MC’s relationship. Do they count as long? I’m not sure.
The Kate Daniels series is 10 full books long plus several novellas. It has concluded, mostly. Possibly more spin-offs or novellas but the big arc is done and that is a good thing.
Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs is 14 books long and still ongoing. Also novellas, but those usually feature side characters. This series pushes the edge of too dark for me, but not quite and it got less fire as it went on. The main relationship has reached stability, so that has taken some of the interest out of the plots for me I think but I still enjoyed the last two books even if they weren’t the best of the series.
Briggs’ spin-off series Alpha and Omega works better for me. Started as a novella, which I comfort reread regularly. The MCs got together right away, but their relationship is still evolving and that holds my interest, where Mercy Thompson took a lot longer to get together with her love interest. Only six books so far, though, so maybe that is part of why the arc still feels fresh.
The last series my not count since I abandoned it. I was devoted for years, but either my taste changed or the books got too samey. 18 books long, I haven’t read the last 3 or 4 so I don’t know if it’s concluded and some of the books have different lead characters, although the majority feature one couple. I really liked these for a while but haven’t felt the urge to revisit them or any of this author’s work in some time. Might be me though.
I have a couple of ongoing m/m series that I enjoy but I don’t think that they are long enough to fit this prompt. They are crime solving, so that fills most of the pages between the juicy relationship drama stuff.
I am back to not finishing things. Sigh. So I don’t really have any new recommendations.
One single caveat on the Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series:
There is an on-screen SA at the end of the third book that’s very difficult for a lot of people to read. So anyone sensitive to that
I’m a huge fan of the series and have read it multiple times, but I’ve skipped that scene after the first book.
*Spoiler: She does get her revenge
That was supposed to read:
So trigger warnings for anyone sensitive to that.
Yes and the last book in the Alpha and Omega series features those themes pretty heavily as well. I hope the next one is a little lighter.
I stopped reading her after it started to seem like she was going to regularly include SA as a plot device.
She has mostly stopped. Her early stuff it was every book, it felt like to me. Just Wild Sign, and hopefully that thread is resolved now.
I also liked the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, although when I re-read I found the first book was the weakest. I’m glad they got the second book published. Strong FMC, good central romance amidst saving the world.
Also agree on Alpha & Omega – great books. I think the later Mercy Thompson books worked better for me than you. Both strong FMCs and ongoing romances.
I actually prefer the later ones. The early ones are almost too dark and I don’t go back and finish them. I liked Soul Taken and enjoyed Winter Lost fine, but felt that last one was more of a filler book, like she is waiting to start the last big arc with Bonarata. Silence Fallen and Storm Cursed might be my favorites, I think because we get more of Adam’s POV.
I really prefer Alpha and Omega overall, but that seems to go against the consensus and I really need her to cap that very dark latest book so I can feel better about the whole series again. Two Mercys and no Anna and Charles in recent years. Boo.
I definitely prefer Anna and Charles (and Bran & Asil), but its been ages since I read the early Mercy Thompsons. Might need to re-read to see how they sit with me so many years later.
And my library didn’t have the first Kate Daniels book. This was pretty common. The first book in a series would get lost or stolen or fall apart and they wouldn’t replace it. So I started with book two. I agree that book one isn’t the best. If I remember correctly, they weren’t planning a series. It was just a shot in the dark.
If you’re looking for an example of a long relationship arc, the Briggs books definitely have that. I haven’t read all the comments (just got back from out of town and having to unload a suddenly dying fridge so it can be replaced by a new one tomorrow), so maybe someone mentions it lower down, but Donna Andrews’ mystery series has a wonderful relationship arc that works beautifully.
Ditto about Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews. Both do series relationships over a number of books. My favorite is Alpha & Omega by Patricia Briggs, but like everyone said above, I disliked the last book. I hope the next one is better.
Same as everyone has said above – Miles Vorkosigan, several mystery series, most of them MM.
I read Ada Maria’s Soto’s His Quiet Agent, Agents of Winter and Merlin, and can only echo what everyone on Argh said: good!
I also read Sujata Massey’s latest in the Perveen Mistry series, The Star from Calcutta. Still loving the Bombay of the 1920’s background, Perveen’s struggles as a female Parsi lawyer in the British Raj – so many things that Massey continues to unpack there as Perveen pursues the mystery of a dead ‘Britisher’.
Villains Don’t Date Heroes is a lesbian sci-fi romance novel by Mia Archer, featuring the supervillain Night Terror and the heroine Fialux.
Villains Don’t Save Heroes! Night Terror, the greatest villain Starlight City has ever known, finally had it all. A beautiful girl she couldn’t get enough of. The city finally sort of liked her after she saved it from a giant robot attack. Now it was time to live happily ever after, right?
Villains Don’t Train Heroes! Life should be great. She saved the day again. She sort of defeated her new archnemesis again. She got the girl again. Only Night Terror is learning that if she starts doing heroic things then the world, and her girlfriend, is going to start expecting her to be heroic.
I’m Not A Hero! The only problem? The more she brings the fight to ET the more heroic she looks!
I’m Not a Villain! (Book 5 of 8)
Villains Don’t Do Time! (Book 6 of 8)
My Evil Ex Girlfriends! (Book 7 of 8)
Villains Do Date Villains! (Book 8 of 8)
I like the Deborah Crombie mysteries. Both protagonist grow and change and so do the children.
What killed the series for me in the early books was how easily she was able to find childcare. My willing suspension of disbelief could handle anything fantasy or sf throws at me, but it couldn’t handle easily finding someone who could do irregular overnight childcare.
I went to download a Deborah Crombie sample and discovered I had bought several.
I don’t think I ever read one.
I am going to attribute this to post surgical drugs.
Now I need to go back to my December orders and see what else I bought in a drug induced haze.
I enjoyed the Daisy Dalrymple series by Carola Dunn.
J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) is at 62 books and counting with the In Death series, and while Roarke and Dallas have mostly reached a good place now, I want to say they were still learning about each other and themselves and finding out Marriage Rules well into 30+, even 40+ books.
Honestly, a lot of longer-running urban fantasy series (like the aforementioned Patricia Briggs & Ilona Andrews series) have slow-burn romances that arc over a number of books. Seanan McGuire’s October Daye series is another one.
I agree about JD Robbs In Death series. Eve Dallas & Roarke arc as individuals & as a couple.
Nora Roberts is JD Robb & she also builds a wonderful community of quirky characters that are very lovable.
Jenny even if you only read books 1 to 4 you get a sense of where things are heading.
I would agree that the main character Dallas does progress and grow although very slowly. The series is renewed regularly by the introduction and then growth of subcharacters. The series is fairly stagnant now, IMHO, keeping interest mainly though a subplot about remodeling a house belonging to subcharacters, but that subplot gets minor time. It’s just that people want to know about it so she’s dragged it out over a lot of books.
Sofie Kelly’s Magical Cats series.
What about Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody and Emerson series? Long running, and the characters and relationship grow and age. I admit I bogged down around the WW1 era in the series, but that’s about 25 years into the timeline, so that’s still a good run!
I want to reread Amelia Peabody one day from the beginning. Such fun. Not so deep into relationships though, more adventure romps.
Well, until you get to the First World War, when they take a turn into much more emotional depth. I love the first in the series – The Crocodile on the Sandbank – which is a fun historical romcom, but she went for farce for the next few, and they weren’t keepers for me. She started writing longer stories with more depth as the series went on. The last one, set in Palestine, didn’t work for me, but most of the series does. She opened out the protagonists though, so maybe this series doesn’t fit Jenny’s brief. It’s told by Amelia mainly, but once her son Ramses gets to his mid teens, he becomes an alternate narrator too. (Think Nefret – her adopted daughter – also contributes via letters. Can’t check since I’m in Italy and the books are back home.)
yep to all that.
I was going to suggest this if no one else did. Peters has their child grow in the series and he takes over as protagonist.
I love to laugh and I find that in the Miss Fortune mysteries by Jana DeLeon. The romance has grown over the years as the main characters have changed. And so have her friends, but the laughter brings me back every time.
The Lord and Lady Hetheridge by Emma Jameson detective series, eight so far, all set in London with “blue” in the title. Certainly lots of character growth. They meet in the first novel and marry end of third or fourth. DSI mentors younger dectectives. Not very helpful here.
Listening to books while gardening. Binge watched the first season of The Pitt, the last two episodes with DH, who napped a bit through them. Not his jam, but we were together, so that counts in a long marriage. So, back to re-reading or listening to old favourites.
There is the Louise Penny detective series but haven’t read any. Lee Child has a long series. Not much help here. Didn’t read for many years. Played catch up with all of the series you posted.
I can suggest two mystery series, both very New England in feel. Probably the one most people have heard of is Spenser, written by Robert B. Parker, set very solidly in Boston and environs (although they do travel) from the late 1960s to the mid 1990s (they have continued, but don’t bother with the ones Parker didn’t write). The first two dozen of those have a pretty solid arc, and there is friendship, romance and some sort-of parenting that is moved forward in them as well as each separate mystery. I stopped reading when I felt like I knew what Spenser was going to say, and it all sounded like “a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do” and it got boring.
The other series is about Joe Gunther, written by Archer Mayer, set in Vermont. Those also have some romance, and a fair lot of side character development, written into the periphery of the mysteries. I liked the first 20 or so, and then they got more violent that I could handle, and at one point switched writing point of view, which I found weirdly off-putting.
I don’t like the Stephanie Plum books at all – it feels like they never go anywhere. I did like Sue Grafton’s alphabet mysteries, and her hero did change and grow, although it was very slow.
You are correct that it is hard to sustain a romance for that many books – the shape of a romance story has a certain beats to hit and things to accomplish and then it’s over. Unless you keep following the couple, and track their ups and downs and how they continue to keep their relationship working. Which could be interesting but is a wholly different book. You really do not want to blow up the relationship at the beginning of every book and then mend it by the end, that’s exhausting for the reader (and the characters – they’d rebel, and run off to where you can’t find them to throw wrenches into their lives!).
I liked Stephanie Plum up until book 15 or 16. Then the ghost writer got brought in and they just started cranking out books to make money. It really should have ended with her choosing one of the guys (Ranger) because you can only milk a love triangle for so long until the fmc starts to be a bad person. Or an idiot. But that series turned into such a blatant money grab that it is cringe worthy. A shame, really, because Evanovich was a fresh voice/take on the mystery genre. Now it is just death by inches in a never ending purgatory of poor life choices.
Bahaha you are so right!
In her book on writing Evanovich says she deliberately didn’t arc those characters. That’s true about Stephanie Plum but Ranger goes from a punk to a successful businessman.
Yes! I enjoyed them up to the same point where I said, “She is *clearly* not writing these herself anymore.” I DNFed the next book (which is not something I do when I’ve invested that much time in a series) and then just skipped the rest until I borrowed the final installment from the library when it came out and read only the last chapter to see who Stephanie chose.
I met Parker at a book signing in Minneapolis many years ago and found him to be pompous in a way not suggested by his novels. One of the fans asked him how long he would continue the series. He said that he was continuing because there were still things that “needed to be said” about society. It just made me want to tell him to get over himself because the series had by this time started to become predictable. The relationship with the character based on his wife began to get recycled at that time, too, but I still enjoyed the side character, Hawk. I’m sure there were big things wrong in terms of cultural appropriation, but he did provide a nice touch of variety and competence.
I can absolutely believe that!
If you would like to dip your toe into something a little different, have a look at the Thursday Next series ( that is the heroine’s name). The first book is The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde. She does find a relationship, but they are mostly adventure, as she works in a department that strives to preserve the integrity of the storylines of great novels in a slightly alternate reality where it is possible to enter the narrative of books. She meets Mr. Rochester in book one!
Oh yes, those are fun, with lots of literary name dropping!
Long time lurker here!
How about Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher series? Lots of snappy fun in quite a long Australian historical mystery/murder series. Some character development, but the main protagonist- Phryne – starts off as a pretty capable character from the off.
For characters growth on the Fantasy side (albeit fantasy in a police setting), how about Rivers of London series? Ben Aaronovitch is the (UK) author, he formerly worked on the long-running UK Dr Who TV series. There are ten novels and some novellas in that series. The worldbuilding is fun, and, the main protagonist- Peter Grant – has plenty of character growth.
Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series has already been mentioned. It’s a wife and husband writing team behind that series. They have other shorter series, like Innkeeper, the Edge, Hidden Legacy etc (but the protagonist in these differs). The Kate Daniels series was their first series, and I am only repeating what they have said publicly – they feel that that series started hitting its stride in Book 3 (it’s a 10-book series). Again, good world-building and in Kate Daniels a capable main protagonist who develops a lot as the series proceeds.
Kerry Greenwood’s Earthly Delights series about bakery owner Corinna Chapman and the residents of the most wonderful apartment building/retail space is also a delight. Corinna’s relationship with Daniel is overall really healthy and supportive but not boring. The first book is a little more spicy than the rest of them. The mysteries are interesting but the relationships of the residents of the apartment building really make me love the series.
As far as Kerry Greenwood is concerned I like the Corina Chapman series better.
I love Phyrne but there is too much ‘will they or won’t they’ crap between her & Jack.
Corina & Daniel are a much better couple.
I haven’t reread the Fisher books recently, but as far as recall, I remember more of that from the video than from the books, where it pretty clear that Phryne is not going to stick to any one man. Whereas Jack is looking for monogamy. My impression is that the screen versions cut down on the number of Phryne’s lovers. But it’s been a while and I could misremember.
I love the Phrynne Fisher books, but I don’t think Phrynne arcs or changes — she is more of a female power wish fulfillment in gorgeous clothes.
The whole Phrynne / Jack romantic relationship is strictly in the TV series and movie — in the books, they are friends who work together, but never sleep together, and Jack is happily married, with kids, and a gardening hobby.
Another long series where the character does arc is Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline Winspear. Maisie grows, changes, meets people, loses people, and all while solving mysteries.
The Phrynne and Jack dithering romance is only for the TV series. Phrynne doesn’t want a traditional relationship. Lin Chung was the closest thing to a relationship but it was always understood she didn’t want to be tied to romantically to anyone long term.
Sue Grafton’s alphabet series (A Is for Alibi, etc.) follows and develops a single protagonist.
I’ve seen it mostly in fantasy books and mystery books, with more arcing in the fantasy books since the mystery ones tend to be episodic and thus don’t require any growth from their detective if the author doesn’t want to put in the effort.
I agree with other commenters that the character and relationship growth in the In Death series is nice. The relationship is a bit rushed at the beginning, but I assume that’s because she didn’t know if the series would last/be successful. I could definitely see an alternate version of it working very well where they don’t get married until book 10-15 and then continue to grow as they come up against the frustrations—and joys—of marriage. I’ve only really seen it work where the romance is the B or C plot, so even making a little progress on it in a single book feels nice because it’s not the focus. It just feels like a little bonus.
This week I read Keeping Laryn, a m/f contemporary by Susan Stoker I wasn’t super into. The mmc was a hotshot military pilot who was emoting all over the place and didn’t seem to have much of a concept of SOP (not that I would necessarily know). If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Bob’s writing, it’s that the military doesn’t emote while it’s doing missions. That can come later, at which point you drown your emotions in alcohol. To be fair to the author, she has a disclaimer about inaccuracies in the military elements of the book, and I do understand wanting to write something to suit your purposes in a romance story, where accuracy is perhaps not the highest priority.
On the other hand, I very much enjoyed Cupid Comes to Little Valentine by Emma V. Leech, a m/f historical with wonderful characters and a properly developed/arced romance (no instalove/lust here). I stayed up way too late finishing it.
In death was originally a trilogy. Which is why book 1 is relationship book 2 is engagement book 3 is wedding.
And imho the first three books are the best, although I kept reading until #43. The FMC changes slowly over those books, going from being isolated to being the sort of person with a large group of friends, but for the most part her coupledom feels pretty stable fairly early in and I liked that.
The Inspector Linley series by Elizabeth George is an outstanding example of what you are looking for, Jenny.
The books are long, but the character depiction is detailed and excellent.
Agree that the depictions are detailed and excellent, but wow, they are dark.
I was sucked into the storytelling, but had to extract myself forcibly because – for me at least – the world view was so depressingly realistic that I got pessimistic.
My issue with those is that a British aristocrat would never be a copper. Jane, correct me if I am wrong!
Well, not unless he was a Tony Benn type. (Anthony Wedgwood Benn, who inherited the title Viscount Stansgate, but managed to get the law changed so he could renounce it and sit in the House of Commons again. But he wasn’t really an aristocrat – his father was given the peerage for political reasons.) I think there may be some really impoverished peers who have to work for a living?
Ngaio Marsh’s Inspector Alleyn is the younger brother of a titled gentleman, IIRC, who joined Scotland Yard after diplomatic and WWI service. Gee, now I need to revisit those books, oh darn.
I enjoyed the Linley books up until What Came Before He Shot Her. That went in such a despairing direction that I haven’t been able to bother with them since.
I had exactly the same experience. Haven’t bothered since What Came Before He Shot Her. I really disliked that one…
I kept going for a few more books but…her states desire to infuse Thomas with some pathology was really offputtting and I tapped out.
•Selena Wisnom, The Library of Ancient Wisdom, 2025.
Ashurbanipal reigned as king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669 BC to 631. He (or subordinates with his approval) acted as harshly as usual among the Assyrians, who found it better to be feared than loved. (Wisnom claims that in its slaughter, deportation, and enslavement policies, the Neo-Assyrians were no worse than their successors the the Neo-Babylonians; I find this patently absurd. For example, the deported Judeans in Babylon had enough leisure and freedom to edit and codify a large part of the Hebrew Bible, but the Israelites deported to Nineveh were never heard of again except in legends.)
Uncharacteristically, possibly because he was a younger son at first not intended for the throne, Ashurbanipal had a scholarly education and interests as well, and assembled the largest library of the era, including cuneiform texts in multiple languages, some texts thousands of years old. The library survived Ashurbanipal’s reign, but not by much, since it was destroyed by fire less than 30 years later in the revolt that ended the Empire. Many texts perished, particularly all the ones written on wax tablets and leather scrolls, and any on papyrus. What survived were some of the ones on the traditional Mesopotamian medium of dried clay, which the palace fire baked into pottery. These were excavated and partly deciphered by Europeans in the 19th century, by which time the oldest previously known history came from the Bible.
Wisnom, rather awkwardly, uses the texts surviving from the library as a scaffold on which to hang an account of the history and culture of all of Mesopotamia from the Sumerians forward, with particular attention to the Neo-Assyrians. These last, to my mind, are the least interesting part of the story, since by then we are already up to events partly recorded in the Bible and are only 300 years before Alexander the Great.
I did gain a number of new insights from the book, for instance on Mesopotamian views on astrology, which as seen as one of the several means by which the gods communicated with humans, especially rulers. Other means included omens from everyday life (crossing paths with a *white* cat threatened misfortune) and interpreting features on the livers of sacrificed animals. But bad omens were not decrees of Fate, but rather warnings, and misfortunes could be averted by taking proper action, mostly sacrifices and ceremonies as prescribed in already-ancient works. The Mesopotamians also had a to-us odd habit of performing ceremonies to lament the destruction of cities and the like that actually were in their prime, possibly on the theory that they were thereby humbly acknowledging the power of the gods to take everything away, as a sort of momento mori. As in many later empires, kings seemed to spend the greater part of their days in one tedious ceremony or another.
I could have done without some of the author’s quirks, but serious books written for the general public on Mesopotamia are rare. Together with Egypt, Mesopotamia produced or induced the first half of all history for which we have written records, and books on its history are to be valued. There are extensive footnotes and bibliography.
I am just now reading the last of the Shetland series by Ann Cleeves. They are mysteries featuring detective Jimmy Perez, who does experience personal growth over the 8 book series. I am not sure why 2 people have to die in every book, but the series is well written. It has been made into a TV series, now in its 10th season, but I have not watched that. The first book is Raven Black.
•Mary Monica Pulver, The Unforgiving Minutes, 1988. Peter Brichter no. 2. This is the prequel to Murder at the War, which latter I discussed last week. Whereas Murder at the War was a fair-play mystery, this prequel is a mere thriller. We know from nearly the beginning who the bad guys are and what they are doing. In a downstate Illinois municipality large enough to be called a city but evidently at least two hours away from Chicago, 20-year-old Kathleen Price, known as Kori, lives on a horse-breeding ranch with her Uncle Nick, a reputed one-time Chicago gangster who seemingly went straight when he moved to Charter, Illinois, in order to assume care of his toddler orphaned niece. Kori inherited a fortune from her parents but, according to common knowledge, is even now reclusive and mentally unstable as a result of the events surrounding her parents’ murder. Brichter meets her through her full-time tutor (hired because Uncle Nick felt her too fragile for conventional schooling), a former professor whom Brichter knew when he still taught at college. We learn that Kori is not as damaged as is generally believed, although still vulnerable. Brichter has his own personality problems, being better educated and probably smarter than the rest of the Charter police force, but being too willing to display it, and possessing in general little social adroitness. He nonetheless falls in love with Kori at first sight and contrives to meet her again. It quickly becomes clear that Uncle Nick is not as retired from crime as is generally believed. Multiple murders, kidnappings, and derring-do ensue. By the end, Kori remains less sure of Brichter than he is of her, but there is evidence that they do better with their respective problems together than they do apart. I have so far read no farther in the series, but I wonder if there is yet another prequel to bring the couple closer together before they attain the happy married state seen in Book 1. I didn’t find the pyschologial portrayals of the important characters particularly plausible, with Brichter’s probably being the best.
(I take Charter to be fictional rather than an existing downstate city under a pseudonym, since none of the real cities seem to fit all the geographic criteria. Perhaps Peoria would come closest. My local knowledge is limited. I can’t recall having in my youth visited any Illinois city outside the Chicago area except Springfield, and even that was decades before this novel was published. I wasn’t some kind of urban snob. I did visit some downstate towns smaller than cities and many municipalities out of state.)
I found this novel much less engrossing than Murder at the War, but readable. Mildly recommended.
I love Charlotte MacLeod’s several different witty, trenchant, sarcastic screwball detective series, with several books in each:
Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn(fabulous Boston atmosphere) 12 books
Madoc Rhys and Janet Rhys (fabulous Eastern Canada atmosphere) 5 books
Peter Shandy and Helen Marsh (agricultural college in western Massachusetts) 10 books
Dittany Henbit Monk and Osbert Monk–Grub and Stakers (gardeners/archers club in Eastern Canada) (5 books)
Also LOVE Bill Crider’s Sheriff Dan Rhodes 25 book series set in West Texas, in which I was never interested, but find he does the setting and characters so well, with a dry wit, that I had to read them all–he, by the way, is also an academic, the chair of English at a community college there before his death in 2018.
Rex Stout’s 33 books series about Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, with another 30 novellas/short stories. Not a lot of character growth, but very well done, AND a couple of the later books are set in the then-Yugoslavia, from where it turns out Wolfe originated, thereby injecting some much needed new interest.
Louise Penny’s 20 book French Canadian Chief Inspector Armand Ganache series set in Quebec Province’s imaginary town of Three Pines.
Sarah Cauldwell’s erudite 4 book series set in Lincoln’s Inn, London, about 4 young barristers (the author is a barrister), narrated by Hilary Tamar, professor of medieval law, whose gender is never specified, and who acts as the detective.
Virginia Swift’s 4 book series about “Mustang Sally,” a Wyoming college professor of women’s studies and a former bar singer/musician who has grown out of her early college days in the 1960s and now, back home with her also-reformed friends (one of whom, a former marijuana salesman, is now the town sheriff) helps solve mysteries while also reuniting with the love of her life. I like that, as Jenny Cruisie knocks the uptight “family values” right wing characters in some of her books, such as Welcome to Temptation, Swift does similar remarks). NOT to be confused with Edward Allen’s depressing Mustang Sally single book.
Frances and Richard Lockridge’s several series with MANY books (and his alone after she died), most set in a shared universe in which characters cross over in and out of each other’s books in and around New York City from the 1940s to 1970s:
Mr. and Mrs. North, and Lt. Bill Weigand (publisher and socialite wife solve mysteries as amateur detectives with their NYPD friend) 26 books
Captain Merton Heimrich (spinoff of the North’s series, set in Hudson Valley) 22 books
Lt. Nathan Shapiro, NYPD (spinoff off the Norths’ series) 10 books
NYPD Detective Paul Lane, Lt. John Stein, and Assistant District Attorney Bernie Simmons (7 books)
Lots more authors but those are enough for now! 🙂
Omg I had forgotten about Sarah Caudwell, super dry British humor. Loved those, but it’s been 20 years at least since I read them. Although if I remember right they were progressively less good as they went along.
I love this idea, Jenny, and hope you can find a way to make it work, because I’ve been looking for exactly this series for years. I had high hopes for Cat Sebastian’s Page and Sommers series but it seems to have stalled out after only two books. There was a tv series back in the 80s called Hart to Hart that would sort of work but is probably horribly dated now.
Recent reads: Cat Sebastian’s new one Star Shipped, which I loved. T Kingfisher Paladin series, only four of eventual seven are out, range from A minus to C+ so far. And I know we’re not supposed to feel guilt about what we read anymore but I’m still saying Elin Hilderbrand’s new one The Academy is a guilty pleasure.
*another lurker peeking out*
I have two series to recommend by the same author – Charlotte MacLeod
1. The Peter Shandy Mysteries – 10 book series, 1st book is Rest You Merry (1979). Peter is a middle aged professor in a small agricultural college in New England. Light quirky cosy style fun.
2. The Sarah Kelling Mysteries – 12 book series, 1st book is The Family Vault (1980). Sarah is a sheltered young woman in an upper crust Boston family navigating the mysteries and her “eccentric” extended geriatric family. The first book is melodramatic – with a kind of Ruth Rendell, had I but known vibe. The rest of the series take a sharp turn into a much lighter & quirkier cosy tone. I did feel a bit of a disconnect the first time I read the 2nd book but I do enjoy them all very much.
Charlotte wrote a couple other series, under a different name but those two were her best.
Yeah, I really liked Charlotte MacLeod’s detective stories, about as much as I liked Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe series; but I think that there is not that much more overarching development over the span of the whole series for the main characters and their relationships. But maybe I didn’t remember that clearly enough; I think there was some in the Sarah Kelling series.
Almost all the series I thought of have been mentioned already.
To Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan series you could add her 4-book Sharing Knife series, though that is more like one story in 4 parts, but with a romantic relationship that grows and develops over the whole arc, including the short story from a different PoV set a year later.
Patricia Briggs’ urban fantasy series Alpha and Omega, and Mercy Thompson, have been mentioned already; they are good, and there is real growth and change in the protagonists and their relationships over the series, but they do skirt along the edge of too dark for me. Both the good and the bad things that happen to Mercy do continue to impact her and her relationship with her partner and friends in the books after it happened.
Eileen Wilks has a similar long-running urban fantasy which has several different couples getting together in different books, but also books in the same series in which the relationships develop further after the couple got together in an earlier book, without a new couple forming.
Aaronovich’s Rivers of London is a fantasy detective combination where you can see a similar continuing change and growth, as has already been mentioned above, but I can’t think of any more detectives like that except for some of Dorothy L.Sayers lord Peter series.
C.J.Cherryh has several SF series where the protagonist grows or evolves at least somewhat over the course of the series, but romance is not that important – in The Pride of Chanur, the societal change is more important than the individual change, but the latter is necessary for the former. In the Foreigner series the inexperienced ambassador slowly grows into a much more competent person, and into the relationship with his bodyguards and the society in which he finds himself. Maybe not enough change for your taste, more a deepening/ strengthening of the personal development.
I really loved Eileen Wilks’ “World of the Lupi” but last I checked we’re still waiting for that final book. 🙁
The Spenser books were my first thought as well. I agree that the ones written after Parker died are a waste of time.
I got frustrated with Parker’s later books because Spenser kept running around and winning physical fights when he had to have been in his eighties.
In the early books Parker was quite clear that Spenser had had fought in the Korean War — which ended when my father was in basic training– and Spenser just keeps running and fighting when my father (younger than him, remember) was in his seventies.
Ellen, Some mystery authors age their protagonist in real time, but there is a strong tendency to age them more slowly, and sometimes not at all. I remember that some author said that her editor proposed that she age characters in reverse dog years (one year on the series for 7 on real time). I remarked a few weeks back that since the start of the Meg Langslow series in 1999, Meg’s children have only become young teens, her grandfather has not aged a day, and her and Michael’s respective parents have aged little of at all. Other authors just stop the series in time, cramming many cases into a few years. The In Death series did that as far as I have read, and most though not all Holmes cases happen in the 1890s. I gather that Sue Grafton similarly held to the 1980s, although I’ve read only a few of hers.
This is a problem where sf and fantasy have an advantage. Much future-set sf posits medical advances at least doubling human lifetimes, and aliens can naturally live about as long as an author likes. Fantasy also often posits human life extension, especially for “special” people such as wizards and witches, and other lifeforms such as elves can naturally live a very long time. Since folklore already posits that many of these look like humans and are interfertile with them, interspecies romances are also easier to rationalize than they are in sf, not that certain sf authors have been too worried about a Terran being more closely related to a carrot than to an alien princess or prince.
I enjoy Martha Grimes, Richard Jury books, about a detective and his friends and work associates.
I also enjoy the Patricia McLinn, Caught Dead in Wyoming series, about a reporter working in a TV station newsroom.
The Caught Dead series is fantastic!
I gather that Jenny was asking about what series involve a long relationship between couples. If so, I’m not sure that some of the excellent series that folks have posted really qualify. Aral and Cordelia move into the background early in the Vorkosigan series and we focus on no other successful couple until Ekaterin appears many books in. (Although some further couples are in the background .) In Aubrey/Maturin, the stormy relationship of Maturin and Diana Villiers starts early on and continues until almost the series end, but it’s episodic. The most important series relationship is the non-romantic one between Aubrey and Maturin. Peabody/Emerson and Peter (forgot surname; Decker??) /Rina Lazarus is more on the money. (I particularly liked the early books in the latter series, when the couple is negotiating Rina’s strong commitment to Modern Orthodox Judaism. Eventually it almost turns into straight detective fiction, although with religious and ethnic flavoring.) I almost mentioned the Meg Langslow series, but on reflection Michael is important to Meg but is not particularly vital as a crimesolver. I don’t think that anyone has successfully sustained a romance subplot for more than five books or so. After that, the couples marry, or in a few cases instead cohabit, and further character growth is more subtle.
On rereading her query, perhaps Jenny was not asking about couples after all, and I was merely thrown off by the multiple couples that she mentions.
I too took Jenny’s query to involve a couple that grew and evolved over a long (say 10+) series. But most of the other answers she has been getting involve a single long running protagonist, so maybe you and I misread it.
I guess, Patrick and Gary, that Jenny had asked for longer series with a romantic arc and an MC couple – I might have misled the Arghers with my impulsive Vorkosigan reply.
I don’t remember a long series with a strong romantic arc where the romance was center stage and I don’t read enough mysteries to be able to recommend authors that do it brilliantly. Since my main goal is to refresh my battery with positive input (therefore romance with a HEA), I don’t often read mysteries.
I read it as a very open-ended question about any series that works with the same main character rather than books set in the same world but with different protagonists, so I think that you are good, Dodo.
It’s just for us character-readers romance is the most common way to get character growth, so that is what we look for. With notable exceptions. I don’t really think that there is a romance arc in the Goblin Emperor, maybe just the hint of the start of one, but Maia is growing so much already and building so many non-romantic relationships that it’s not needed. But I would call this atypical and a lot of fiction holds the supporting roles as kind of static. Murderbot is all about different kinds of relationships. Catnip.
I recommend the Maeve Kerrigan mysteries by Jane E. Casey. I did not read the first 2 books because the web site that recommended them said to start with book 3. Maeve is a police detective in London. The series is still going strong.
Also the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths.
I am also a huge fan of The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion. But you need to be prepared for these. Not much happens in Volume 1. It is very short and sets some foundational concepts. The books average 200 to 300 pages after that and there are 8 volumes so far but more are coming. These first 8 were self-published but I think future volumes have found a publisher. There are some wonderful lines in these books. They are easy to read and I rushed through because I was so interested in what would happen next. Then I re-read at a slower pace and copied out lines I wanted to remember.
How about the Richard Jury series by Martha Grimes? Thanks to everybody for all the great recommendations! My TBR pile just exploded!
Miss Fortune Mysteries series . Jana Deleon. Relationship devoleped over the series. humour animals and in a later book an amazing parrot. The series is still continuing. Just published the 30 book.
Jenny, are you struggling with the arc of the characters or the arc of the relationship or the plots of the book?
I’m not a fiction author so I’m just mulling here and maybe what I say will be helpful and maybe not.
It seems to me that people and relationships are always developing, and you can give those overarching themes . For example if my life was a series, the overarching theme would be how do you make a marriage work between a college professor kid of Jewish descent and the son of Italian immigrants whose parents never went to college. And you would see that in the getting to know you and getting engaged events and how to resolve wedding conflicts but you would also see that the day I came home to discover he had given his mom a key and she was cleaning my house.
And one of the biggest conflicts would be her funeral where my DH felt passionately that all her descendents had to be at the funeral and I felt equally passionately that a 5 year old was too young for an open casket wake and a funeral mass and a cemetery casket ceremony.
Or take the In Death series.
The arc of the relationship is how does an abused poor cop build a life with a rich former thief and each of the books (at least the first 20 or 40) deals with an aspect of that —the Marriage rules, when is it ok for Roark to break the law to catch a murderer, how to give a present to someone who has everything, how Eve should relate to his father figure. And Eve has a personal arc about how to have a life and not have the job be everything. So sometimes it’s how to have friends and how sometimes its who is she if she loses her job and sometimes it’s how does she deal with her abusive progenitors, how to relate to someone who wants to be a good mother or father to her.
The challenges don’t have to peak more each time they just have to be different aspects of the overarching theme.
And the challenge in writing a long series then becomes what is the plot of each book, as opposed to the relationship growth. That’s why detective fiction is good for this —different crime each book but same characters. Sci-fi has a similar interest if the characters are learning about a new world in each book.
Bujold has said that she sees the Vorkosigan books as working through how a physically deformed man would cope in a society that didn’t tolerate deformations.
I don’t know if that helps…but it was fun to think about.
Debbie, Oddly enough, young me was the subject of just such an argument about an open-casket funeral (or at least a viewing) when an uncle died who lived only several blocks away from us. I was 4 at the time, I think, certainly no older. My (Methodist) mother was evidently strong in favor of my going and my Catholic father more neutral but supportive; I sort of think the opposition was from outside the immediate family. (A third brother also lived in Chicago and other relatives may have come in for the funeral. ) My mother later asked me several times about my memories, evidently trying to decide if I’d been emotionally scarred. I told her that my memory was that the corpse had looked peaceful and I felt no negatives. If I was at the funeral mass, I don’t remember it at all.
We went through this again when my father in law died and our son was 5. We ended up taking our daughter to church but not burial when she was 5 and son when he was 5 only to the family lunch post events because they are different kids. I don’t know if that was the right call; what I think it shows is that you can have serious values based conflicts well into a marriage and have to find a way to work it out. Much later in life you can have one about what to do when one person wants to retire and spend time with their partner, maybe traveling, and the other wants to keep working.
My in-laws who seemed to have very few conflicts had absolutely spectacular fights when he was diagnosed with a minor heart problem and decided he had to move to Florida to avoid the cold (no doctor said that) and she wanted to stay near her family: she would say things like “I want to be buried in this backyard” or drive away leaving him stranded in the house since he didn’t drive and they had only one car. Yet they did eventually move.
This may shed some light on why my father in law thought moonstruck wasn’t funny.
Apparently I insisted on seeing my mother after she passed. I was three. So my dad took me to where she was laid out at the funeral home. I remember it, and he took me to where she was going to be buried so I could see where she would be. It was green. I don’t really have strong opinions on whether it was a good choice or not.
I cried at my great-grandmother’s funeral some years later and my aunt told me not to, which was confusing. I guess if the people around you at the service are sane and loving then the experience is fine and part of life? I have friends who didn’t lose anyone until they were adults and I think we have very different relationships with death.
You may well be right about it depending on the adults around them. Certainly part of my concern in each case was that I felt I needed to support my DH rather than focus on the child and part was that I couldn’t trust DH’s relatives to behave calmly. (True story —one aunt threw herself on her brother’s corpse, shook it and cried “wake up wake up!”)
And my belated sympathies on losing your mom at 3.
Thanks Debbie. My father’s mother also threw herself on my grandfather and made a scene at the viewing. We were all adults so it was just cringy as she had treated him very badly during life. This is the grandmother who reminds me of your mom. But yeah, sometimes it’s not a great place for kids.
My sympathies on dealing with the similarities …
Beautifully put, a joy to read. <3
Here’s another vote for JD Robb’s In Death series. It was originally going to be a trilogy, but Nora Roberts has continued for 20+ years; Eve and Roarke’s relationship has evolved, and Eve has grown emotionally by leaps and bounds.
FWIW, I find it difficult to sustain a romantic-growth arc across more than five or six cozy mysteries in a series. I was all set for the main characters to kiss in the second book of my first published series (Helen Binney), and my editor thought it was too soon, and she was right, but it was still difficult to drag it out across the six novels (and a few novellas). I eventually figured out how to have separate stages of the relationship in each book, but really, without them breaking up at some point (which I didn’t want to do, and would get repetitive), or the changes that come with children (also not a direction I wanted to go), I don’t know what more I could have done to drag it out further.
I’ve been trying to think of other mysteries where the h/h relationship kept growing over the course of a bunch of books, and I’m having trouble coming up with them. Like others, I’ve thought of more examples in fantasy than mystery, and most have been mentioned already.
One mystery series that hasn’t been mentioned (probably because Deb is, I think, out of town) is the Meg Langslow series (by Donna Andrews). IIRC, the early books have Meg meeting her husband-to-be, and later on there’s dealing with kids. The relationship doesn’t change much after that, but I haven’t read the last few, so maybe there’s a new development. Donna Andrews was my role model when I started writing mysteries, so I probably picked up a lot of my relationship arc structure from her.
Two more are historical mysteries: 1. CS Harris’s Sebastian St. Cyr series (I haven’t read the last few, so I’ve lost track of how many there are, but Sebastian is the main character, and at least for the first several books, there’s growth in his personal relationship). 2. Sherry Thomas’s Lady Sherlock series (less than ten books so far, but both the Sherlock Holmes character and her sister, who’s a major secondary character, have evolving romantic relationships).
And speaking of Sherry Thomas, despite how much I adore the Lady Sherlock series, I read her contemporary … mystery? litfic? romance? … not sure what it is besides “novel” this week, and loathed everything about it. The characters, the dialogue, the plot, the authorial voice, the narration (ancillary is NOT pronounced with the accent on the second syllable), the use of present tense and so many massive flashbacks. I saw a review suggesting it might appeal to lit-fic readers, which I emphatically am not so that could explain my failing to connect, but I’m not sure even that is right. It’s basically a romance, or really, three interwoven romances (three couples, plus a sort of platonic friendship arc across all of these characters), and I don’t read much romance these days, so I was the wrong reader for it, but it was billed as a mystery. I wonder if it suffered from being marketed to the wrong audience, and if I’d gone into it expecting a romance instead, I would have enjoyed it more.
Twenty books in the Sebastian St. Cyr series so far. Same MMC but the romantic interest changes in book 4/5 and I really like the way the second relationship develops into a solid partnership. Good solid series.
Which contemporary by Sherry Thomas are you referring to?
The Librarians
Ah. I started it, got distracted , it went back to library, and now I am disinclined to take it out again…
Oh yeah. I didn’t love that one. It was sort of interesting but lacked character depth and the mystery was solved sort of complicatedly.
I have trouble with mystery series if the protagonist isn’t a professional, and even then. A person would be traumatized after discovering a body and solving a murder. Not to mention the effect of being targeted by the killer themselves, which happens in so many of them. So very few mystery series work for me. One that actually did work for me was Gin Jones Crazy Cat lady series, because the protagonist starts the series so traumatized that she has no empathy. Over the arc of the series, she gradually heals and is able to form connections with other people again. While solving murders.
I also read the Sherri Thomas book. The Librarians, this week and I had a similar opinion of it. I liked the parts where the librarians were working together. But that kept on getting interrupted by long back-story chunks that just weren’t that interesting.
Oh, thank you (for your comment on the Crazy Cat Lady Chronicles)! I love hearing that my intent came through! I mean, authors lose control of the story once it’s published and it’s becomes the reader’s story, and that’s fine, and I’m just happy when the reader is happy, but it’s extra nice to know that at least some readers (one reader?) found the story I intended to write!
I’m flummoxed as to how else you’d pronounce ancillary, Gin. Maybe the character’s British?
I’m not sure I’d ever had occasion to pronounce the word or consciously remember hearing it before Leckie’s book Ancillary Justice, but dictionaries confirm that stress on the first syllable is the US norm and the second, the UK one. Oddly, my Webster’s New World gives only the first syllable although it normally notes both US and Brit pronunciations. Oxford Reference Dictionary gives only the second.
What Patrick said: first and third syllables have more emphasis than second in American English. I didn’t realize the Brit pronunciation was different. I’ve forgotten now whose POV the word was in, so maybe it was correct, but I believe it was an American character. There were also other mispronunciations there’s no English-differences excuse for. Like premises to rhyme with hypotheses. At least I’m pretty sure it’s not a British variant.
I would also rhyme premises and hypothesis fairly closely. Sounds like the narrator has an accent that doesn’t work for you.
Which reminds me of a youtube video I love, Phil Barker’s “A tour of the UK and Ireland in Accents” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8mzWkuOxz8
Yes, but not the plural, hypotheses.
True, didn’t catch that.
I had a problem with Marie Force’s Fatal series. In each book the MMC would tell the FMC’s character not to engage in any efforts that would injure herself. Notably go with a partner to question a suspect. She would say “of course” and then come back with a black eye, scraps and/or bruises to the point where I got aggravated and eventually stopped reading. It was a good series except for that fact. She was a Washington detective, and he was an up and coming then Chief of Staff to a senator that is the victim, to eventually become President. Maybe I will go back and finish both series. They are the Fatal Series and the First Family Series. I don’t know how the Secret Service would handle a still active detective who goes her own way.
I’m a big fan of The Anatomist’s Wife by Anne Lee Huber. A widowed female portrait artist in 1830s Scotland meets a detective at a house party when she’s needed to help solve a murder. They fall in love, get married, and start a family over the course of the series, and the author does a great job exploring the way their relationship grows and changes. CW for the heroine’s first marriage being abusive, particularly in book one.
I also love Deanna Rayburn’s Veronica Speedwell series! It’s so, so funny. The character/relationship growth is a little inconsistent over the course of the series, with Veronica and Stoker getting stuck in certain ruts for so long, but the writing holds up well enough to manage it.
It’s Anna Lee Huber, not Anne. Kindle is forgiving of that kind of mistake but Libby is not, and it’s generally the first place I look. But I’ll check the series out when I work farther down my tbr list.
Anna Lee Huber’s Verity Kent series did a really good job with the relationship repair/development of a couple separated by WWI and working to move on after the end of the war.
Not really what Jenny was asking for in terms of relationship growth over a long stretch of books, but the development was strong for the first 5 or so books (then the “big bad” they were dealing with kind of took over).
Deanna Rayburn’s Veronica Speedwell is near the top of my TBR on audio.
Inspector Ian Rutledge by Caroline & Charles Todd
I adore these and was so sorry to hear that Caroline had passed away. The most recent Rutledge book was a little less enjoyable to read (a bit too heavy on rote descriptions), and I’m hoping it’s just a bump on the road as her son takes over the series solo. I very much need a final Bess Crawford book, at the very least.
Here are some of my favorite series:
1. Anne Perry’s William Monk
2. Martha Grimes’ Richard Jury
3. Craig Johnson’s Longmire
4. Grace Burrowes’ Lord Julian
5. Linda Barnes’ Carlotta Carlyle
6. Jan Burke’s Irene Kelly
7. Liliana Hart’s JJ Graves
Dana Stabenow’s Kate Shugak series, set in rural Alaska, includes a long arc romance as well as many ongoing relationships among a large group of characters.
I heartily concur with suggestions for both the Miss Fortune series by Jana Deleon and the Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. I have reread (and relistened) to both series multiple times and the authors have not repeated themselves. No big misunderstandings to drive the plot.
What I particularly like about these series is neither go dark. Bad things happen, but nothing nightmare-inducing.
Fantasy, particularly urban fantasy also does good long character arcs. I’d recommend October Daye by Seanan McGuire, 19 books and counting – the first book “Rosemary and Rue” is probably the weakest in the series unfortunately, but it develops from there with a single protagonist and a gorgeous central romance.
Best of my reading week was “Gods of the Wyrdwood” by RJ Barker (2023), first in his epic fantasy Forsaken trilogy. Rich description of the magnificently dangerous forest, great world-building and I liked the world-weary MC and some of the side characters. Plus, not that we see much of it, a rather nice queernorm poly family structure.
“The Summer War” by Naomi Novik (2025) was as good as everyone said. Fairytale world, with riddles and Fae and a clever and good FMC. I also liked her brothers and good ending.
Random m/m fanfic based on a recc, and John Maclane and Matt Farrell from Die Hard 4 work surprisingly well – short and really sweet: “Pre-Existing Condition” by helenish (2017).
Best of the short fiction this week was “Kaiju Agonistes” by Scott Lynch (2025) was delightfully funny – “Naval vessels are bad at hugging”! Free at https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/kaiju-agonistes/
Thinking some more on this, and broadening my scope to include tv series as well as books, I think that the stories that survive the longest without getting stale have a really well-rounded cast of other characters that I am invested in as much (or sometimes more) than the mcs.
I started Mercy Thompson because I read a short story about Kyle and Warren in an anthology and I love Asil. Charles and Anna were a short story that wasn’t supposed to bloom into a series either but Charles wouldn’t leave the author alone, I don’t think.
CM Nascosta reworked the whole Girls Weekend series around Tate, who was supposed to be a throwaway character and ended up being endgame and one of the most nuanced in the series.
Schitts Creek was so lovely because I liked every single person in that universe and their backstory was built out ten steps farther than it had to be and most of it never made it on screen. But the writers really, really knew their characters.
In Death has us invested in a whole found family web and can switch focus to those different aspects of relationship as the saga continues. And Agatha Christie puts her detective in a different cast each time, so it’s almost like a connected series of other characters rather than following one mc, since they interact rather adjacent to the action as impartial observers. She usually emotionally invests us in at least one person in the cast and the rest are interesting…
Whereas I feel like the supporting cast in cozy mystery series are often rather thin. They are just later potential murder victims. And I think these are often a first person narrator which ties us a little more closely to the main character’s pov, whereas sci-fi and fantasy are often third person and we can jump to other perspectives more easily.
I agree on the other characters. I think part of what makes that work for me is that whenever any of them grow, everyone (or at least the main character(s) has to adjust/change/adapt. I like how organically that grows a story. (Thinking of Peter Grant, Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin, Maturin/Aubrey, even some of the Pratchett sub-series that interact with the others.)
“just later potential murder victims”
Hahahahaha
So many favorites already mentioned here. I have enjoyed:
Charles de Lint, the urban fantasy Newford series
Suzanne Brockman, Sam and Alicia’s and Jules and Robin’s relationships in the Troubleshooters book, the general stories of the team over time
Rhys Bowen, the Her Royal Spyness mystery series
I love the Monkeewrench series by PJ Tracy. There are about a dozen of them, & they hit all the high points for me-well drawn characters, good dialogue & mysteries that are varied & I haven’t figured out where it’s going/who dunnit within a few chapters. Authors were a mother/daughter writing duo, but Mom died. It reads like they had mapped out several of the books that came out after she passed, as the quality remained strong & consistent. I will say that the second book in the series is the one I’ve reread least, mostly because the computer geek crew are less present in that one ( or maybe absent? Time to read it again I guess!). A new book recently dropped, but it seems she’s tying things up & putting it to rest so I’m very sad about that.
To answer Jenny’s question, which I originally interpreted to mean a couple whose relationship grew and changed over the course of a multi-book arc. Yes, they are mostly mystery series. Most of the ones I can think of have the other partner as more of a background character, most of the time. One of the exceptions is D.L. Keur’s Jessica Anderson K9 mystery series. Spoiler ahead:
Her family trains dogs for the military but her interest is training search and rescue dogs. She ends up working for the Sheriff’s Department in the rural Idaho county she grew up in. He’s a control freak and she’s a bit headstrong. They eventually get married and then have problems but they’re not Big Misunderstanding’s, they’re real disagreements about things that are important to them, the biggest being she keeps putting herself in danger when trying to rescue people and that drives him crazy. 10 books so far and an 11th scheduled.
There are others, like Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily mysteries (18 books so far), but after the first four or five I don’t feel their relationship changes much.
I’ll join the recommendation for Bujold, and I like Martha Wells Raksura series and The Fall of Ill-Rien better than Murderbot. Among the mysteries both Lindsey Davis Falco series and Elizabeth Peters Vicky Bliss series also comes close.
I read Blindside by Michael Mammay, the latest in his space mystery series about retired Colonel Carl Butler. It starts out one way and then takes a sharp swerve in a completely different direction. You really need to have read previous book in the series as it is strongly referenced. Not bad but left me feeling incomplete.
I’m struggling to read This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews. It’s an interesting take on the, recently discovered by me, real person wakes up in a book/video game series, but it’s now reality, and has lots of knowledge of what’s going to happen and may or may not be able to exploit it. But so far nothing but unpleasant things keep happening to the protagonist, and I’m just not enjoying it a fifth of the way in 🙁
I’m struggling with This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, too, for the same reason. Someone said it picks up after chapter five? I’m not sure how far I’ve gotten. Or what it means that it “picks up.” But I might jump ahead a bit and see if I can get into it at a later point.
I’ll have to check how far in I got when I stalled (but did not deliberately bail out). If it’s earlier than Chapter 5, there’s hope.
I struggled because of the violence in the book. I didn’t even notice the pacing.
I really almost quit after one horrific scene. If I weren’t such a longtime fan, there’s no way I’d be considering continuing.
Jenny, still thinking of an answer to your first question:
“So what’s a good long standing series where the protagonists do not keep repeating themselves but instead grow and change?” And I’m happy this isn’t a final exam!
I read The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher.
I asked Google and its first choice was Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb.
Great books! Realm of the Elderlings is made up of a bunch of series, actually, of which 3 different ones follow the same MC. He does grow and change, that’s for sure. A bit of an anti-hero kind of protagonist, full of flaws. His romance ark is… complicated. Anyway, great but quite violent books for those who can handle a slow build-up before the action.
All”sub-series” in the Realm of the Elderlings feature characters from other series as supporting roles or mentions, so there’s a bit of a crossover between series.
Agreeing with so many of these. I will add Dorothy Gilman’s Mrs. Pollifax series. Long running and marvelous. Not much of a romance arc, but lots of adventure. It came out at a time when a female character couldn’t have an adventure unless she was kidnapped and was quite a revelation to me, because it was very different from the usual female centered novels. Great fun. Dated now, but since they mostly take place in exotic locations they still read well.
I first read my grandparents’ old Readers Digest Condensed versions of these books and was sufficiently hooked to check them all out of the library as a teenager!
Another detective series is the Deborah Knott series by Margaret Maron which has a romance and marriage that develops over maybe 16 books? Also a detective series, which is set in a really well developed southern town. It does have a child; Maron has an earlier series I have not read that is also mysteries but at some point the male partner dies I think. I should see what she is writing now.
Aren’t there some series that are historical fiction where the main marriage romance develops over time and what holds the series together is what happens as they cope with / experience historical events? I can’t bring them to mind right now.
Maron died in 2021 so I seem to have read all her recent books. She is excellent.
AS Byatt wrote a number of books following the same family over decades, but not a romance. I don’t know if it would give you some ideas about how to sustain an arc.
Also Elena Ferrante.
Not Elizabeth Jane Howard?
I don’t have a fresh series recommendation, but in thinking about it, I’ve realized that I sort of shy away from series where the main couple is already together at the beginning—maybe because I feel like I’ve missed the best part of the romantic arc. But the long-running series I’ve enjoyed the most are the ones where the author writes a really strong marriage that complements the sleuthing plots. Sarah Graves’ Home Repair mysteries, for example (though the most recent few have been disappointing). And I’m reading and really enjoying the Penelope Standing mysteries by Tess Baytree right now. The couple are already together in the first book, but their relationship is SO fun! They’re in their fifties and know who they are and what they like, but they’re also still discovering new things about each other. Really well done. (First book is the weakest of the series—really glad I kept going.) The author has also written some great sci fi and fantasy as TM Baumgartner.
And when they get together too early and reach emotional stability I worry that the author will do something that I don’t like to keep the drama going. I am also very leery of series.
The first Baytree, Death Walks a Dog, is currently free on at least US Kindle.
I think most of them are available through Hoopla, too. At least at my library, anyway.
Got it free on my Nook —thanks! (Also bought Ken Prewit former census director book on measuring race. That was decidedly not free but I really need to read it for work.)
The best long series I can come up with have already been mentioned. I can’t think of a pure romance series that could keep my interest over 20 books. Those that do/did are good are mystery/PI/legal thrillers.
To those listed so far I would add:
— David Rosenfelt – legal thrillers with a lawyer MC (Andy Carpenter) with character and relationship development in each book. There are 33 in the series (Rosenfelt has written others that I have not yet tried) and I have not read all of them yet so I’m not sure they stay good all the way to volume 33.
— Robert B. Parker the Spenser series was great all the way through. Great dialogue and character development. But like most series, I doubt they would seem so good if read one after the other without a break.
— Elly Griffiths – the Ruth Galloway series. Very good character and story development in each along with good mysteries that make sense.
— Archer Mayor – Joe Gunther series. Mysteries that take place in Vermont. The series is 33 book long and I’ve enjoyed most of them.
My best read of the week was The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore. This is a historical novel about the rivalry between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to electrify America. I have had this book on my TBR for years (it came out in 2016) and the time seemed right. I’m so glad I read it — it is based on true events and is a dramatization of history (all the main characters existed) and I found it thrilling. It takes place in the Gilded Age (specifically 1888-1896) which was also the era of Great Inventors. Many of them play a role in this book —Edison and Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell, etc. — as well as the big financiers like J.P. Morgan. The stakes were high in this patent dispute and the author manages to bring it all to life brilliantly. It isn’t a reread but it might be one of my best reads so far this year.
They are not romances, really, but Laurie R. King wires a series about Sherlock Holmes and his young wife/crime detecting partner, Mary Russell. They spend a lot of time in each book apart from one another while investigating, and Mary is generally the main character.
Well, there’s an odd sort of romance in the first novel (The Beekeeper’s Apprentice) and perhaps the next one or two. I think King takes liberties with Holmes’s chronology (the Canon fixes him as older than King posits) and personality (far from being a strict materialist, “The Veiled Lodger” shows him to believe in a beneficent higher power, although he is probably not an orthodox Christian, any more than Doyle was).
Laurie R. King also writes another series where the romantic relationship has a real arc: “Kate Martinelli” — f/f police detective and academic / counselor. The series starts with “A Grave Talent”. My personal favorite is “To Play a Fool”, which has a lovely character holding center stage — Brother Erasmus, who truly believes in turning the other cheek.
I enjoyed those (the Kate Martinelli series) but read them so long ago that I’ve forgotten details. The series is only 5 books and I’m not positive I’ve read the last one. Must investigate.
I like Sofie Ryan’s Second Chance Cat Mysteries – not just for Sarah’s relationship with Mac. The whole cast of characters have changed quite a lot from the first book. (12 books)
Julia Chapman’s Dales Detective Series, has a romance but also a story arch where father and son, son and town all grow and change. (10 books)
Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club main characters have all changed over the 5 book series.
Grace Burrowes’ Lord Julian series, Lord J’s relationship with everyone has changed over the 10 book series (but I didn’t read book 9 because Argher reviews were bad.
Also Robert Galbraith’s Comoran Strike novels.
Best thing I read this week from the library was Not Dead Enough by Peter James. I am liking this series because of the relationships between the characters feel true and run alongside the crimes. The crimes are twisty and clever too.
Best re-read was Trust Me on This by Jenny. It was fun and a bit of a farce too, and I could do with some farce though there seems to be quite a bit of that going on IRL! Loved Victoria the 62 year old Aunt with style, sass and presence.
I enthusiastically agree about ALL the Bujolds, and add the contemporary Kerry Greenwoods about the baker as well as the Miss Fishers. I also like Dorothy Gillman (thanks McB for the reminder) and the CS Harris series.
I bailed on Elizabeth George/Lynley series because she drew such nuanced characters, and then had them do things completely out of character IMHO. It was the second time that made me quit for good. Same with the Louis Pennys. I loved the first few, and then the one about the murder in the restaurant lost me – because I didn’t buy the murder, based on what we had known about this person from earlier books.
Thanks this week to whoever originally suggested Ada Maria’s Soto’s “His Quiet Agent”. I finally read it a few weeks ago, and suggested it to dear sister, who bought more of her books. I have just read one stand alone, and the first of the nest duo, and am looking forward to starting the second nest one this evening. I am pleased I managed to go to bed without ‘just starting a bit’ of the second one, but I knew what would happen.
I quickly bailed on Louise Penny. Much too unpleasant for me, and with a completely non-credible historical backstory in one novel. I enjoyed most of the Phryne Fisher novels but stalled out on what I think was the next to last. (Screen version would require a separate discussion; there are many differences. ). I’ve read fewer of the baker ones (Corinna Chapman).
Also bailed on Louise Penny which was a shame as I really liked the first few. But far too many murders in one small village. I would have been happier had we followed the MC all over Quebec instead ala Midsommer Murders (which also has ridiculous murder rate but at least its a county not a village.)
The first four Louise Penny books are on my comfort-read list — in large part because I really enjoy the narrator of the series (I listened to other random books, just because I found his voice soothing). There are a couple of other books in the series that I re-read on occasion, but the later storylines mostly stopped working for me so I stopped the series several books ago.
I holidayed at the village the series is based on, Lac Brome. Way too nice to have quite so many murders 🙂
A great bookshop though with a fun world map where amateurs of Louise Penny can stick a pin of where they live!
GI G-Men by Stephen Harding is so badly read by his actor son Ian Harding that I’m seriously tempted to bail out and finish it, if at all, as an eye-book. The dangers or nepotism.
Also the dangers of quick proofreading: dangers *of* nepotism.
Really good suggestions. I am re-reading Anne Bishop’s ‘The Others” and ‘The World of the Others’ for the umpteenth time because the world-building is incredible and I see more each time. I love all of the Ilona Andrews books, particularly ‘The Innkeeper’ series. Any series by Genivieve Bujold McMasters. Russell and Holmes by Laurie R. KingThe Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. I am now reading the 21st (!!) Sebastian St. Cyr, by C. S. Harris. Although the timespan is only 6 years, the growth of the MC is positive. The murders can be gruesome. I have also enjoyed the audio version of the Barker and Lleweylan novels by Will Thomas. Some series I have tired of, such as Inspector Brunetti by Donna Leon, Joe Pickett, Dave Robicheaux. Some series I know Jenny has mentioned: ‘The Chronicles of St. Mary’s’; I really liked the City Watch and Moist von Lipwig novels in the Discworld series; ‘The Rivers of London’. I also like the Flavia du Luce novels and the Dresden Files. This is a lot and represents only a small part of almost 60 years of reading.
Mysteries by David Rosenfelt. Andy Carpenter.. Pls he writes great women and loves dogs.
Reread Crusie’s The Cinderella Deal. Not my favorite of hers, but delightful anyway, the narrative crisp, the protagonists sharply defined, and the humor sparkling.
Then I tried to read Eva Ibbotson’s The Morning Gift but couldn’t finish it. Aside from the fact that it was a historical set in 1938 – I hate reading about that time, too painful – I also didn’t like the narrative. The author started her story three generations before the protagonist was even born. All the cousins and grandparents, all their houses and dresses and neighbors made for a tedious intro that went on forever, several chapters at least. I actually stopped reading before I could reach the protagonists’ story proper because I was so bored. The book was published in 1993, only 3 years before The Cinderella Deal, but it feels like it was written a hundred years before. The writers in the 19th century tended to write like this, starting from ancient history and botany before coming on topic a few chapters into the books. Definitely not for me.
I am a big fan of Ibbotson. I don’t remember this long exposure so clearly it didn’t bother me. One of my favourite of hers is Madensky square. A beautiful story set in Vienna. It is much more about found family and motherhood than romance but the romances within are lovely too.
The Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews is excellent urban fantasy–Kate is a mercenary who deals with magical problems.
The Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Harper is also somewhat urban fantasy. Jane is the last Cherokee skinwalker who rides a motorcycle and works for a vampire. She’s a badass!
The Chronicles of St Mary’s by Jodi Taylor is just pure fun–the historians of St Mary’s ‘investigate major historical events in contemporary time.” It’s a beautifully long series (14 books so far!) with 2 spinoff series. I hope she never stops writing this series. Fun characters, romance, action, intrigue, and copious amounts of tea.
I will give details on Good Sunday but it looks like DH and I will get to sign a court filing testifying that it is not safe to release friend’s daughter to her mom.
And daughter is improving in hospital.
And there is much rejoicing.
It’s always a good day for such good news!
Yay!
Huzzah!
Not a series, but I read and really enjoyed Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders. I agreed with it being recommended to Alice Hoffman fans; it had a similar vibe and mix of magic/contemporary as Practical Magic. I loved that it really dug into the messiness of families, even the ones who love each other. I feel like we still don’t see intergenerational queer families all that often, and I loved this one. Definitely a book about grief, though.
I’m intrigued by the title. What kind of question does the book pose? Sounds interesting.
Okay, I have to share – I just heard this catchy tune, and this seems to be the place with a receptive audience. It’s called “Book Boyfriends” – one of the lines is “My wife isn’t cheating but her Kindle sure is”
Anyway, here it is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beIFF2J7LdU
Oh dear god I’m laughing so hard …. Brilliant.
That’s absolutely hilarious! I’ve added it to my Spotify playlists.
I saw that recently and loved it! lol
I’ve loved the “The Sword of Truth”-series by Terry Goodkind for the past 20 years (used to have a HUGE crush on the MMC), and the relation/romance going on in it. No, I don’t always agree with things – Sometimes the FMC is TSTL – but the characters (mainly MMC) learn and grow, and their relation grows and changes too. SoT, the main series, ended on 11 books. There have been more written after that taking place in the same world with the same characters, but… I don’t like them much and don’t count them into this. It’s the first 11 ones that work, after that the author starts breaking his own rules, has the characters do things uncharacteristic to them and things turn unbelievable – which says something when it’s in a fantasy world… I started wondering at about book 13 if the author even had an editor anymore, the quality nose-dived quite significantly. Pity. I’ve been on a slooow re-read of the series since Goodkind passed away in 2020, think my next one is book 6. Definitely stopping after 11.
Possibly because it was the first one of its kind I read, but I also feel the “Magical Bakery Mystery”-series by Bailey Cates is a good example. MC has to figure out her magic and her place while murders happen and a romance blossoms, which doesn’t go straight to completion but changes and grows throughout the series. The actual wedding isn’t happening until book 10, I think, and a lot happens inbetween that to both MC and LI. The community is also good and not just decor. I believe another part of the series will be released this June. Looking forward!
I finished A LADY’S GUIDE TO FORTUNE HUNTING by Sophie Irwin, so anybody here thinking of reading it but hesitating for whatever reason, or anybody who’d got started on it but couldn’t finish doesn’t have to. It was okay. I… think that’s the extent of what I can say about it. The narrator clearly did not know how to pronounce the word “mulishly”, which baffled me enormously. She kept saying “mullishly” – is that even a word? Maybe she’s not familiar with mules.
I didn’t quite know what to read after that, so I picked up DOT SLASH MAGIC by Liz Shipton, an urban fantasy/science-fantasy novel about a girl who discovers she can see and use magic…but only through an AI she’s built. (Yep, Libro.fm’s sales make me buy the strangest books!) When people start dying and monsters from mythology appear seemingly out of nowhere, she – and her AI – get the blame, and what IF there IS really something fishy going on…! It has a lot of character growth and a lot of thoughts on AI and the pros and cons of it. It has romance but it’s complicated. SPOILER: Abuse happens, and it’s unsettling. The book is also quite dystopian and it definitely does not have a HEA, even though there’s a glimmer of hope at the end, sort of. I ended up giving it a 4 out of 5, because it was compelling and I wanted to know what would happen next, but I must say I have a bit of mixed feelings about it. The narrator was really good though and I definitely don’t regret reading it, but I think I want to read something lighter now.
Turns out I tend to bail part way through series so I’m going to name some all with the caveat that I haven’t finished reading the series…
– Amelia Peabody mysteriesby Elisabeth Peters as has already been mentioned (20 books)
– the Cat Who… mystery series by Lilian Braun (29 books)
– Hannah Swenson mysteries by Joanne Fluke (33 books)
– Death on Demand series by Carolyn Hart
– Mrs. Polifax series – already mentioned
– Artemis Fowl series by Erin Colfer – YA fantasy, technically 11 books if you include the spin-off trilogy
– Kathleen Baldwin series are probably too short
– My notorious aunt – 4 books
– Stranje House – 5 books, which has each book from a different protagonist’s viewpoint, as the over arching story progresses, so also not likely what you’re looking for
A bit off topic, but I believe there is a book about being the child of a narcissistic parent which has been mentioned here. Anyone here read it?
Yep! Recommended by my therapist. Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson. It’s not about narcissism really, but there is some cross-over. I think that my dad was raised by a parent with narcissistic or personality disorder and picked up some of the behaviors as well as was emotionally stunted by all the abuse and stress.
I also started Stop Walking on Eggshells by Paul T. Mason, but concluded that it wasn’t what I needed to deal with my dad. It’s my grandmother and my husband’s brother, but I don’t need to manage either of them, thank goodness. Still, it might be worth a look for you.
Thank you, Lupe! I appreciate the recommendation. I want to suggest it to my sister.
You are asking about a good book. Right on target!
I think Lupe and Shass were both reading it ?
I used to read *a lot* of mysteries and quite a bit of SF/F, so there were many, many series to keep up with, but outside of those genres I couldn’t name a long-running series featuring one or two main characters as the permanent centers, in which those characters both evolved.
As to what I’ve been reading … last week I logged in everything I’d read up to post day, so this “reading week” was short, and a lot of what I’ve been reading is research for the works-in-progress, meaning web pages and big fat academic books. So … only two complete books to report!
1. ‘The Reluctant Widow’ by Georgette Heyer. And it’s one of hers that I actually liked! It’s a source/inspiration for KJ Charles’ upcoming release. The intrigue plot (which is most of the plot) was leavened by MMC’s various kindnesses, his puppyish brother’s shenanigans, and the FMC’s efforts to a) assist with intrigue b) make a start on improving her dead & thankfully brief husband’s house. You know I love me some home improvement. MMC is a bossy type but not cold, mean, or rude (unlike several of GH’s ‘heroes’), with loving family and a sense of humor. FMC is resourceful, adaptable, and brave. No complaints.
2. [re-read] My own short F/M novel ‘Today, Tomorrow, & Forever’ a slow-burn romance feat. an up and coming Hollywood triple threat and the engineering student he falls for, which I decided to revisit because one of the side characters has turned up in the latest novelette.
Oh, is KJ Charles writing a book based on the Reluctant widow? She wrote this amazing post on her blog contending that Francis should have been the hero of the book! I can’t wait to read it now!
LN, it’s “How to Fake It in Society” – I downloaded a sneak peek and the deathbed marriage is right there up front.
As to Francis being the hero of TRW: he is a piece of work, I definitely read him as gay, and he definitely took the (merciless) actions required to resolve the intrigue. He is amoral, smart, and much more dangerous than he appears. So I can see why he appeals to KJC and I’m very much looking forward to finding out if she has brought an avatar of Francis Cheviot into the new book. Releases April 30. 🙂
Ooooh. Makes grabby hands. Gimme. That sounds fantastic!
hahaha. “Makes grabby hands”. What a perfect descriptor!
https://www.kjcharleswriter.com/all-blog-posts/2018/11/01/the-reluctant-author-telling-the-wrong-story?rq=francis%20cheviot
sorry about the messy link, found this by searching her freshly relaunched blog posts
That’s the one!
Did anyone else dart immediately to Tricks Helen and Judy Bolton? Nancy Drew was just too perfect.
I hadn’t thought about children’s fiction at all. And I have never heard of Tricks Helen or Judy Bolton.
Pratchett’s series about Tiffany Aching is lovely and has an overarching arc.
But it’s about growing up which I don’t think will help Jenny.
Trixie Belden. It took me 4 times to get it correct after I reread the post. Spell check. She was like Nancy Drew but less perfect.
Judy Bolton was also a girl detective probably from the 40’s to the 60’s. The Interesting thing was she grew up and got married.
My sister was 14 years older and I inherited her books.
Children’s series where they grow up also includes Betsy Tacy and Tib. And Anne of Green Gables.
Arriving late but the Soulwood series by Faith Hunter (6 so far) starts with a women who left a religious cult and her family. She was the second wife and inherits the house and land. Members of the church are stalking her but her connections to the land have protected her. This series is a spinoff of Jane Yellowrock who promised help for a favor she did. Help comes but trouble continues. She starts out with the church speech, clothing etc. but works hard to fit in with her new job which is like the paranormal branch of the FBI. Her connections with the land start to change her physically as well as mentally. Her growth is in part overcoming religious indoctrination, trusting people, especially men and handling the trees connections. Her world opens up but her past still intrudes. I always look forward to a new book. There’s real growth and finally love with problems.
The Beatrice Hyde-Clare mysteries by Lynn Messina really had a satisfying growth arc for both Beatrice and her love interest Duke of Kesgrave. She’s a plain poor-relation bluestocking with an inquiring intellect. The Duke is an entitled know-it-all. They cross paths solving a murder. But slowly, over 16 books, we come to appreciate the unexpected brain wiring that each has and they become a supportive couple. Beatrice especially gains self confidence/appreciation. The books are kind of hard to find in libraries. (I didn’t warm up to her Harlow girl series which seems more available.)
I’m so glad you mentioned this series. I love it.
You’re correct that both Bea and Kesgrave have developed over time.
OHHH this makes so much sense because I am currently reading another series by this author (my first book of theirs) that talks a lot about the Duke of Kesgrave and his (now) duchess in a way that made me think I should already know them, but this was definitely the first book in the series so I was confused
Coming back to mention The Stranger Times series by C.K. McDonnnell. It’s set in a small Irish newspaper that covers different supernatural events and sightings. It starts from the viewpoint of a recently divorced posh woman who need the work as the assistant editor. The books are plotted around zombies, vampires, stealing the frozen heads of the famous, etc., combined with workplace drama from the office personnel. There has been character growth, and the creation of an office family. They are comic, satirical, and sometimes gory.
Laurie King’s Mary (and Sherlock) Holmes books are lovely. Part of the progression is Mary growing up.
The Inspector Gamache books have a progression but it mostly involves underlying problems “at work” rather than couple development.
I have read any number of books where the progression is a succession of people from the past (or family members) that come to light or bring their problems forward in successive books, giving more background to one person which lets the 2nd person in the couple react to it. And maybe make it better. There are also books which play against 2 different love interests over multiple books so you never know who is going to win the girl. If done subtly this can work well.
The first few novels of Michelle Sagara’s Elantra series does a good job of portraying increasing maturation of our heroine and development of a relationship with the main male character. The first book is not as good as the 2nd. There is a side series of 2 books in the same world with an overlap of the side characters but different main characters (1st book shards of glass) which as interesting character development but no love interest.
With regard to Patricia Briggs Mercedes Books: I read them and kind of enjoy them but the resolution of most of the books involves the heroine withstanding a lot of violence against herself, coupled with insecurities about the oft-visiting ex-wife. Both get tiring fast upon reread for me. The writing is entertaining though, which makes it easier to take the violence until you really think about.
Oh, and Ilona Andrews Hidden Legacy books makes 3 arc trilogies by having heroine being in love but distrusting hero’s motives for multiple books. “They only want to be with me because they need my abilities” giving way to trust.
I really like that trilogy.
I’m not sure what you mean by “no real room to arc a relationship over twenty or more books.” It sounds sort of like you’re saying that there’s not enough room, but that doesn’t make sense. So I guess you’re saying that there’s too much room. Which does make sense, but I don’t think it’s true of the examples you give, because I don’t think they were trying to arc a relationship over twenty or more books.
It seems to me that in that sort of series, if there is an arc it’s either accidental (due to the growth of the author or a shift in focus in response to the audience, perhaps) or it’s not present in the whole series (i.e. the books about Peter and Harriet, the books about Campion and Amanda, etc.) Depending on the series, it might be trying to do the same thing for the whole series (it’s been a long time, but I think Christie/Poirot is a good example of this) or to do different things with some of the same characters (my impression of Sayers – I think Allingham is somewhere in between, she wasn’t doing the same thing throughout the series, but there are runs that are more similar and runs that seem to be trying something new, though again, it’s been a long time).
I think the question of how to arc an open-ended series is a different question than how to write a really long series that has a plan (and a clear ending in mind). I … am hesitant to suggest this, because I sometimes have a hard time with comics so I’m not sure I have the best suggestions, and in any case it’s not what was asked for, but I do have a feeling that comics might have a better answer to the first question than any book series. (On the other hand, sometimes comics lack any sense of closure and can be frustrating.) I’ve been thinking about seeing if the webcomic Ozy and Millie is still available to read (I know it stopped publishing anything new a very long time ago). I remember it being really good, with fluid arcs around a core set of characters. I doubt it adds up to anywhere near twenty plus books, but some really longrunning webcomics might. There was something long with the main character named Agatha Heterodyne that I read quite a lot of…I did stop reading at some point, but that might have been a pacing thing.
As for the long series with a plan, the Vlad Taltos series (fantasy with a wiseass assassin/former assassin main character) clearly had a plan, but has also developed into different things over the years. I like some of the books better than others. If the naming scheme holds, there are two books still to go, and it will end up being nineteen books total.
And I think what a lot of people have already said about romance is probably true. If you are trying to get from strangers to a committed relationship, then that is not open-ended, and so all you can do is stretch out the arc (which might be good or might be bad, sometimes getting to commitment really is a longer journey). On the other hand, I think Mary Robinette Kowal had some comments about how to write stories about people who are in committed relationships, in connection with and/or commenting on her Glamorist Histories series (fantasy, only five books in the series, but they are a married couple for four of them). It was sort of in line with some of the comments above about how people in committed relationships can still disagree, I seem to recall that Kowal had a system for sorting and understanding what kinds of things they are likely to disagree about, and how you need to have something holding the relationship together as well as pushing at it. I will see if I can track it down.
FWIW, the post about writing committed relationships (or stable but dynamic relationships, as she puts it) is here:
https://members.maryrobinettekowal.com/posts/writing-stable-8172456
It’s less stand alone, and with less commentary on her series than I remembered, and comes across more like something said within an ongoing conversation about the “MICE” writing theory, which is a way of sorting plot arcs into categories. Wish I could edit my comment to just take that bit out, but … oh well. FWIW.
At least six books, character growth, possible romance…
David Weber, the Honor Harrington series. We start with Ensign Harrington and end with Grand Admiral Duchess and Countess Dame Honor Harrington, Steadholder Harrington, AKA “The Salamander,” AKA “She Who Brings the Celery.”
Then there is Eve K. Sandstrom writing as JoAnna Carl and her “Chocoholic Mysteries” series, blending her love for chocolate with engaging whodunits. Main character is Lee McKinney, chocolatier. Live, Love, Solve.
Gary, Yeah, I can see a case for character growth in Honor Harrington (such as when she fights a duel with her onetime rapist and puts that problem behind her), but it’s pretty unsubtle and is much overshadowed by her nearly unbroken wish-fulfillment career progression (the landmarks you list are only part of it), by the twists and turns of local and interstellar politics, and by the ingenious steady advances in technology driven by the various wars. All those last elements are much more interesting than any character progression, in considerable contrast to Bujold’s treatment of Miles.
I would NEVER compare Weber favorably to Bujold, nor Honor to Miles. The series, however, meets the criteria Jenny specified.
Gary, I won’t say it doesn’t meet the criteria, but this is the bit that gives me pause:
“So what’s a good long standing series where the protagonists do not keep repeating themselves but instead grow and change? Key word: Good.”
What keeps me reading the Honor series has little if anything to do with Honor growing and changing (which I think is sketched in rather crudely and minimally) but with the political manoeuvring and the ingenious technology development. My impression is that Jenny may well rate the latter two areas lower in importance than I do, and perhaps than you do, and would not rate the series as “good.” But I freely admit that I may be wrong. It’s certainly a series that I keep reading. I’m pretty sure that I’m caught up until the next book comes out.
That should have been formatted as a reply to Gary J immediately above.
I just can’t quit this page this week. 🙂
If the ‘long-running series with central couple who evolve throughout’ question is actually prompted by Jenny’s own writing projects right now, I had a thought. Which is:
Rose & Max.
These two both needed to evolve from where we met them.
The mayhem in the Rocky Start trilogy only gets them to “trying to be together” and they still both have a ton of work to do on themselves.
All the side characters and subplots and the web of contextual complications could quite reasonably spawn a long-running series anchored by Rose & Max in which both evolve, but they wouldn’t have to be the primary characters in any given story – just part of the framework.
Signed, never stops thinking about books.
One series not mentioned yet are the Liaden SF/romances by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Not all books are about the same chars but various couples weave in and out of the various books so you do get to see them evolve especially Val Con and Miri.
Another oldie but good mystery series is the Amanda Cross Kate Fansler, an English professor who marries the detective who investigates.
Dianne Day’s Fremont Jones mysteries set in the early 20th century are definite rereads for me. Her depictions of the 1906 earthquake and early days in Carmel are charming. There are lots of twists and turns along with a great ex-Russian spy bf.
Then there are the Iain Pears art history series with a woman art detective who marries one of her suspects, an art historian eventually. This series is brilliant.
Sharan Newman’s 12th century mysteries starring a postulant and a man studying for the priesthood, associated with Heloise and Abelard, who leave their religious orders and marry. Lots of history in this one but the couple from very different backgrounds evolve a lot over time the series.
I second the Sharan Newman series, although I hadn’t thought about it in a while. (The Catherine LeVendeur series.) There now seem to be 10 books in the series, so I think it went on for a while after I lost track. They’re outrageously overpriced in Kindle, so I’ll have to look into alternative sources.
Agree re the Liaden series – not always the same couples but many of them are recurring characters and relationships. It’s a very long series now, and most of the books are good to excellent.
Tony Hillerman did pretty good with Chee/Leaphorn series and his daughter has taken over after his death and continues the series.
The Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust. A fantasy series were Vlad is a thief. I belive over the series he meets the girl, falls in love, gets married, divorced and possible gets back together.
Karin Slaughter has 2 series with the same protagonist, Grant County and Will Trent. Both excellent.
Similarly, Kendra Elliot has a few series with the same protagonist, but the standout is the Mercy Kilpatrick series. I never thought I would understand the prepper mindset, but Mercy is such a strong character that you get it.
What comes to my mind when I think about characters that grow throughout a series are the following:
Louise Penny’s Three Pines novels. I particularly like the growth of Jean Guy – as he relates to Gamashe, with his wife and children, and with himself.
Susan Hill’s series with the Serrailler family. Simon and Cat are both interesting in themselves, their growth with their partners and their aging parents
I know many people have strong feels about JK Rowling, but her Robert Galbraith novels with CB Strike and Robyn have lots of character growth.
An older example is Lawrence Block’s Matthew Scudder novels. His growth as a recovering alcoholic to his relationship with Elaine are well done. Also NYC feels like a character in these books, and I was there for it. I do not like Block’s other series or his 9-11 Standalone (loathed it actually), but the scudder novels I’ve kept.
Perhaps a less well known series is Giles Blunt’s John Cardinal novels. Great character growth there, too.
Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie novels are excellent individually, but Brodie’s emotional growth arcs throughout, both with his wives and his children. These start with Case Histories and the most recent is Death at the Sign of the Rook.
Elizabeth George’s mystery series shows long term character development of Havers and Lynley.
It’s not a new series but the Kate Sugak mystery series by Dana Stabendow was to me a really good continuous development of the main characters throughout the series. There was mystery, love and loss and an insight into Alaska and First Nations cultures. Plus a great dog.
I gotta drink more coffee before I hit send:
Kate Shugak
Dana Stabenow
Have you tried any of Ilona Andrews series? They write paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and romantasy. And all of their series are fantastic!
Sherry Thomas – Lady Sherlock series and Ilona Andrews – Kate Daniels or Innkeeper series
How about Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series? Not only is it terrific art, history and great mysteries, the development of the relationship between Gabriel and his wife Kiara continues and grows through several of the books in the series.
Another recommendation for the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. This is hands-down my favorite urban fantasy series. Kate (along with her eventual love interest) is the protagonist over the 10 book series. The romance is a slow burn and the relationship grows and changes over the course of the books. The world-building is excellent and the side characters are so good that some of them have their own books. Kate is full of snark and I think you’d appreciate that.
Some people think the first book isn’t good, but I disagree. It’s not the best book in the series, but I find that’s often the case. That first book was good enough to hook me into the series. Kate is a bad-ass but she also has vulnerabilities that start to show in the first book and that are explored and sometimes overcome in later books.
Kate is a sword master, so you can expect a lot of violence, but there’s no SA.
I second, third, the Corinna Chapman mysteries. Both for the single protagonist and for a romance that develops over the series. I like the Miss Fisher mysteries too but Phrynne didn’t want to be tied down to anyone romantically.
I’d also suggest The No. 1 Ladies’s Detective Agency. Precious relationship and eventual marriage develops over several books.
A Discovery of Witches series might fit the bill as would Anne McCaffrey’s Acorna and Freedom series.
CJ Archer’s Glass and Steel series is a possibility although they might be considered to have two protagonists instead of one.
I used to love the Stephanie Plum series but I got fed up with Stephanie’s lack of growth in character, romantic choices, financial and living situations, and relationships in general. She didn’t have to chose Joe or Ranger but the constant dithering and will they/won’t they wore me out.