Saturday, December 05, 2020

12 Detective Series, 220 Books...135 of Them Read

One of the goals I set for myself coming into 2020 was to do as much catching up on the many detective series I read as I could comfortably fit into my schedule. I finished the latest John Rebus novel from Ian Rankin this morning before the Texas A&M football game, and that got me curious enough to check on my progress.  

And, I've made more progress than I thought:


The John Rebus novels by Ian Rankin:

  • 23 in total (1987-2020)
  • 12 read
  • 3 Read during 2020
  • Read novels include first 4 and last 5
  • British author
  • Set in Scotland
The Armand Gamache novels by Louise Penny:
  • 16 in total (2005-2020)
  • 13 read
  • 4 read during 2020
  • Read novels include first 4 and last 7
  • Canadian author
  • Set in Canada
The Walt Longmire novels by Craig Johnson:
  • 16 in total (2004-2020)
  • 14 read
  • 4 read in 2020
  • Read novels include first 10 and last 4
  • American author
  • Set in the U.S.
The Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James novels by Deborah Crombie:
  • 18 in total (1993-2019)
  • 8 read
  • 2 read in 2020
  • Read novels include first 2 and 4 of last 5
  • American author
  • Set in England
The Inspector Banks novels by Peter Robinson:
  • 26 in total (1987-2019)
  • 7 read
  • 1 read in 2020
  • Read novels are first 5 and last 2
  • British/Canadian author
  • Set in England
The Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connelly:
  • 23 in total (including Bosch/Ballard novels) (1992-2019)
  • 12 read
  • 0 read in 2020
  • Read novels include last 6
  • American author
  • Set in the U.S. 
The Charlie Resnick novels by John Harvey:
  • 13 in total (1989-2013)
  • 12 read
  • 0 read in 2020
  • All read but number 7
  • British Author
  • Set in England
The Thomas Lynley novels by Elizabeth George:
  • 20 in total (1988-2018)
  • 17 read
  • 0 read in 2020
  • read novels include first 14
  • American author
  • Set in England
The Alexandria Cupidi novels by William Shaw:
  • 4 in total (2016-2020)
  • 2 read
  • 2 read in 2020
  • read novels are first 2
  • British author
  • Set in England
The Inspector Wexford novels by Ruth Rendell:
  • 24 in total (1964-2013)
  • 8 read
  • 0 read in 2020
  • read novels are scattered 
  • British author
  • Set in England
The Adam Dalgliesh novels by P.D. James: 
  • 14 in total (1962-2008)
  • 7 read
  • 0 read in 2020
  • read novels include first 4
  • British author
  • Set in England
The Dave Robicheaux novels by James Lee Burke:
  • 23 in total (1987-2020)
  • 23 read
  • 1 read in 2020
  • American author
  • Set in the U.S. 
There you have it. I prepared this largely for my own edification, but hopefully I've included enough data that other readers will find it at least a little bit useful.

10 comments:

  1. You have made very good progress. I am not great on reading series books (in order LOL). Louise Penny is one of them - I still have half of hers to catch up on. Since I think 2021 will still mean plenty of home time, I hope to join a couple reading challenges to help me focus on a few goals floating around in my head.

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    1. I'm starting to worry now, Diane. What might it be like to have to wait a whole year for something new in these series? LOL

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  2. That's a challenging goal, but this is exactly the time for challenging goals!

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    1. You're right about that, Jen. I'm still finding it more difficult than normal to concentrate on any one thing at a time, but the extra hours do come in handy.

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  3. That's awesome! Good for you. I've been trying to get caught up on a few series this year, too, but I haven't done nearly as well. :)

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    1. It's been a lot of fun, Lark, to get to know some of these characters better by reading the books closer together.

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  4. Wow, you've done really well! Several series there that I read too. Plus I do want to read more of the Wexford novels. I read 2 near the end of the series (The Vault and one other) a couple of years ago and like them so much I planned to read more... from the library... and then lockdown happened. I will get to them.

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    1. Luckily, my library system continues to come through like a champ with their curbside pick-ups. I'm hoping to get there tomorrow, in fact, to pick up three I've had on hold...and to drop one off. That's not the ratio my wife prefers. :-)

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  5. You've made a lot of progress on your series this year! Good for you. I need to make my own list like this since I'm in the middle of tons of series. I love reading series, but it's definitely hard to keep up with them, especially when they're super long. I'm in the middle of a few where I can't really move on unless I go back and re-read the previous books because I've completely forgotten who's who and what's what in the series!

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    Replies
    1. The funny thing is that I've now remembered two other series I'd put aside long enough to forget going back to them. And I've added two other possible series to get involved with. That would bring me to 16 series in all.

      Until I sat down and made the list, I never would have believed I'm reading that many. Any you're right, they are hard to keep straight in my mind sometimes - but reviewing them really does help.

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