Books to Love: The Series Stack
I don’t know about you, but I happen to thoroughly enjoy a well apportioned series. It affords me the chance to really immerse myself in the an author’s style of writing, a time period, and characters I’ve come to love.
Some of the series I’m writing about today I’ve written about in part previously on other blog posts. (I’ll provide links for you so that you can read more about them, should any one take your fancy.)
The Pink Carnation Series
I will never forget the time when I was merrily reading through The Masque of the Black Tulip, the second installment in Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation series, when I came across a rather fantastic minor character who seemed to exude a Sir Percival Blakeney a.k.a. the Scarlett Pimpernel vibe as he twirled the heroine on the dance floor and spouted such erudite vocabulary as sesquipedalian with aplomb. If I had not already been enjoying the series, that bit of brilliance would have solidified me as a Pink Carnation fan.
If you are at all familiar with Baroness Orczy’s The Scarlett Pimpernel (see The Scourge of Frenchies Everywhere post), that erstwhile member of the English gentry who dons his disguises, sneaks into France, and rescues as many aristos as he can from Madama Guillotine, then The Pink Carnation series is one you must not neglect. From the first novel, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, you meet a band of English aristocracy who feel honor bound to carry on the work that their beloved Scarlet Pimpernel has been doing. Sir Percy, the Pimpernel, has retired, leaving a place to be filled. And there are line of men who are willing- regardless of the danger- to step into those polished shoes.
Just as The Scarlett Pimpernel allowed all the action to revolve around the mounting relational conflict between Sir Percy and his wife, Marguerite, each novel in Pink Carnation series focuses on the burgeoning relationship between one of the members of the Pink Carnation’s contingency and their lady love- or, in some cases, the shoe is on the other foot and one of the ‘weaker’ sex defies danger and hones her skills as a spy whilst contending with the ups and downs of love.
There are twelve novels in this series and each one of them is wonderful. Furthermore, they do not all revolve around the mounting conflict between France and England. In The Betrayal of the Blood Lily, you’ll travel to India. In The Deception of the Emerald Ring, you’ll find yourself in the Emerald Isle. Furthermore, Lauren Willig pays homage to some of the current literary crazes, such as in The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla (which I had the honor of helping to name) which chronicles the tons’ current obsession with all things vampire. The Temptation of the Night Jasmine will have you reading about the very real Hellfire Club, which you sort of have to read about to believe.
So many of the characters from these novels have become old friends to me. I revisit them when I need to have my spirits lifted. And, the cord of consistency throughout all these books is the modern element of Eloise. She’s an American scholar in England writing her thesis about the bevy of English spies who helped to bring Napolean to his knees. As luck would have it, the archives she needs access to are in the moldering country estate of thoroughly eligible if not Darcy-esque British bachelor. With each book, you’ll see how their relationship progresses as Eloise finds herself immersed in the research of the characters you’re reading about. It’s all great fun, particularly in The Temptation of the Night Jasmine when Eloise is so immersed in the landscape of spies that she begins to see them in her real world- everywhere.
The Pink Carnation series will not disappoint. Not only will you have uproarious fun with memorable characters and thrilling adventures, but the writing is absolutely top drawer. And, if you want to read some well worded allusions, then Lauren Willig is your woman. (Check out The English Wife and Literary Allusions post I wrote which features beautiful allusions from Ms. Willig’s stand-alone The English Wife.)
The Tiger and Del Series
I have never been one for fantasy. It’s just not a genre that I ordinarily gravitate to. However, when I discovered the fantastic Lady of the Forest series by Jennifer Roberson (see The Magic of Romance post), I enthusiastically sought out everything else that she had authored. Which is how I discovered the Tiger and Del series.
The novels are told from Tiger’s perspective, a legendary sword dancer who was born a slave in the South but won his freedom my wielding his special magic with a sword. The name Tiger fits him so well. He’s majestic, frighteningly alluring, and yet potent and dangerous. With a clear, honest voice, he introduces himself to the reader. And while he may be one of the best sword dancers of the South, the self-assurance he possesses which tips occasionally to arrogance is also tempered with a circumspection that makes him approachable as well as relatable.
Through a series of events, Tiger finds himself traveling to the North, where frigid climes provide a novelty he has yet to encounter. The weather is not the only element that surprises him. It is in the North that Tiger meets Del. Trained by some of the most advanced magicians and sword dancers of the North, Del possesses a unique approach to the sword. With her cold, ethereal beauty, white blonde hair, and lithe figure, she seems to encapsulate all the elements of the North in a woman.
Being a red-blooded man, Tiger is drawn to her physically, but Del is too singleminded to bother about physical congress. Rather, she enlists Tiger to aid her in her quest to rescue her younger brother who was captured and taken South as a slave. In Tiger she seeks a knowledgable guide to the nuances of the landscape and climate of the South. However, she never anticipated the depth of knowable he possesses in magic and in sword dancing.
Together, this unlikely duo develop a deep-seated, abiding friendship which spans seven novels. The adventures they share, the dangers they encounter, the horrors they endure, the hardships they overcome forge an unbreakable bond between them that serves as the foundation for this superb series.
As I have come to expect from Jennifer Roberson, the descriptions of the rigors and beauties of the warring landscapes of the North and South are rendered well. Each province embodies the aspects of the characters. The North, it’s frigidity, it’s harshness, it’s unbreakable strength are fostered within Del. But the unrelenting eye of heaven that beats down, the sparse oases that refresh, the abrasive sands that rasp away rough edges, these are all attributes Tiger displays. Yet, as these two travel the North and the South and then further afield across seas to distant, unknown lands, their traits begin to intermingle and who they are becomes multifaceted. This is the way of true friends; we grow together, enhancing each other along the way.
All the Tiger and Del books are available in eBook format as well as traditional books. And, the eighth novel in the series, Sword Bearer, will be released in June 2022, so there’s plenty of time to catch up on the seven previous ones before the new one hits shelves.
Fear Nothing Series
One of my favorite things about Dean Koontz is how well he captures the landscape of California. As a child, I would spend all my summers out in central coastal California with my paternal grandparents and, I confess, to missing that time in my life. However, when I pick up a Dean Koontz novel, it’s as though I am revisit the places that I grew to love as a kid.
Regardless of how many years it’s been since I picked up Fear Nothing, the writing in this novel conveyed the story and place so well for me that I can still see it unfold before me in vivid detail. There are so many aspects to this short series that are lovable.
There’s Christopher Snow. Having been diagnosed as a suffering from xeroderma pigmentosum, Snow lives his entire life in the darkness, shielded from the perilous rays of the sun. The few times he braves the crepuscular light, he’s slathered in 50+ SPF sunscreen, SPF rated clothing that covers every inch of his skin, and shades that may evoke a sense of coolness but are necessary to shield his eyes from that unforgiving eye of heaven.
He lives at night, wandering the idyllic streets of Moonlight Bay, loving the sound of surf on sand, taking up his surfboard to master the waves, and socializing with that unique band of persons who making their living in the shadows when the rest of the normal world is asleep. Seeing the world through the prism of night gives this series a special feel, a sort of special hush that is both quiet in nature as well as disturbed.
You see, though Moonlight Bay may be one of the most beautiful places in the world to live, there is something rotten in the state of California- and it’s not just the politics.
With the help of his boyhood best friend, the uber cool Bobby, a professional surfer who has turned a passion into a true profession, and his lady love Sasha, a nighttime disc jockey with a throughly sultry voice, Christopher Snow begins to unearth the dastardly deeds and devious dangers that thrive in the darkness in Moonlight Bay.
Koontz lovers will be thrilled to see the tried and true elements we count on in his novels. There’s Snow’s ultra-intelligent dog, Orson, who keeps Snow company as well as sane. There are a cast of quirky minor characters who give lightness to these novels just as stiff egg whites ensure a perfect Angle food cake. One part of the novels that I absolutely love is the salty, surfer lingo that Bobby and Chris bandy back and forth. It’s erudite, to be sure, but it’s also hilarious and a fantastic eclipsing of the surfing community (of which many of my relatives have been prominent). In fact, those surfing linguistics inspired me to writing a parody of Hamlet’s To Be or Not to Be soliloquy. While it may not be perfect iambic pentameter, it was great fun to write when I was in high school.
The Longmire Series
The newest series I’ve delved into is Craig Johnson’s Longmire series. If you read my blog post Melancholy and the Detective, then you’ll know that the A&E turned Netflix series Longmire is a favorite of mine. So, it stands to reason that when I found Craig Johnson’s books at my local library, I had to read them. And what a treat they are.
Walter Longmire is not the stereotypical cowboy I’ve heard derided too often in many an Easterner’s conversation. He’s not the shoot from the hip, trigger happy sheriff that is too often portrayed by those who are more comfortable with their ideas of something rather than the reality.
Walt Longmire is a great character; a poetic cowboy, a sophisticated vaquero, a man who maintains a stark simplicity in his personal life, but who entertains complex, intellectual ideas, philosophies, and thoughts. This man is well-versed in the classics whether literary or philosophical as well as OITs (Old Indian Tricks).
Craig Johnson does for the modern West what Maynard Dixon did for the Big Sky Country (see Learning to See post). A Cold Dish, the first novel in the series, still resonates with me even though I read it quite a while ago. The images are evocative, calling to mind the soul of the cowboy and the spirit of the Indian.
Walt Longmire is the sheriff for the fictional country of Absaroka County, Wyoming. He’s on the backside of his prime years, though he would never admit to it nor should he.
Life ticks by at a slow pace with the most interesting police calls having to do with wildlife or farm animals running amok. However, things start to get hairy when Melissa Real Bird, a Cheyenne girl with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, is gang raped by four boys. Tensions are now high in the community, particular between the Cheyenne Nation and the townsfolk.
The case is gutting for Walter as he knows the Real Bird family personally through his spirit brother Henry Standing Bear. When the sentence handed down by the court amounts to nothing more than a slap on the wrist for the boys, it leaves a bad taste in Walt’s mouth. However, when the boys start showing up dead, one by one, whatever his personal feelings about it all, he knows he must get to the bottom of it. He just never imagined the bottom of it would take him on such an excruciating journey, one that almost takes his best friend’s life as well as his own.
The Western milieu is perfectly conveyed. As is the unique mysticism inherent in the Indian Nations.
However, all Johnson’s novel plots are not set exclusively in the West. In Kindness Goes Unpunished, Walter And Henry travel cross country to Philadelphia to visit Walt’s daughter, Cady, and meet with Walt’s deputy, Victoria Moretti’s, extended family. Of course, the mysteries and drama unfold rapidly and with great pain, but to balance out the hardships, Johnson weaves in elements of lightness and humor, such as the inclusion of the opera diva who is Vic’s father, Victor Moretti. Truth be told, I enjoyed this novel tremendously because of the fun juxtaposition of the Easterners meeting a man who doesn’t quite fit their preconceived notion of what a Western sheriff should be. Did I mention the prevalence of opera throughout the novel? That was another plus in my book, particularly how Walt identified and knew so much about the different composers and compositions that he encounters. Such a Renaissance man! How can you not love him?
Each novel builds upon the last. And with each passing plot, the stakes get higher and higher. Yet, there’s something solid and reassuring about the stoic, clear-headed manner in which Walter and Henry approach every obstacle that life throws at them.
These are very real men and I appreciate the unapologetic manner in which Johnson writes them, warts and all. In any of the Longmire novels which I have read, I am always surprised by the visceral punch I experience somewhere in the book. Johnson manages to pack a lot of emotional impact without tapping into any emotional tropes. And he documents and expresses the gamut of humanity; there will be times in the face of witnessing evil that you will sit back and experience the pathos of what drove a person to commit an evil act.
I am always thrilled when I find an author who’s writing style is so different from my own and yet entirely successful. I’m enjoying it immensely and believe that I am learning a great deal from the various techniques he uses to move the reader through his novels. Through the eyes of Longmire, we’ll assess a scene, point out the aspects that catch the attention, and then study them for more detail and revelation, just a sheriff and detective would do in real life. This really helps put the reader in the character’s head and see through his eyes.
I also appreciate how Craig Johnson takes the time to emphasize why the Cheyenne, Crow, Lakota, and other Nations prefer to be called Indians; though I have heard why directly from the Indians, it’s important that more people understand how thoroughly insulting the so called politically correct term Native American is to any of the Indians Nations.
If you are looking for an series that captures the varied context of the American West, showing a slice of the modern day cowboy and Indian, then Longmire is just the ticket. Much is being said in regards to the conditions and injustices of the world; Johnson does not shy away from that. But he writes with a palpable hope conveyed through two men who care enough about each other they exude the greater love hath no man than he lay down his life for his friend vibe. Those sorts of relationships, regardless of cultural differences, are important to remind ourselves of in this world today.
The Lady Darby Series
After discovering Anna Lee Huber through her Verity Kent series (see below), I was delighted to discover that she had penned another mystery series, this one set in Victorian Britain. More so than the well-structured plot lines, I believe it is Kiera, the Lady Darby, who makes these novels so enjoyable for me. She is an outlier. While her husband was alive, he shielded her moderately from the scorn that many in her class cast at her, but after his death, she feels the full force of societal disapproval. And why? Because he husband was an anatomist intent on learning the inner structure of the human body via autopsy and he enlisted his wife’s singular skills as an artist to document what he found therein. In the prim and proper Victorian era, that sort of curiosity within the gentry was frown upon entirely.
Seeking refuge at her he sister’s estate in Scotland where she hopes to disappear into her studio and while away the hours undisturbed, Lady Darby is enlisted once again to use her unique knowledge of the human anatomy when a house guest of her sister’s turns up murdered. Forming an unlikely and unwanted alliance with the furtive Sebastian Gage, Kiera becomes embroiled in an investigation in which the stakes are continually rising.
Kiera’s quiet, introverted nature endears her to the reader, but when she experiences that unquenchable thirst for justice, she becomes all the more impressive as she seemingly goes against her own nature because she must see the truth outed and justice served. Throw in the enigmatic Gage and you have the recipe for a duo worthy of the annals of dynamic duos.
There are several series that I will include in a cursory manner as I have written about them rather extensively on other posts. However, if they pique your interest, I’ve included a link to those posts so that you can explore them more thoroughly.
The Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman Series
I am a great lover of Jane Austen. And, as so many Austen fans know, it’s a tragedy that she left us with only six complete novels. This sent me further afield to explore the fan fictions that have cropped up over the years. I’ve read a great many of them, loathed some, loved others, and been indifferent to a few, too. Among those dearly loved in Pamela Aiden’s Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman Trilogy. With a style that mirrors Austen herself, Aiden recreates Pride and Prejudice over the course of three novels, only instead of being from Elizabeth POV, it’s written entirely from Darcy’s. Some of the story overlaps, as it will when Darcy and Elizabeth are together, but those many months when they are not in each others company provided the perfect breeding ground for Aiden to flesh out Darcy’s character in keeping with the one sketched by Austen while also immersing the reader into the inner workings of the Regency ton what it was like to navigate it. I’ve written more about this series in Books to Love: Variation on Austen.
The Empress of Rome Series
One of my guilty pleasures in historical fiction, particularly set within the ancient world. Kate Quinn’s Empress of Rome series is excellent. Having been steeped in this ancient world as a child when her father read her histories of Rome as bedtime stories, Kate Quinn is a master of the nuances of Roman political intrigue over the course of numerous emperors. While every book in this series is a worthy read, I still believe that the first, Mistress of Rome holds a firm place in my heart as the favorite within the series. It’s actually the first one that I read even though Daughters of Rome comes before it. I remember the details, the political intrigues, and the emotional arcs in technicolor. You can read more about The Empress of Rome series in my post All Roads Lead to Rome, where I discuss each novel in detail.
The Lady Sherlock Series
I am usually leery when people take well-known, fully fleshed figures in fiction who are men and then reimagine them as women. To be honest, I just don’t like it. Ordinarily I would pass them by, but having had the opportunity to meet with Shelly Thomas in person and hear what she had to say about her approach to this series, I decided to give it a try. I am glad that I did for two reason. First, the series is exceptional; well-written, well-plotted. I cannot complain about a single aspect of it. Second, it showed me that the feat of transforming THE Sherlock Holmes into a female could be done in a plausible manner. I recommend this series whole heartedly, particularly if you enjoy a good mystery served alongside a well-apportioned afternoon tea. Because when you have tea with Lady Sherlock, you will be guaranteed of a full spread of delicious confections and divine sandwiches. You can read more about this series in my post The Lady Sherlock Series.
The Verity Kent Series
With the popularity of Downton Abbey, the 1920s have been roaring once again. If you enjoy murder mysteries and the 1920s, then you must give Anna Lee Huber’s Verity Kent series a try. Set in the 1920s, Verity Kent has survived the Great War, but having lost two very important people, her dearest brother and her husband. Now that the war is over, she’s doing her best to try and salvage what she can of her life. However, while she might try to put the pain behind her, someone doesn’t want to let her. She receives a missive that he beloved Sidney may have committed treason; Verity cannot believe that of her husband. When she receives an invitation to an engagement party of one of Sidney’s fellow officers on the remote Umbersea Island, she leaps at the chance to mingle with the men who served beside her husband during the war. Perhaps she can glean something in regards to these heinous allegations. But Verity may be in for some rude surprises as she digs deeper into the past, ones that will forever alter her future. Each novel is well crafted and possesses the feel of the literature from the time in which it comes, which is an added bonus for me. I appreciate that sort of thoroughness. You can read more about Verity Kent in my blog post March Madness: Murder Mysteries as well as several other murder mystery series that are absolutely bang on for good writing and engrossing entertainment.
I honestly could go on and on, but I will curtail myself as I know I have provided a lot of information in this post. However, it is my great hope that you will find hours of enjoyment just as I have.
Is there any particular series, dear reader, which you are keen on?
