When does a mystery series start to run out of gas? - CrimeSpace2024-03-29T11:25:05Zhttps://crimespace.ning.com/forum/topics/when-does-a-mystery-series?x=1&id=537324%3ATopic%3A245001&feed=yes&xn_auth=noHi Jim
You've made me wonder…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-08-17:537324:Comment:2467202010-08-17T14:49:52.292ZGeraldine Evanshttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/GeraldineEvans
Hi Jim<br />
You've made me wonder about my own main series now... Am I guilty of any/all of these things? Probably. I suppose when you have a long-running series, it's pretty much impossible not to be guilty of a few of them. I know I don't always keep track of all my characters from book to book as I should. Sloth is the likely culprit here. My 13th novel in the Rafferty & Llewellyn crime series comes out this month (UK) and in November in the US; I'll have to read it through and see who I've…
Hi Jim<br />
You've made me wonder about my own main series now... Am I guilty of any/all of these things? Probably. I suppose when you have a long-running series, it's pretty much impossible not to be guilty of a few of them. I know I don't always keep track of all my characters from book to book as I should. Sloth is the likely culprit here. My 13th novel in the Rafferty & Llewellyn crime series comes out this month (UK) and in November in the US; I'll have to read it through and see who I've forgotten... I have to admit, I've only re…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-08-12:537324:Comment:2459132010-08-12T12:11:02.327ZCaroline Trippehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/CarolineTrippe
<b>I have to admit, I've only read three of her Wexford stories</b><br />
<br />
I discovered Ruth Rendell back in the 70s, and have been "following" her ever since, once I got hooked. I'm not sure exactly how or when that happened, but once I "discovered" her I read everything she'd written. She is not only a master of the form, but an exceptionally good writer---her style is economical and clear. She rarely disappoints, in spite of being quite prolific. Lucky you---you have many treats in store.<br />
Perhaps…
<b>I have to admit, I've only read three of her Wexford stories</b><br />
<br />
I discovered Ruth Rendell back in the 70s, and have been "following" her ever since, once I got hooked. I'm not sure exactly how or when that happened, but once I "discovered" her I read everything she'd written. She is not only a master of the form, but an exceptionally good writer---her style is economical and clear. She rarely disappoints, in spite of being quite prolific. Lucky you---you have many treats in store.<br />
Perhaps my favorite---at least of the Barbara Vine series---is "A Fatal Inversion." "A Dark Adapted Eye" is often cited as her finest BV novel, and it's certainly gripping. But "A Fatal Inversion" is a haunting examination of what can happen when the "natural order" is inverted---in this case, succession: the inheritance of a country estate by someone too young and callow to assume any kind of responsibility. In this book place is almost the protagonist: the Sussex countryside, evoked in all its idyllic beauty, yet with a sense of foreboding. "The House of Stairs" is also another good one. Rendell never dwells on "gratuitous" violence. She doesn't go in for the graphic details of any murder, which I appreciate. She doesn't avoid sex, but it's always there for a purpose, as in "The Bridesmaid," a story of sexual obsession that will chill you to the core. (This is not a Wexford novel--it's one of her other psychological explorations). Yes, she's one mystery writer who has not run out of gas! :) Gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-08-11:537324:Comment:2458482010-08-11T16:35:21.076ZCaroline Trippehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/CarolineTrippe
<b>Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender. Also commonly LGBT.</b><br />
<br />
This can make for a great story. Actually, Ruth Rendell (here I go again) dealt with a transgender theme way back in one of her early novels, "A Sleeping Life," when it was not such a hot topic, but really could make readers sit up and take notice. And then Barry Maitland did it more recently in "The Verge Practice." I hope that's not a spoiler. But, having read "A Sleeping Life," I actually had this one figured out way early.…
<b>Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender. Also commonly LGBT.</b><br />
<br />
This can make for a great story. Actually, Ruth Rendell (here I go again) dealt with a transgender theme way back in one of her early novels, "A Sleeping Life," when it was not such a hot topic, but really could make readers sit up and take notice. And then Barry Maitland did it more recently in "The Verge Practice." I hope that's not a spoiler. But, having read "A Sleeping Life," I actually had this one figured out way early. Still, the gender/identity theme cuts deep. And is of course interwined with gay/lesbian and bisexual issues. How common is it? Years ago, I was told by an aunt of mine that the husband of one of my cousins had been a cross-dresser. And this was in the 60s or 70s, probably. I expect the family did not approve. I was curious, too, if you've…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-08-11:537324:Comment:2458452010-08-11T14:57:21.870ZCaroline Trippehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/CarolineTrippe
<b>I was curious, too, if you've listened to Rendell's books on audio and what your opinion is of them.</b><br />
<br />
Hi Thomas. No, I haven't listened to any audio books. As long as they are unabridged, I can't see the harm, but I've taken exception to several of the TV dramatizations of Rendell's mysteries. (They played havoc with "Master of the Moor.") "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me" is a rather strange book---you have to accept that one of the main characters does in fact hear voices and see ghosts,…
<b>I was curious, too, if you've listened to Rendell's books on audio and what your opinion is of them.</b><br />
<br />
Hi Thomas. No, I haven't listened to any audio books. As long as they are unabridged, I can't see the harm, but I've taken exception to several of the TV dramatizations of Rendell's mysteries. (They played havoc with "Master of the Moor.") "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me" is a rather strange book---you have to accept that one of the main characters does in fact hear voices and see ghosts, believes them to be absolutely real, and acts upon it. The mystery is not so much Who Did It, but how is the complex, diastrous situation that a single event sets in motion, ultimately going to be resolved. It is intricate, multi-levelled, and at bottom it really is about class difference, and how this affects people's lives. About how people cope with difficulty, or try to; about how people try to better themselves at the expense of others, who suffers, who survives. (Hence the title: Adam and Eve and Pinch Me went down to the water to bathe; Adam and Eve wer drownded; Who Was Saved? ) How people can overlook the truth when it's right in front of them. It's actually one of her more tragic stories. I did rather like "Wolf to the Slaughter," but it used a certain technique---of keeping certain information from the reader, and leading him on with other information.<br />
OH---I just remembered another book in which Rendell (this time writing as Barbara Vine) deals with the theme of homosexuality: "The Chimneysweeper's Boy." The devastating effects of repressed, or hidden homosexuality---of what pretense does to the lives of an entire family. It's mostly generational--I t…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-08-11:537324:Comment:2458442010-08-11T14:41:53.798ZCaroline Trippehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/CarolineTrippe
<b>It's mostly generational--I think younger people are much more comfortable with gender difference than old farts like us.</b><br />
<br />
Let's hope so, but I worry that SOME of the young are being indoctrinated...<br />
a lot of people want to feel safe, to feel that their culture and their beliefs are not being threatened. In other words, not being"subsumed" into some other culture. That's what really scares them. I think I said before that some people can't believe they are right if anyone else is also…
<b>It's mostly generational--I think younger people are much more comfortable with gender difference than old farts like us.</b><br />
<br />
Let's hope so, but I worry that SOME of the young are being indoctrinated...<br />
a lot of people want to feel safe, to feel that their culture and their beliefs are not being threatened. In other words, not being"subsumed" into some other culture. That's what really scares them. I think I said before that some people can't believe they are right if anyone else is also right, and they can't accept being wrong. I rather think that Parker's…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-08-11:537324:Comment:2458222010-08-11T11:06:50.497ZRon McMillanhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/RonMcMillan
I rather think that Parker's Spenser series suffered from other (relatively forgivable) foibles, rather than any sort of steady decline in quality. One thing that managed to annoy me was the increasing tendency to try and disguise a novella as a novel. It doesn't matter how fat you make the line spaces and how short you make the chapters (so that every chapter break generates at least one extra page in the total count), when your book struggles to top 50,000 words and you're passing it off as a…
I rather think that Parker's Spenser series suffered from other (relatively forgivable) foibles, rather than any sort of steady decline in quality. One thing that managed to annoy me was the increasing tendency to try and disguise a novella as a novel. It doesn't matter how fat you make the line spaces and how short you make the chapters (so that every chapter break generates at least one extra page in the total count), when your book struggles to top 50,000 words and you're passing it off as a full-length novel, you really are beginning to take the piss out of your reading/buying public.<br />
<br />
But the stories were so well-crafted, so tightly composed, with laugh-out-loud dialogue interaction, that I have certainly read every one of them, and many of them several times over.<br />
<br />
Not so Parker's other series. His Jesse Stone books were acceptable reads, but the ones with the female lead whose name I forget (see how memorable <b>they</b> were?) struck me as trite and patronising, as if written by an ageing male romantic, which they were.<br />
<br />
I enjoy Child's Reacher series, but always thought that his protagonist was, from day one, straitened by his mono-dimensional character. He's Superman in shabby chinos, Rambo without an arsenal to hand, Zorro minus the exuberance.<br />
<br />
A series with a central character whom I really enjoy is James W. Hall's Florida-based one. Their protagonis it 'Flood'. A believable, flawed character thrown into quite unbelievable situations. Seldom disappointing.<br />
<br />
Ron McMillan<br />
<a href="http://www.ronmcmillan.com" target="_blank">www.ronmcmillan.com</a> Which book does Rendell deal…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-08-11:537324:Comment:2458192010-08-11T10:56:28.593ZCaroline Trippehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/CarolineTrippe
<b>Which book does Rendell deal with homosexuality?</b><br />
<br />
Hm. I said that,....let me think. In an early In an early book,<br />
From Doon with Death," she dealt with the theme of repressed lesbianism. There was a homosexual MP in "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me" who was hiding the fact--pretending to be married to a woman. The main character in that was a mentally ill (delusional) young woman, and the theme was, let's see---denial, and the ways of masking truth, and the willingness of others not to see it.…
<b>Which book does Rendell deal with homosexuality?</b><br />
<br />
Hm. I said that,....let me think. In an early In an early book,<br />
From Doon with Death," she dealt with the theme of repressed lesbianism. There was a homosexual MP in "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me" who was hiding the fact--pretending to be married to a woman. The main character in that was a mentally ill (delusional) young woman, and the theme was, let's see---denial, and the ways of masking truth, and the willingness of others not to see it. Rendell deals quite a bit with racism---as in "Simisola." How ordinary people have to deal with racism in an in creasingly multicultural society---how difficult it is when you don't want to be racist but have to struggle with ingrained attitudes. Rendell does have great compassion towards those she sees as oppressed, repressed. And a clash of cultures always provides a source of narrative tension. Thanks, Thomas. That's a grea…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-08-10:537324:Comment:2457652010-08-10T16:54:45.047ZJon Loomishttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JonLoomis
Thanks, Thomas. That's a great description of my approach. It's pretty descriptive of P'town, too.
Thanks, Thomas. That's a great description of my approach. It's pretty descriptive of P'town, too. Does she? Sorry, my memory is…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-08-10:537324:Comment:2457482010-08-10T13:59:37.245ZI. J. Parkerhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
Does she? Sorry, my memory isn't good enough, but it may very well be so.
Does she? Sorry, my memory isn't good enough, but it may very well be so. You know what I hate the most…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-08-10:537324:Comment:2457292010-08-10T04:03:45.122ZStacyhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/StacyDeanne
You know what I hate the most in a series? When someone died in one of the earlier books (you barely remember the character) and then they pop back up in a later installment and it's that they faked their death or was some kind of ghost! I HATE that! That's why I stopped watching soap operas! LOL!
You know what I hate the most in a series? When someone died in one of the earlier books (you barely remember the character) and then they pop back up in a later installment and it's that they faked their death or was some kind of ghost! I HATE that! That's why I stopped watching soap operas! LOL!