Just Desserts – Series Share 2021 Results

Friday, 28 May 2021 15:39

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At the May 2021 Just Desserts meeting that took place online using Zoom meeting software, 14 members participated in our annual “Series Share” discussion, in which attendees were encouraged to read the first or second volume in a new series that’s started within the past few years, and share their thoughts in a “round-robin” format, and three more group members shared their selections via e-mail. Here’s a list of the novels/series that were mentioned by group members. We asked all attendees to also give a “Thumbs Up” or “Thumbs Down” for whatever series they sampled – all participants this month gave a “Thumbs Up” to whatever they read – with only one “so-so” rating (mentioned below):

• The Mercy Carr series by Paula Munier, including the first three volumes A Borrowing of Bones, Blood Search and The Hiding Place
• The Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas, starting with A Study in Scarlet Women
• The Heathcliff Lennox mystery series by Karen Baugh Menhuin, starting with Murder at Melrose Court (actually four different group members all read this!)
• The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Orman, starting with The Thursday Murder Club (two group members read this!)
• The World’s End Bureau Victorian Mysteries series by Alys Clare, starting with The Woman Who Spoke to Spirits
• The Vera Stanhope mystery series by Ann Cleeves, in this case #4 Silent Voices – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Charlotte Holmes YA series by Brittany Cavallero, starting with the first two, A Study in Charlotte and The Last of August (this reader preferred them as audiobooks)
• The Pelican Harbor series by Coleen Coble, starting with One Little Lie (this was the only so-so recommendation of the evening!)
• The Robin Lockwood series by Philip Margolin, starting with The Third Victim, Perfect Alibi and A Reasonable Doubt
• The Mobile Response Team series by Allison Brennan, starting with Third to Die
• The Bree Taggert series by Melinda Leigh, in this case #2 See Her Die – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Jane Wunderly series by Erica Ruth Neubauer, starting with the first two, Murder at the Mena House and Murder at Wedgefield (which this reader preferred as an audiobook)
• The Home to Ireland series by Carlene O’Conner, starting with Murder in Galway
• The new series of Harlem-set mysteries by Karla F.C. Holloway, starting with A Death in Harlem, and Gone Missing in Harlem
• The Queen Elizabeth II series by S.J. Bennett, starting with The Windsor Knot
• The Heather Wells series by Meg Cabot, starting with the first three Size 12 is Not Fat, Size 14 is Not Fat Either, and Big Bones
• The Aloysius Archer series by David Baldacci, starting with One Good Deed

What new mystery series that started in the past 2-3 years have you sampled lately that you’d recommend?