I have been having a bit of a crime fest recently. I ordered, on reservation, those Peter James books I had not read. I didn’t go out and buy them but borrowed them from the library. I have now read all the Roy Grace series..ie those books that have “DEAD” in the title.
I should qualify that by saying that I have yet to read Dead Man’s Time which is the ninth and most recently released novel in the series.
An interview with the author talking about his latest book is available for download here at the ABC.
I really enjoy crime fiction but have discovered when reading this series that the author has to repeat some aspects in each novel so that a reader who is reading the novel as a stand alone book has the same information as someone who has read the series. The repetition could be distracting but I found I skipped over those parts that I knew I had read previously.
I am still waiting to find out if we ever discover what happened to Sandy?????
Early this year I did a post on some of his books I had read.
I think it’s quite a trial for authors writing a series to give the right amount of background information for a new reader while not boring anyone who’s already read the previous books. I sometimes get fed up of reading the same things by an author who feels they have to explain, for example, a certain character trait of a main character in every book featuring them but I appreciate it’s a tricky business. It sounds as if you’re quite a fan of Peter James!
I find it difficult to be critical of authors as I know I could never write a book!
Yes, I am a fan of Peter James.