Don’t Miss This Mystery Series

Sometimes I get caught up in reading the newest and latest mysteries and forget there are excellent mysteries that were written decades ago. I thought I’d share my favorite series from the first half of the 20th century in hopes that would inspire other people to share their favorite authors from long ago. Dorothy L. Sayers wrote a four-book series between 1930 and 1937 featuring her well-known sleuth at the time, Lord Peter Wimsey. The books are, in order, Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night, and Busman’s Honeymoon. I’d highly recommend reading them in order, although if you are short on time, I think Gaudy Night is one of the best mysteries ever written and it can stand alone. Sayers’ mysteries are all well-thought out, intricate puzzles.

In this particular series she introduces Harriet Vane, a mystery author, who initially is on trial for killing her ex-lover. Lord Peter Wimsey steps in, as he often does, to disentangle her from this mess. In the process he falls in love. She does not. The next three books each have a mystery at the core, but also follow the Wimsey-Vane relationship. It is a remarkable series for the time, especially with the inclusion of a strong, independent woman as a lead character. It is also remarkably undated, although I think there are some academic quarrels with how Sayers represented servants. Sayers was one of the first women to graduate from Oxford University and was possibly trying in this work to imagine how two highly educated people would work out the issues of love and work. I think this is timely today as the women I know struggle with raising a family and a career simultaneously.

Gaudy Night deserves special mention. It is a mystery set at Oxford, where Harriet Vane, a former student, is asked to help. Here is a portion of the author’s note to help set the tone, “Certain apologies are, however, due from me: first, to the University of Oxford, for having presented it with a Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of my own manufacture and with a college of 150 women students, in excess of the limit ordained by statute.” Someone is harassing the students and teachers of this women’s college and early on it becomes evident it must be an inside job. Sayers lays a trail of clues that upon further readings of the book make the identity of the perpetrator clear, but I had no idea the first time I read it. Lord Peter Wimsey appears only at brief intervals to advise Harriet Vane, but those scenes are some of the best-written emotional scenes, which involve hardly any physical contact, that I have ever read.

Feel free to send me your suggestions for great mystery authors over the years at escapetobooks AT gmail DOT com, or leave them as comments.

For the pre-teen (and older) reader in your life

The Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling are said to have influenced the current generation to read much more than otherwise. My generation had The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. There is tremendous age gap between those last two, and only recently did I realize there are many well-written books that can entertain kids who are not quite ready for The Lord of the Rings or even the later, and darker, books in the Harry Potter series.

Tamora Pierce has written a number of books, most notably the Song of the Lioness, Protector of the Small, and the Immortals series. These are science fiction books set in a realm where otherworldly powers are common. The protagonists are generally strong, female characters. Also, each series usually has four books in it giving readers lots of engaging material. Another author who puts girls at the center of his books is Phillip Pullman, most known now for science fiction series His Dark Materials, which includes The Golden Compass. Less well known is his Sally Lockhart trilogy, set in Victorian England. Although, this series may not be for younger readers as it does include an opium addict.

Other adventuresome fantasy/science fiction series for kids include the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini with book number 3 still on the way. Dragons play a major role in these books. Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series is still timely even though it was published many years ago. These books are set in Wales, which adds an interesting dimension. The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander are another good series if you missed them. These are for younger readers and often found in the children’s section of the library as opposed to the young adult section.

For a non-science fiction adventure series try The Tillerman Series by Cynthia Voigt. Four siblings try to stick together after their mother can not take care of them any longer.

My kids are just starting The Chronicles of Narnia. It is so fun to finally be reading literature with them that takes more than a single sitting to get through and has a complicated plot. I can’t wait to introduce them to the books mentioned here.