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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Rx for Series Readers: Hurricane Reading from eSequels

As part of a panel moderated by Janet Husband, the force behind eSequels, I will be appearing at the Public Library Association Conference in Philadelphia.  From the eSequels blog, here are the details:
AND this year Janet will be moderating a panel of experts talking about Trends in Genre Series.  Panelists will be:  John Charles on Romance, Joyce Saricks on Gentle Reads, Becky Spratford on Horror and Keir Graff on Mysteries.  It’s sure to be fun.  Don’t miss it.  Day and time to be announced.  
Part of the work Husband does on the eSequels database is to compile special lists of books on a certain topic.  But unlike general book lists, all of the books on the eSequels lists are part of a larger series.

This is an important distinction since there are many readers who stipulate that they only want to read series. These readers come in and beg for books with characters they can follow. They want to know there are 10-15 more books to come.  These are readers who cannot bear to close a book and leave a protagonist behind.  They want to return to them again and again, like an old friend, and invite them back into their lives for another story.

For these patrons, and there are tons of them (why else would our shelves be overflowing with series?), an eSequels boook list is just what the doctor ordered.

Here is an example.  Recently, Husband passed the attached list of Hurricane novels on to me with permission to share it with you.  Enjoy.
 
Hurricane Novels: Great Reading Before, Between, or After storms (or during if the lights stay on)
--compiled by Janet Husband for www.eSequels.com, 9/1/2011
Mystery
Bonansinga, Jay   Twisted  (Pinnacle, 2006)
Former FBI profiler Ulysses Grove comes to post-Katrina New Orleans for the funeral of a friend.  As he uncovers disturbing traces of past ritual murder, another hurricane approaches. 

Casey, Kathryn   The Killing Storm   (Minotaur, 2010)
Lt. Sarah Armstrong, a criminal profiler for the Texas Rangers, searches for a kid 4-year-old as Juanita, a category 4 hurricane, heads for Galveston.

Clark, Mary Jane   Nobody Knows (St. Martin's, 2002)
 T V reporter Cassie Sheridan, now a reporter for a local Sarasota (FL) television station, is following  the course of a hurricane as a hunt for a stolen ring follows its own course. 

Connor, Beverly    Skeleton Crew   (Cumberland, 1999)
A hurricane interferes with  forensic archeologist  Lindsay Chamberlain investigation of a 500-year-old galleon sunk off the Georgia shore. 

Conwell, Kent    Skeletons of the Atchafalaya (Avalon, 2003)
During a family renion at a plantation house in Whiskey Bend, LA, private eye Tony Boudreaux is trapped with everyone else when hurricane Bella blows through—followed by three murders.

Cussler, Clive  Trojan Odyssey  (Putnam, 2003)
A hurricane threatens the Ocean Wanderer, a luxury floating hotel in the Caribbean owned by a mysterious billionaire.


Haddam, Jane    Baptism in Blood (Bantam, 1996)
Bellerton, North Carolina, is the scene of a hurricane and the murder of an infant whose body is found on the grounds of a controversial women's retreat.

Parrish, P. J.   Island of Bones (Pinnacle, 2005)
 After a hurricane whips into Florida, Private Investigator Louis Kincaid finds a baby's skull on the                debris-filled beach on the Gulf. 

Wingate,  Anne    The Eye of Anna (Walker, 1990)
 Japanese-American police chief of Bayport, Texas Mark  Shigata fights Hurricane Anna as he searches for a serial killer.

Katrina
Abel, Kenneth    Down in the Flood  (Minotaur, 2009)
Set in New Orleans shortly before and during Hurricane Katrina. Danny desperately tries to save Louis Sams, who has been kidnapped to prevent him from testifying against his crooked concrete manufacturer boss.

Burke, James Lee   Tin Roof Blowdown   (S&S, 2007)  
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, detective Dave  Robicheaux is assigned to investigate the shooting of two looters who were foolish enough to ransack the home of New Orleans's most powerful mobster.

Downs, Tim   First the Dead   (Nelson, 2008)
In New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina,  Dr. Nick Polchak, the “Bug Man”, discovers several floating corpses who were dead before the hurricane hit.

Dunbar, Tony   Tubby Meets Katrina (NewSouth Books, 2006)
Tubby winds up in New Orleans' Convention Center as Hurricane Katrina hits and his daughter finds herself the target of an escaped psychopath who envisions himself as the human embodiment of the storm.

Historical
McDonald, Craig    Toros and Torsos   (Bleak House, 2008)  
The  Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 hits Key West  in a mystery about a killer who rearranges his  victims to resemble surrealistic art.  Ernest  Hemingway and Orson Welles play cameo roles.

Funny
Hiaasen, Carl   Stormy Weather  (Knopf, 1995) 
New York ad executive Max Lamb decides to add excitement to his Orlando honeymoon by taking his bride and his camcorder into the teeth of Hurricane Andrew.

Barry, Dave   Tricky Business  (Berkley, 2003)
The usual Dave Barry crooks and fall guys are aboard an offshore gambling boat when a hurricane hits. 

Dorsey, Tim   Hurricane Punch (Morrow, 2007)
Lovable homicidal maniac Serge A. Storm roars across Florida in a stolen Hummer with his usually drunk or stoned friend, Coleman, following one hurricane after another, evading his nemesis, Agent Mahoney.

Spooky
Koontz, Dean   Dead and Alive (Bantam, 2009)
As a devastating hurricane approaches New Orleans, the future of mankind depends upon Frankenstein's original creation.

Lehane, Dennis   Shutter Island  (Morrow, 2003)
Two U. S. Marshalls tackle a missing person case at a hospital for the criminally insane.   The gale force winds of an approaching hurricane heighten the suspense.

Light-hearted mysteries (Cozies)
Andrews, Donna   Murder with Puffins (Thomas Dunne, 2000)
Hurricane Gladys hits Maine as Meg  Langslow and her boyfriend travel to Monhegan Island for their vacation.  A very unpopular local artist is murdered soon after they arrive.

Cohen, Nancy    Died Blonde   (Kensington, 2004)
Marla Shore, hairdresser and owner of the Cut'N'Dye beauty Salon in Florida is the star of the Bad Hair Day mysteryseries.  In this episode Marla finds a dead body in her shop as a hurricane hits town.

Hart, Carolyn   Dead Man's Island   (Bantam, 1993)
Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins ( "Henrie O"), a retired investigative reporter, helps an old friend discover who tried to kill him with poisoned candy.  Hurricane Derek complicates things.

Lakin, Rita    Getting Old Is a Disaster  (Dell, 2009)
Fort Lauderdale retiree  Gladdy Gold investigates the long-buried skeleton of a murder victim  is unearthed at the Lanai Gardens apartment complex after a hurricane hits.

Maron, Margaret  Storm Track (Mysterious, 2000)
Judge Deborah Knott investigates the murder of a local woman found strangled in a motel room while hurricane Fran bears down on the small town of Colleton North Carolina. Her large family clan gathers for hot chocolate and a hurricane party. 

Taylor, Phoebe Atwood    Proof of the Pudding (Norton, 1945)
Now here’s an old one:  Cape Cod’s amateur sleuth, Asey Mayo, finds a corpse among the wreckage following a hurricane.

Viets, Elaine     Murder Unleashed    (Signet, 2006)
Helen Hawthorne, now working at  the Pampered Pet Boutique must solve a murder and find a kidnapped Labradoodle puppy before a Category 3 hurricane hits Fort Lauderdale.

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