Great Reads: Splash into a Summer Series!
It’s Memorial Day, and you know what that means. It’s SUMMER, Baby! And I’m here with a summer tip that won’t leave you with tan lines or bug bites. Grab a good book and laze the days away! That’s what summer’s for, right? And if there’s anything better than a good book, it’s a good book series. I hate coming to the end of an engrossing story, so I often gravitate to a series to prolong the goodbye. If you’re in the market for a summer series, let me recommend a few favorites.
The Wind River Mystery Series by Margaret Coel. I devoured this 20-book series during the darkest months of the pandemic. Man, I needed an escape from reality, and I binged on these stories like peanut butter M&Ms straight out of the bag. Father John O;Malley, a Jesuit priest serving at the mission on the Wind River Reservation teams up with Vicky Holden, an Arapaho attorney, to solve crimes on the reservation. Coel portrays the Arapaho people with deep affection and keen insight. A historian, she gets the details right. The deep friendship, complicated by romantic attraction, between Father John and Vicky kept me turning pages way past my bedtime.
You might recall that I got to spend three days with Margaret Coel a couple years ago at the St Stephens Mission on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. This is the setting for Margaret’s stories, so being at the mission was like stepping right into her novels. A small group of fans got to hear Margaret talk about three of her books and visit the sites on the reservation where the action occurred. It was a dream come true. Our Arapahoe and Shoshone hosts welcomed us warmly and introduced us to their culture. I wrote about it here.
The Diamond and Dennison Mystery series by Karen Gilleland. One of the participants in the Wind River retreat was Karen Gilleland, who is Margaret’s editor and a fabulous author in her own right. Karen has a three-book cozy mystery series whose main character is a security professional named Hope Diamond. Karen weaves a whodunit with masterful skill and is a stickler for authentic details. She is also generous with her writing expertise and took me under her wing after we became acquainted at the Wind River retreat. I’m happy to call her a friend and recommend her books to you.
The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman. I recommend enjoying these delightful British mysteries in audio format, because the narrator is superb! Four 70-something residents of a senior living center, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibraham, collaborate with local police to solve crimes. Each brings their professional expertise, as well as their own secrets, to the puzzle room every Thursday to unravel the mystery at hand. Osman captures the quirks and vulnerabilities of his four main characters with laugh-out-loud humor and touching humanity. His ear for their dialogue is pitch perfect. Pure delight.
The North of the Tension Line series by J.F. Riordan. The fifth book of this series comes out this week, and I’ve been waiting for it impatiently. This delightful series follows Fiona Campbell and several other unforgettable characters who live on Washington Island in Door County, Wisconsin. This small town microcosm of humanity, physically separated from the urban stress to their south, proves anything but dull. Riordan’s enduring characters and funny scenes will draw you into another world, just north of the tension line.
The Great Plains Trilogy by Willa Cather. Technically not a series, these classics share a thematic thread. Written over 100 years ago, Cather’s novels celebrate the West in simple stories of everyday characters. Her vivid and evocative portraits of the prairie landscape spring from her great love of open spaces. I just finished one of Cather’s novels and immediately ordered this trilogy. Her books are pure relaxation, just what you crave in a summer read.
The Wolf Hall Trilogy by Hilary Mantel. If light and fluffy is not your reading jam, here’s a hefty series that will keep your brain engaged. The series follows the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, chief advisor to Henry VIII. Mantel’s superb writing and intricate character development mark her as a master of the craft. I highly recommend watching the PBS Wolf Hall series in tandem with reading the books. It’s a mental workout to keep track of all the characters and their relationships, let alone the English political intrigue of the era. I found the books much more enjoyable after I watched the PBS series.
Well, friends, that should keep you delightfully entertained as you lounge about this summer! Which summer series will you pick? Let me know, and happy reading!