Many of the books I read are parts of a series - usually, but not always, mystery series.
I'd like to try to complete some of the series - some I have no intention of revisiting.
And then there are those series I haven't started, but would like to.
This blog is a way for me to keep a record of the books I've read and the ones I might like to try.
And anyway, I've always loved making lists.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Sue Townsend: The Adrian Mole Books

Main Characters: Adrian Mole, an adolescent boy (and later young man); his family and friends.
Setting: Mostly England
Bold type indicates a book I've read.

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13-3/4 (1982)
The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (1985)
The True Confessions of Adrian Mole (1989)
Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (1993)
Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years (1993)
Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction (2004)
The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole, 1999-2001 (2008)
Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years (2009)

Friday, March 7, 2008

Raymond Chandler: Philip Marlowe Mysteries

Main Character: Private detective Philip Marlowe
Setting: California, mainly Los Angeles

Bold type indicates a book I've read.

The Big Sleep (1939)
Farewell, My Lovely (1940)
The High Window (1942)
The Lady in the Lake (1943)
The Little Sister (1949)
Trouble Is My Business (1950) (short fiction: four-story collection)
The Long Goodbye (1954) (Edgar Award for Best Novel, 1955)
Playback (1958)
Poodle Springs (1959) (incomplete; completed by Robert B. Parker in 1989)

Josephine Tey: Inspector Alan Grant Mysteries

Josephine Tey is the pseudonym of Elizabeth MacKintosh, who also published under the name of Gordon Daviot.
Main Character: Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard
Setting: England and Scotland

Bold type indicates a book I've read.

The Man in the Queue (1929), writing as Gordon Daviot
A Shilling for Candles (1936)
The Franchise Affair (1948)
To Love and Be Wise (1950)
The Daughter of Time (1951)
The Singing Sands (1952)

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Agatha Christie: The Miss Marple Mysteries

Main Character: Miss Jane Marple, elderly spinster and amateur sleuth
Location: St. Mary Mead and other locales, mostly in England

Bold type indicates a book I've read.
  1. Murder at the Vicarage (1930)
  2. The Tuesday Club Murders (1932), aka: The Thirteen Problems
  3. The Regatta Mystery (1939)
  4. The Body in the Library (1942)
  5. The Moving Finger (1943)
  6. Mousetrap & Other Stories (1950)
  7. A Murder is Announced (1950)  [See Review]
  8. Murder with Mirrors (1952), aka: They Do It With Mirrors
  9. A Pocket Full of Rye (1953)
  10. What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw (1957), aka: 4:50 from Paddington
  11. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960)
  12. Double Sin & Other Stories (1961)
  13. The Mirror Crack'd (1962), aka: The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side
  14. A Caribbean Mystery (1964)
  15. At Bertram's Hotel (1965)
  16. Nemesis (1971)
  17. Sleeping Murder (1976)

Agatha Christie: The Hercule Poirot Mysteries

Main Character: Hercule Poirot, Belgian private investigator
Setting: mostly England

Bold type indicates a book I've read.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
Murder on the Links (1923)
Poirot Investigates (1924)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
The Big Four (1927)
The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
Peril at End House (1932)
Thirteen at Dinner (1933)
Murder on the Orient Express (1934), aka: Murder in the Calais Coach
Murder in Three Acts (1935)
Death in the Air (1935), aka: Death in the Clouds
The A.B.C. Murders (1935)
Murder in Mesopotamia (1936)
Cards on the Table (1936) Poirot / Ariadne Oliver  [see review]
Poirot Loses a Client (1937), aka: Dumb Witness
Death on the Nile (1937)
Dead Man's Mirror (1937)
Appointment With Death (1938)
A Holiday for Murder (1938), aka: Murder for Christmas
The Regatta Mystery (1939)
Sad Cypress (1940)
The Patriotic Murders (1940)
An Overdose of Death (1940), aka: One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
Evil Under the Sun (1941)
Murder in Retrospect (1943), aka: Five Little Pigs (1942)
Murder After Hours (1946)
The Labours of Hercules (1947)
There is a Tide (1948), aka: Taken at the Flood 
Witness for the Prosecution & Other Stories (1948)
Mousetrap & Other Stories (1950)
The Underdog and Other Stories (1951)
Mrs. McGinty's Dead (1952) Poirot / Ariadne Oliver
Funerals Are Fatal (1953), aka: After the Funeral
Hickory, Dickory, Death (1955)
Dead Man's Folly (1956) Poirot / Ariadne Oliver
Cat Among the Pigeons (1959)
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960)
Double Sin and Other Stories (1961)
The Clocks (1963)
Third Girl (1966) Poirot / Ariadne Oliver
Hallowe'en Party (1969) Poirot / Ariadne Oliver
Elephants Can Remember (1972) Poirot / Ariadne Oliver [see review]
Hercule Poirot's Early Cases (1974)
Curtain (1975)

Agatha Christie: The Superintendent Battle Mysteries

Main Character: Scotland Yard's Superintendent Battle. To be accurate, Superintendent Battle is not so much a main character as he is a unifying element in this series of books. He also appears in the Hercule Poirot mystery, Cards on the Table.
Setting: England
Bold type indicates a book I've read.

The Secret of Chimneys (1925)
The Seven Dials Mystery (1929)
Murder is Easy (1939), aka: Easy to Kill
Towards Zero (1944), aka: Come and Be Hanged

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Simon Brett: The Charles Paris Mysteries

Main Character: Charles Paris, British actor and amateur sleuth
Setting: England

Bold type indicates a book I've read.
  1. Cast, in Order of Disappearance (1975)
  2. So Much Blood (1976)
  3. Star Trap (1977)
  4. An Amateur Corpse (1978)
  5. A Comedian Dies (1979)
  6. The Dead Side of the Mike (1980)
  7. Situation Tragedy (1981)
  8. Murder Unprompted (1982)
  9. Murder in the Title (1983)
  10. Not Dead, Only Resting (1984)
  11. Dead Giveaway (1985)
  12. What Bloody Man is That? (1987)
  13. A Series of Murders (1989)
  14. Corporate Bodies (1991)
  15. A Reconstructed Corpse (1993)
  16. Sicken and So Die (1995)
  17. Dead Room Farce (1998)
  18. A Decent Interval (2013) 
  19. The Cinderella Killer (2014)
  20. A Deadly Habit (2018)
........