Did you know Encyclopedia Brown’s real name was Leroy? Do you know who Encyclopedia Brown is?
I’m thinking this morning about favorite mystery series, in part because my review of Scratchgravel Road, Tricia Fields’ new Josie Gray mystery, is in The Dallas Morning News today.
In second grade or so, I loved the Encyclopedia Brown books by Donald J. Sobol. Then I discovered the Trixie Belden series by Julie Campbell, which was even better, because the sleuth was a girl!
Trixie gave way to Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot when I hit junior high, the British expressions and customs adding an extra layer of mystery for a girl in Kansas.
John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee series ruled my high school years — we even had a cat named Travis. When I was writing Identity, I decided that my heroine, Sharlah Webb, would be a Travis fan, too.
I’ve run through a series of favorites since then: Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, Tony Hillerman’s Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, Patricia Cornwall’s Kay Scarpetta, Elizabeth George’s Thomas Lynley, Ruth Rendell’s Reginald Wexford and Lee Child’s Jack Reacher.
(An aside: It seems really unfair somehow that Kinsey Millhone was a decade older than me when I started reading and now she’s younger than me.)
What are your favorite mystery series? Share in the comments.
We’re on the same page with Trixie Belden! My total fave! Though I would love to be like Trixie, I think I’m more of a Honey Wheeler.