Series I Would Like to Catch Up On

The Top Ten Tuesday topic this week is "Series I'd Like to Start/Catch up on/Finish."  

I have quite a few series in progress (closer to 50 than to 10) so I don't want to start any more. I thought this week's topic (even though I missed Tuesday completely) was a good opportunity to assess where I am with 10 of my series and try to focus my reading a bit so I complete some of them (at least until new books comes out). They are in order by how many books I have left in each series.

1. Inspector Alan Grant series by Josephine Tey
   There are 6 books in this series and I have read all of them except The Franchise Affair and Singing Sands. [2]
   
   
2. The Josephine Tey series by Nicola Upson
   Upson based her fictional sleuth on the real life of author Josephine Tey and Alan Grant is a character in this series. I have read the first 8 of the 10 books in this series. [2]
   
   
3. Constable Twitten series by Lynne Truss 
   There are only 4 books in this series so far and I have read the first one.  [3]
   
   
4. Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters
   I have been reading this series for years, but have jumped around quite a bit depending on what happened to be available at the library. I have read 17 out of the 20 books and need to get around to #7, #10, and #13. [3]
   
   
5. Vintage Kitchen Mystery series by Victoria Hamilton
   There are 10 books in this series and I have read the first 3. [7]
   
   
6. Commissario Brunetti series by Donna Leon
   Including the one that is expected to come out in 2023 there are 32 books in this series. I have read #1-23 and #27. I have 8 books to read to get caught up with this ongoing series. [8]
   
   
7. Her Royal Spyness series by Rhys Bowen
   There are currently 16 books in this series and I have read the first 4. [12]
   
   
8. Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear
   There are 17 books in this series and I have only read the first 2. [15]
   
   
9. Agatha Raisin series by M C Beaton
   There are currently 33 books in this series and I am only up to #18. [15]
   
   
10. Inspector Banks series by Peter Robinson
    There are currently 28 books in this series, with another one expected in 2023.  I have read the first 5. [23]
    
    

I will need to read 90 books to complete all ten of these series. That is basically a full year's worth of reading for me and I like my reading to be more diverse than just mystery novels. If I could finish 20 books from these 10 series by the end of 2023 that would be a good start. 

The Deadly Dance

The Deadly Dance by M.C. Beaton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the 15th book in the Agatha Raisin series (I think there are 30 total) and Agatha is between romances and decides to open a detective agency. As usual Agatha only succeeds (in so far as she does) because her friends help her and she is typically oblivious of this fact. In this one she starts to worry a bit that maybe she should be nicer to Charles and Roy. A number of new characters are introduced in this book as well. Some may be coming back in future adventures.
This book counts towards my Cruisin' Through the Cozies challenge as a cozy based outside the US (it is set in England).

A: Agatha Raisin

The Agatha Raisin series, by M. C. Beaton focuses on the misadventures, both romantic and criminal, of a woman who has taken early retirement (except when she takes on a client) from a successful PR business in London. Agatha has moved into a darling little cottage in the Cotswolds and acquired cats. It would be wrong to say that Agatha is a nice person, really she isn't. But she is trying to be better. She is vain, and rather shallow, and takes up with the worst men. Despite all these failings there is something I find endearing about her and she can be depended upon to say the thing you would want to say if you weren't too polite. 

The series begins with Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (I love punny titles!) and the latest installment is As the Pig Turns. To date I have read exactly half the series and have found them all enjoyable. She also writes the Hamish MacBeth series which I have read one of and didn't really care for, the tone was quite different.

This post is part of the Crime Fiction Alphabet 2012 at Mysteries in Paradise.