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. 

Past Reason Hated

Past Reason Hated 

by Peter Robinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was another solid entry in the Inspector Banks series. The very ending (the last paragraph) was wonderful. It showed a side of Banks we hadn't seen before. 

These books are set in England, but the author lives in Toronto so this counts toward the Canadian Book Challenge.

A Necessary End

A Necessary End by Peter Robinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is number three in the Inspector Banks series (though it is the 4th I have read). These are British police procedurals set in a small Yorkshire village. They are pretty standard to the form, but quite well done with interesting characters an appealing but not-perfect detective, and a solid mystery. 

I am counting this toward the Canadian Book Challenge because Robinson (according to the jacket copy) lives in Toronto.

The Hanging Valley

The Hanging Valley by Peter Robinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the 4th installment in the Inspector Banks series by Toronto author Peter Robinson. Chief Inspector Alan Banks works in Yorkshire, England (where the author was raised) and in this novel is investigating the death of a man found in a remote area outside the village of Swainshead.
The mystery in this book was not as well constructed as the previous one I read, but the characters were interesting and Banks takes a trip to Toronto which gave Robinson an opportunity for both description and commentary on "modern" (ca. 1989) Canada.
I am counting this toward the Canadian Book Challenge.

A Dedicated Man

A Dedicated Man by Peter Robinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

More of a traditional mystery than Robinson's first book this novel looks into the past of a group of people in a Yorkshire village to figure out who killed the Dedicated Man at the center of the circle. The ending pulled information that the reader got when Banks did into a logical answer. A well-crafted mystery in the British police-procedural tradition. 
Robinson lived in Toronto when he published this book (per the jacket copy) making this book #11/13 for the Canadian Book Challenge. 

Gallows View

Gallows View by Peter Robinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first novel about Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, a police officer in the Yorkshire Dales. He and his wife have recently come there from London and while this is a police procedural, it is also a novel about Alan Banks and what makes him who he is. It was well plotted and I liked Banks as a character. I look forward to reading more of this series the 25th installment of which is expected this July. Peter Robinson studied at the University of Windsor in Ontario and taught at various Toronto schools, so I am counting him as a Canadian author for the Canadian Book Challenge.