One of the most difficult parts of writing a mystery series is introducing the repeat characters to new readers without boring the loyal readers.
I recently talked with Cleveland mystery writer, Casey Daniels, author of this year'sDon of the Dead and over 30 other novels. (Look for the entire interview with Casey in the coming weeks.) She sometimes shares her writing expertise at writing seminars and discussion groups for mystery writers. She told me that one of the hardest things for writers of a mystery series is to strike that balance between boring your loyal series readers and leaving new readers with cardboard characters.
As a reader, a writer leaving unexplained characters is probably my number one pet peeve (right up there with poor grammar). Face it, sometimes it's just not possible to start at the beginning of a series. Sometime you pick up a book in which the main character has had one, two, three, or even more books in which to explain himself and to develop.
Recently, I picked up a second book in a mystery series after having read the fourth. On about page three, I started thinking that the text seems really familiar. When I went back to check, I found that the author (whom I won't name but she's a popular writer) had repeated word for word the first ten pages. Lazy, to say the least.
Another example is Michael Connelly's Echo Park, the 12th book in a series featuring detective Harry Bosch. Unfortunately, when I read Echo Park recently, it was the first of Connelly's books I'd ever read. Although I enjoyed the plot, I felt like I was the only one who didn't get an inside joke.
On the plus side, Diane Mott Davidson always finds new and fun ways to describe her characters in her Goldie Bear mystery series, including this year's Dark Tort, and, of course, Agatha Christie never bores her readers no matter how many books she wrote about Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.
Do you have an example of good -- or bad -- reintroduction of characters. If so, start a discussion below.
