I spent the morning with my husband at FrankenBike (a swap meet for cyclists!) and while I did want to hang out with him I also had an ulterior motive for going with him. You see, this time FrankenBike was going to be held at a bike shop in the same area as a Half Price Books and Bookwoman!

Bookwoman is a fantastic local bookstore. It’s not very big but I could spend hours there looking through the stacks of recommended fiction, zines, gift items, it’s truly a special place. I really should go visit more often. They have Open Mic nights, a book group and host a lot of other monthly events.

Of course I had to do a bit of supporting and bought one book, Eileen by Ottesa Moshfegh. From the description: Creepy, mesmerizing, and sublimely funny, in the tradition of Shirley Jackson and early Vladimir Nabokov, this powerful debut novel enthralls and shocks, and introduces one of the most original new voices in contemporary literature. Sounds good doesn’t it?

I made my way over to Half Price Books but unfortunately the books I wanted to find they didn’t have. I could have spent more time looking around but I wanted to get back to my husband. Before I left Half Price Books though I visited the ladies room and had to giggle when I saw those two writings on the bathroom stall. I miss those cheap clearance books too!

Anyway, hope you’ve all had a wonderful weekend!

With all my talk of mysteries yesterday I’ve been thinking about how hard it is to keep up with a mystery series because new books are released all the time. I’m sure if you read any type of series this is something you probably struggle with as well. I am usually caught up with a few special series or at least I’m not too far behind but what about the stories where I’ve only read the first book.

So this is going to be a list-y post to remind myself about those sleuths I want to reconnect with. The sad thing is that I already own some of the second books in the series but you know how it is, shiny new books keep arriving and sometimes older books just keep piling up. Here’s my list of mystery series I’d like to explore more of this year.

The Karen Pelletier series by Joanne Dobson. The series features an English professor who stumbles upon mysteries and shows how deadly the world of academia can be. A nice blend of cozy and crime.

The Detective Inspector Tony McLean series by James Oswald. The first book in the series seems to be a great start to this crime procedural set in Edinburgh.

The Detective Superintendent Roy Grace by Peter James. I found the first book to be quite suspenseful and I can’t wait to see if the rest of the series is the same.

The Commissario Ricciardi series by Maurizio de Giovanni. A wonderful historical set in Naples in the 30s.

The Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal. Maggie has all the capabilities of being a successful spy but because she’s a woman she is relegated to being a typist. Can’t wait to see how she shows the British government just what she’s capable of doing.

I’m sure there are a few more I have that I could list but don’t want to let this post get too long. So what do you think? Do you follow any of these and do you think I should continue or put them out of my mind and move on to others?

How about you, do you follow a lot of series reads? Let me know if you are planning to catch up with some of your favorite series this year. Have a great weekend!