I was caught by the second book (Fool Moon) and am still devouring them. According to wikipedia the first book was a writing assignment that he thought would prove how awful that genre book would be...so I'm less surprised that none of us seem to enjoy it. (SA promised me I would love them so I slogged through the first one. She was correct.)

eta: "Despite initial resistance, he wrote the first book that semester, closely following the instructions of his teacher, author Deborah Chester.[1]

When I finally got tired of arguing with her and decided to write a novel as if I was some kind of formulaic, genre writing drone, just to prove to her how awful it would be, I wrote the first book of the Dresden Files.

— Jim Butcher in "A Conversation With Jim Butcher", 2004[5]

I love The Dresden Files books, but I'm not totally caught up on them. I feel like I would like to listen to the audio books just to remind me of who the minor players are before I continue with the series and also because of James Marsters.

I tried to read one of the later books after finding I liked the series, and got maybe 50 pages into it before admitting it just wasn't working for me.

In the last two weeks, I have read all four of Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad books and totally loved them. The first two I read on two consecutive days. Such great characters and stories, and very well written.

Her latest, Broken Harbour, started out as the one I thought I was going to have to slog through, but I hit the halfway point yesterday and didn't stop after that. I think it had one of the better endings of her books.

I both love the way that she moves on to new characters, and am dying to know what happens with the older characters. I guess that I am wanting more is a good sign? I read that her next novel will star the young detective Stephen Moran, who helped out Frank in The Hidden Place, breaking the pattern that the main character of her next novel is from a secondary character in her most recent novel.

I'm at the point where I want something to read, but I'm not ready to leave that world, so I am feeling a little bereft.

I am a double posting machine lately.

I'm at the point where I want something to read, but I'm not ready to leave that world, so I am feeling a little bereft.

Have you read all the Gillian Flynn books?

Thanks for the endorsement of Tara French; I've been curious about her books.

I agree. I might start that one next.

Have you read all the Gillian Flynn books?

I started Girl Gone in December. I got about 1/3 of the way through and realized I didn't care at all about what happened to those characters.

I seem to start way more books than I finish lately.

I LOVE Tana French. And I got to interview her for Faithful Place, and she was very gracious and chatty and a delight to talk to.

People often recommend Sophie Hannah to fans of Tana French; I haven't read her myself but that might be worth a try, Sue. I think I've read similar things about Erin Kelly.

I think Tana French is fantastic. Slightly different in scope and tone, and definitely tme setting, but similar in an ineffable Dublin way are the Benjamin Black books. Loved Christine Falls which my LBS had a as a group selection.