Literary series have been popular for many years. Readers like them because of the recurring characters, the similar settings and the ongoing storylines. Writers like them because, as British novelist Evelyn Waugh once said, “you don’t have to think of new characters all the time”. But there are lots of different types of book series.
Detective series have long been popular. One of the first was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. He wrote four novels and 56 short stories between 1887 and 1927. Holmes and his friend Dr Watson were both recurring characters… as well as their arch enemy Professor Moriarty. Dorothy L Sayers’ aristocratic detective Lord Peter Wimsey appears in eleven novels. Ngaio Marsh published 32 detective novels between 1932 and 1982 all featuring the fictional British policeman, Roderick Alleyn. Most famous, perhaps, was Agatha Christie, the creator of the Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple series.