Comments on: Is it Me, or Are Cozy Mystery Authors Leaving Their Established Series?

By: Danna - cozy mystery list

Danna - cozy mystery list — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:05:10 +0000

Oh my goodness, Marla! You're right about Harris deciding that Lily Bard is a thing of the past! And, the Teagarden books don't look like they will be seeing the light of day, either. Yikes! Well, at least there are plenty of people who do like the paranormal mysteries… Why else would so many authors be changing to that theme?!?

By: Marla

Marla — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 02:37:14 +0000

Frankly, I'm not a paranormal fan. I don't like vampires or seeing dead people, etc. I really miss the Shakespeare novels of Ms. Harris, but she did announce on her website that she was retiring both that series and the Teagarden one, and would be doing only paranormal books from now on. So I guess that's another author to cross off my list…

By: -V-

-V- — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:11:13 +0000

It might be a bit of both. I know Yasmine Galenorn did just that. She wrote her slightly paranormal cozy series, Chintz and China, and then decided she'd had enough and wanted to go full blown paranormal/urban fantasy.
Some are pushed to give it a try to sell more books to the new wave.

By: Danna - cozy mystery list

Danna - cozy mystery list — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:33:40 +0000

I think that you are 100% correct about the paranormal books being all the rage. I recently started thinking just that: It seems like more and more authors are quitting their previous mystery series so that they can take on the paranormal. I wonder if that's what the authors want to do, or if they have been given the choices of taking on the paranormal or being dropped by their publishers.

By: -V-

-V- — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:10:57 +0000

I will miss the Hailey Lind series, but glad they are moving on to write more of something else. Paranormal is all the rage now, so some (if not most) authors may get pressed to jump on that wagon.
Charlaine Harris' Aurora Teagarden series languished for a little until her other series took off. They are being re-released a little at time. So maybe Hailey Lind's series will be back later on. Keep our fingers crossed.

By: Danna - cozy mystery list

Danna - cozy mystery list — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:52:23 +0000

I totally agree with you, Debbie! It seems like I keep hearing about authors who are either dropped by their publishers or are asked to change their series to be a different type of genre… What a shame! I guess that in these difficult economic times, some publishers don't believe that all of their authors are drawing enough money into the publisher's coffers…

By: Debbie Diesen

Debbie Diesen — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:08:38 +0000

I was seriously saddened recently to see on Jo Dereske's web site the news that her Miss Zukas mystery series is being "retired" by Avon/HarperCollins. I don't mind at all when authors choose to go in other directions and/or start other series, but it bothers me when a wonderful and successful series comes to an end in such a manner.