I know of one author (who I will not name) who actually killed off the husband of one of the primary characters in her series… and never mentioned him again!
Actually, I have to admit that the fact that the killed-off husband wasn’t mentioned even one time in the next mystery of the series was enough to turn me off of that particular author forever! I have never read another one of her mysteries, so maybe the deceased husband is mentioned in one of the following books in her series. But ignoring one of the secondary character’s death in the following novel of the series was enough for me to essentially "ignore" that particular author!
I just don’t like it when authors take "the easy road" on pesky details. Sometimes, I wonder what the editors are doing! Don’t they actually read the mysteries and make notes like "What happened to Mrs. Primary Character’s husband? Why don’t you mention his death? Why don’t you mention that he was the killer in the previous book? Why is Mrs. Primary Character still feared as a beacon of the town when her husband turned out to have killed several people? Do you even remember that Mrs. Primary Character had a husband?"
Yes, those are just some of the questions that I would have annotated in the margin of the original transcript to the following novel in the series. And, yes, (or should I say no?!)…. I am not an editor! I just don’t like inconsistencies…
How about you? Are you able to overlook author’s forgetting about a character? Or just changing a character mid-series? Maybe I’m too harsh of a reader… Or maybe it brings out the "teacher-days" in me… red pen in hand… trying to note the positive…. along with the sloppy/just-plain-wrong!
PS>>>>>>> I guess I am really showing my age when I say "the margin of the original transcript" instead of saying "highlighting and adding a comment in the downloaded file" that authors probably submit these days!
Jeannie says
Well, I have to admit you’ve peaked my curiosity. I know you’re not going to reveal it but I’m wondering what series it could have been.
To answer your question, I don’t remember ever reading a series where a character disappeared. In the instance you’re describing I would find it very annoying. Finding out her husband is a killer should be a life-altering situation for the main character. That she was able to just move on without one thinking about it would make the character unbelievable for me. I would think about all the times I’ve read of a divorced character who rehashes their ex and the divorce. It can get a tad tiresome (especially if I read a couple of books in the series in a row), but it is at least believable.
I did, however, recently read a book by an author I otherwise adore where the author kept switching between names for one character. Does that count? It was so annoying that the person who borrowed the book from the library before me made small angry comments in the margin. I don’t approve of people writing in books, especially library books, but I confess I had to laugh in this situation because I was just as mad as the previous reader.
Twila says
Hi Danna,
I remember reading that book and I too found it irritating that the husband just disappeared. It does rankle when something jumps out at you as the author taking an easy way out or saying something that’s inconsistent. It takes the reader out of the story which isn’t a good idea.
Funny you should mention this today as I almost e-mailed you yesterday to see if you could help me find the concluding pages of Kerry Greenwood’s "The Green Mill Murder". I finished the book, then a couple of days later thought, "Hey, she didn’t say who committed the first murder. I’d found on Amazon that there was apparently a misprint and about 20 pages are missing from the book. I decided not to pester you and went directly to the publisher, who admitted it was a misprint, and who’s offered to send a pdf file of the missing pages. Just thought I’d let you know in case anyone else is looking for those concluding pages.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Hi Twila,
It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who found that husband’s disappearance from the series irritating.
You did a lot of fast thinking>>> being able to track down the publisher and getting them to send you a pdf file! I hope that there are others out there (who have your edition of "The Green Mill Murder") who are as good at sleuthing as you are!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Hi Jeannie,
I have also found that when I read several books in a series back-to-back, I sometimes find some of the things very tiresome. I have wondered if I should perhaps switch from one author to another so that the novels in a series don’t seem as repetitive.
AND…. I think I know exactly who you are talking about when you say that one of your favorite authors mixed up the names of her character throughout a book. I remember reading one of my favorite author’s books and wondering who "spell-checked" the spelling of her main sleuth’s name>>> and then changed it to something totally different. It was very annoying!
Twila says
Ah, Jeanie. A sole-mate! I think we mystery readers either have a heightened attention to detail or develop one from reading mysteries. I too find it irritating when people write in library books. If it’s in pencil, I’ll erase it–unless it really is a necessary note for clarity. Then came a book I was reading a couple of days ago where it said the butlers found something annoying (or something like that). It should have been Butlers as that was the couples’ name but this was the first appearance of their name in this book. It’s a series I’ve been reading so that’s how I knew what it should be so I, very carefully, in ink, added the little loop that made a "b" into a "B". Please don’t hate me! I HAD to do it! 🙂