Potato Pot-ah-to

So, I recently stumbled upon the fact that J.K. Rowling has been writing an adult murder mystery series under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith.

Ironically, I have never actually read any of the Harry Potters except for the first few pages of the initial one, but I did see all the movies. Even though the lighting in the later ones was so dim that they were actually kind of hard to see…

But I was running low on new title suggestions, so I decided to read the first in the Robert Galbraith series. Two weeks later, I have just started the fourth.

Constantly in search of the key to writing a good book, I have asked myself, “Why do I like these books so much?”

Here are 10 reasons:

1. The characters are well developed with plausible back stories.
2. There is a high degree of romantic tension between two very likable characters.
3. In every book (so far), the author keeps the reader guessing until the very end who the murderers are.
4. There are interesting minor antagonists in addition to the murderer(s)
5. The series takes place mainly in England, which is described in an easy-to-imagine way that makes the reader feel like they have actually been there (if they haven’t).
6. The action in the story flows like a river — rapid in some places, and restful in others — but is always moving forward.
7. All of the characters are believable (i.e. they think and act the way people would really think and act under similar circumstances).
8. Humor is engagingly woven into the story in sometimes unexpected places.
9. The characters are fallible in very human ways.
10. There are not too many characters to easily keep track of.

In addition to everything else, the books are all available as audiobooks for easy hands-free reading, and if you don’t like to read, there is an HBO series that is based on the series (CB Strike).

The only drawback, in my opinion, is that the books are chock full of somewhat gratuitous violence, overly graphic descriptions of murder, and disturbing mental images. These days though, that does seem to pretty much be just the way it is? It certainly has not stopped me from reading them…

All in all, I am really enjoying this series. Best books I have read in a long time!