Top Ten Tuesday: Dynamic Detective Duos

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday

Today’s topic is

February 22: Dynamic Duos (Submitted by Elley @ Elley the Book Otter)

I decided to tweak it a bit and make it Dynamic Detective Duos. I’m leaving out Holmes and Watson, because that seems to obvious!

Cam Jensen and Eric by David A. Alder – These were favorites when I was about 7 or 8. Cam was a girl who uses her photographic memory to solve crime. Eric Shelton is her friend who is usually along for the ride.

First introduced in Cam Jensen and the Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds.

The Hardy Boys series by Franklin W. Dixon– Truthfully, as a kid I was more of a Nancy Drew girl. But she either worked solo or alongside her two friends, Bess and George, making them a trio not a duo. But the Hardy Boys were fun too and they qualify for this list!

First introduced in The Tower Treasure.

Tommy and Tuppence Beresford by Agatha Christie – I’m actually just getting to know Agatha Christie’s husband and wife detective duo. One of my reading goals this year is to read more Christie.

First introduced in The Secret Adversary.

Poirot and Hastings by Agatha Christie– Poirot sometimes flies solo. But occasionally he does team up with Captain Arthur J. M. Hastings, OBE. Hastings serves as a companion, chronicler, and friend to Poirot, though he’s not in every book by any means.

First introduced in The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

Lynley and Havers by Elizabeth George– I really liked this series for the first ten or so books, when Lynley and Havers were a team. Over time, the series has come to focus more on Lynley, who I find to be a less interesting character. Nonetheless, initially Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton, makes a fun odd couple with the blue collar Sergeant Barbara Havers.

First introduced in A Great Deliverance.

Rizzoli and Isles by Tess Gerritsen – This was another series that I felt was really good in the old days, before it became really popular and launched a TV series (which was really only similar to the books in terms of premise)

First introduced in The Surgeon.

Flora Dane and DD Warren by Lisa Gardner – Flora isn’t in all of the DD Warren books, but when she is their is a highlight. DD partners with other people in other books, but I love her chemistry with Flora. DD is a by the books police detective. Flora is sort of a vigilante avenger. But they’ve been known to team up from time to time.

First introduced in Find Her.

Hawthorne and Horowitz series by Anthony Horowitz– Daniel Hawthorne is a disgraced police detective who needs a ghost writer to document his life. He hires a meta version of author Anthony Horowitz.

First introduced in The Word is Murder.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I’ve (Probably) Read The Most Books By

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:

Today’s topic is:

July 7: Authors I’ve Read the Most Books By

But since Goodreads got rid their Most Read Authors page, I can’t be sure. So I decided to add a “probably”, since this isn’t really scientific.

1. Ann M. Martin- As a kid  I was a Babysitter’s Club addict. I also read her Little Sister spin off series. Since they came out with a new book every month or so (in retrospect I think a ghost writer might have had something to do with it) I’m sure it added up to a lot. Yes, I also watched the film and TV series. I’ve also watched the new netflix series and plan to blog about it soon. At heart, I’m still very much a nine year old girl!

2. Francine Pascal– I also read a lot of  Sweet Valley books in my childhood. There were Sweet Valley Kids, Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley High. I was too young for the Sweet Valley University books that emerged at some point. But I’m sure it added up to a lot. And yes, I think a lot of these were from a ghost writer too.

3. Carolyn Keene– Nancy Drew was another favorite series in my childhood. I read the old school series and the newer ones. I’ve since learned that “Carolyn Keene” was the pseudonym that the Stratmeyer Syndicate authors used. Many of the Nancy Drew books were written by Mildred Wirt Benson, but other ghostwriters used the name as well. So I suppose I should say that I’ve read a lot of books by the various authors who used that name.

3.RL Stine– Yet another one from me youth. I read the Goosebumps books when I was little and the Fear Street series when I got a little bit older.

4.Dean Koontz– I had a whole shelf full of his books at one point. I think he was the first “adult” author I read, when I was about 12. I was really interested in scary stuff  and someone recommended them to me. I think I was as enthralled with reading “grown up” stuff as I was with the books themselves. I haven’t read anything by Koontz in years.

5.VC Andrews– These were my 12 year old guilty pleasure. I devoured them! Though VC Andrews herself only wrote the Dollangager series, My Sweet Audrina (the sequel to this one was written by the ghostwriter), and the first books in the Casteel series (Heaven, Dark Angel, Fallen Hearts) before her death. The rest of the books were penned by a ghostwriter hired by her family after she died. Supposedly the ghostwriter had a lot of notes and drafts for other books to work from. I used to imagine exactly when he/she ran out of material is when the quality declined sharply. I’d try to identify where that was. Again, I haven’t looked at most of these in years.

6.Sidney Sheldon– I stayed with my Grandmother one summer when I was about thirteen and she had a lot of these books. I devoured them and then sought out more! I remember very little about them except that everyone was beautiful and had evil secret plans. According to wiki he wrote 18 books but it feels like I read more than that… It’s been many years since I’ve read one of these though.

7. Lisa Gardner- For years Lisa Gardner has been a go to writer for me when I want a fast moving plot that will absorb me while I  read it, but not as too much of me in the way of outside investment. I think she’s got about 25 total. She also writes romance under the name Alicia Scott but I haven’t read any of those yet.

8. Karin Slaughter– I got to this author for the same reasons as the author above. The quality of her work has been pretty consistent over the years. But she does sometimes get a littler darker than I’d like for “mindless reading.” I think I stopped reading her Grant County series at one point when I was upset about a plot development but I picked the series back up and went along with it as it morphed into the Will Trent series) According to wiki she’s written 18 novels, but again it feels like more.

9.LM Montgomery– I’ve loved LM Montgomery since I was a kid, and that love has continued into adulthood. In this case I’ve read most of her novels (she wrote 20: 8 “Anne” books, 3 “Emily” books, 2 “Pat” books and several stand alones) but I also have several volumes  of her short fiction. I still love her work.

10.Sophie Kinsella– I think Sophie Kinsella might also deserve a place on this list. I gave up on the Shopaholic series about  5 books in (around the time when the main characters antics crossed the line from cute to grating, IMO) but I’ve also read most of her stand alone titles and the books that she wrote under her real name (Madeline Wickham) She’s good for a laugh and an escape from reality, which is why I find myself returning to her often over the years.