I specify “genre author” because this sort of thing never happens with so-called “mainstream” or “literary” authors. But with fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and thriller series, it’s quite common. Ace Atkins is writing Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels; Eoin Colfer wrote And Another Thing, in Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series; and so forth.
So let’s restate the thread question. If a genre author you love dies, and another author is hired to continue the series, are you likely to keep reading? Why or why not?
The answer for me is no. Parker is a great example. I really enjoyed the Spenser novels. It appeared to me that they got more and more formulaic toward the end of Parker’s life, but they still entertained me reliably. I realize that Atkins might skillfully adopt the formula and entertain me, but I choose not to find out.
Why? I would love to provide a logical and thoughtful reason, but I got nothin’. It just doesn’t feel right.
It depends. Robert Goldsborough took up and wrote maybe six or seven Nero Wolfe books after the death of Rex Stout; I read the first one, found it enjoyable, and so bought the others as they came out, and found them equally enjoyable. Not as good as Rex Stout, but enjoyable.
The first James Bond book after Ian Fleming’s death was Colonel Sun by Kingsley Amis. I found it unreadable (although it might be that I was just past my James Bond phase) and never read any others, although there have been a slew of authors.
Dorothy Sayers died in 1957; in 1998, Jill Paton Walsh wrote a Peter Wimsey story, based on an unfinished manuscript by Sayers. It was wonderful, and we’ve bought and read the four other Wimsey books that J P Walsh has written. So far, she hasn’t disappointed. (Of course, part of that could be simply that it’s so long since Sayer’s death, that I’m just delighted to find more Wimsey stories… the invese of the Bond situation.)
I had given up on Parker’s Spenser books a few years ago, they had become boring (as Crotalus says) so I won’t read the continuation.
I love Parker, but had given up on Spenser beuase he so obviously had. There was a lot more vibrancy and life in his other series, particularly the Westerns. The Spenser novels were pretty obviously being written either because his contract required them, or because he had boat payments.
Part of me wants to say that Spenser did not in fact recover from the events of – let me think – Small Mischief. Whichever one in which he gets shot by the Gray Man and spends months in rehab. He actually died, and the following novels are him in the same Heaven that the little girl from The Lovely Bones was in. The only problem with that theory is that it removes Cold Service–but then, CS is only nominally a Spenser novel anyway; it’s actually a Hawk story, Spenser is Watson.
ETA: I cannot stand the Atkins’ continuation of Spenser. I gave up on the first when his Spenser allowed a teenage girl client, all of 14, to accompany him on an investigation. My first thought was that Spenser would never, ever do that-- not after Candy Southern. Not to mention that all the dialogue was a little … off… in ways that I found hard to quantify but easy to recognize. And then there was the fact that Spenser knew how to use Google.
Well, almost. The first couple were as good as the worst Stout- which is still pretty damn decent. But after that, he began to crank them out and they got worse.
By and large, no, I don’t. It’s very, very rare for me that another author can really capture the original writer’s voice and storytelling ability. One key exception: June Thomson’s Sherlock Holmes pastiches are (except for her most recent collection) very, very good, and some are even better than Conan Doyle’s originals.
Plus, I have 'waaaaay too much to read already, so it’s a ready excuse not to pick up yet another book.
Generally, no. I was disappointed in Eoin Colfer’s efforts, for instance, and I didn’t care for Jodi Lynn Nye’s work with Robert Asprin’s Myth Adventures series. Christopher Tolkein is not the storyteller his father was. However, I will give Terry Pratchett’s daughter a try when she takes over the Diskworld series.
I had no idea someone was doing Lord Peter books! I don’t know if I’ll read them though; the Atkins version of Spencer sort of discouraged me. I did like the first couple of Goldsborough versions of Nero Wolfe but have reverted to re-reading the Stout ones every few years. They really never seem to disappoint.
I’ve read her, and while she’s okay she’s no Conan Doyle, and CLEARLY you haven’t had enough caffeine today so I will be sending a Keira Knightly model comfortbot over with a selection of coffees.
Spenser. With an S. Like the poet.
God, it’s like I murdered Robert Urich for nothing.
Yes, I re-read Stout every few years. The Wimsey books are (IMHO) very good. The first one Thrones, Dominations are based on notes (and perhaps some written work) by Sayers, and was excellent. I had no clue what Sayers wrote (if anything) and what Paton wrote. The second one, A Presumption of Death, I found a little disappointing but that was probably because I had such high expectations. The third, The Attenbury Emeralds, was excellent and surpassed my hopes; and we just got the fourth and haven’t read it yet. Try 'em.
I’ll generally give them a try. I really enjoyed Robert Ludlum’s “Jason Bourne” series (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum).
After he (Ludlum) died, I read the first one by Eric Van Lustbader (The Bourne Legacy, and it was okay. It ALMOST had the spirit of Ludlum’s novels, but it was different enough so that I didn’t enjoy it as much. I haven’t read any of Van Lustbader’s others to see if they’ve gotten any better.
Tom Clancy’s Campus novels are being taken up by his co-author Mark Greaney. I have read an excerpt from Support and Defend, which is coming out this month. It’s as good as any previous Clancy. Perhaps even a bit better because Greaney puts some meat on Clancy’s bare-bones characters. Besides which, Clancy has been a brand name for a while now and I am pretty sure his co-authors all the way back to Dead or Alive are the ones who were doing the heavy lifting anyhow.
I lost a lot of respect for Spider Robinson when he decided he was going to be the successor to Robert Heinlein and John D. MacDonald. He’s a good writer, but he’s not that good…
My first thought was certainly not! I did read Anne Hiilerman’s continuation of her father’s Chee and Leaphorn novels, though. It was a little clunky, but entertaining and I think she’ll probably improve if she continues the series.
I wrote the OP when Hillerman in mind, but blacnked on her name, as well as that of Chee and Leaphorn. Hysterical amnesia, I suppose. Elendil’s Heir, when the KK comfortbot is finished with your lattes, tell it to pick me up a venti redeye on the way back.
