Crime novel series that ended too soon

Cafe Society
1

I can think of a bunch that have run on too long–Reacher, I’m looking at YOU; some that are still kicking pretty good–Lucas Davenport, keep on keepin on, but there are three in particular that I wish had kept going.

  1. Dan Simmons of horror/fantasy/SF fame wrote three hardboiled crime novels with astonishing levels of ultraviolence and local Buffalo color–Hardcase, Hard Freeze, Hard something or other else, and then stopped. I loved these and the last one intimates there are more to come, but the wait is over a decade long.

  2. G.M. Ford’s Frank Corso books, there are five or six of them, they are fantastic, he stopped writing them. His Leo Waterman books do not appeal in the same way.

  3. Laurie King wrote four Kate Martinelli books that I very much enjoyed–well-written, well-developed characters, compelling plots, and then just stopped. She has another series that seems quite popular, but hey Ms. King, I really liked these!

Charles Willeford’s Hoke Moseley books qualify, but as he died I can’t resent him in the same way I do these living authors. Dopers, am I missing any?

2

I’m not over losing my favourite fictional detective, Marsh Tanner (author Stephen Greenleaf). But I am going to check out the Dan Simmons books, because I had no idea…

3

There are 5 books in the Kate Martinelli series; did you miss one?

A Grave Talent (1993) ISBN 0-312-08804-3
To Play the Fool (1995) ISBN 0-312-11907-0
With Child (1996) ISBN 0-312-14077-0
Night Work (2000) ISBN 0-553-10713-5
The Art of Detection (2006) ISBN 0-553-80453-7 (Lambda Literary Award 2006)
4

James Swain’s Grift Sense series. There are only six books in the series, and the development of the main character and his wannabe-a-wise guy son was coming along very well.

The main character, Tony Valentine, is a retired Atlantic City cop whose specialty is ferreting out casino cheaters.

5

Ed McBain said, and later posted, that his final mystery in the 87th Precinct mystery would finish his list of alphabetical one word titles, and be called “Exit.”

No such work was found after he died.

6

Lindsey Davis wrote 20 Marcus Didius Falco novels, and then switched to writing about Falco’s adopted daughter. I just read the first of the daughter stories, and all I could think was that I really want to read more Falco. The most annoying thing is that he’s still around, and mentioned in the new books, but doesn’t actually appear. It’s like seeing a movie in which they occasionally mention that Batman is off fighting crime somewhere else, but you never actually see him.

7

Mistress of the Art of Death is the best historical crime novel I’ve ever read. The author wrote four books in the series, each magnificent.

Then she died. Guess which of the four books is the only one that ends on cliffhanger?

8

The Elizabeth Chase books by Martha C. Lawrence.

9

The prolific British crime novelist Val McDermid wrote in the 1990s, six mysteries with, as central character, Kate Brannigan – a private investigator in the rough and crime-ful but lively city of Manchester. I found them highly enjoyable and absorbing – for me, preferable to the (fine in their own way) Tony Hill / Carol Jordan novels which McDermid seems more recently, to have been turning out production-line-wise. I’d love it if she’d lay off Tony and Carol for a bit, and come up with further offerings starring Kate B. – but that feels unlikely to happen.