I need to talk about Maeve Kerrigan - includes The Secret Room[SPOILERS] *Title edited by MNHQ*

[Zitouna]

Following recommendations from on here I’ve just read the whole Maeve Kerrigan series by Jane Casey over the Christmas holidays, and need to talk about my latest obsession!

has anyone else read them all? Happy to try and discuss without spoilers if people haven’t. They are basically brilliant police procedurals with a lot of character-driven background stuff - there are 10 main books, plus a few shorter spin offs set in the same world. The next one is out in March and I’d like to fill the gap with chat if possible!

Thoughts/predictions from me: Hoping beyond hope that the relationship stuff is resolved at least a bit in the next one, but predict more angst before it is. It might sort of ‘end’ the series - but then Casey could continue a series of the spin offs instead.

I had a question on chronology if anyone has read them all- wondering whether The Outsider (Rob spin off) is supposed to come before or after The Close? I think it matters for the relationship arc, and I can’t decide!

@Atlantic252 no clues on after Maeve 12! More snippets about writing style, how the series came to be. Elly Griffiths was also on the panel, and Jane said it was her who told to have the ending for Maeve 11! (Gasps from audience).

there was another panel that had an author a DI and a forensoc scientist talking about accuracy and what the books got wrong - they are now doing a podcast apparently, which would probably be fun.

@Zitouna that sounds like a dream panel to me!
I’m not expecting Maeve 12 to resolve everything. I suspect there’s quite a way to go. I’m a bit shocked if Elly Griffiths suggested tormenting us with that epilogue but was definitely thinking of her in the last chapter on the beach in Norfolk!

I’m actually hoping for more, better crime and less swoony pining in Maeve 12. Come on, Jane’s editor!

Ha, I could definitely take less pining, but I wouldn’t say no to more resolution 😁.

I'm the same Fortunata - one of the things that drew me to the books was that yes, she has stuff going on in her life, but she wasn't going to let it affect her work. I feel we've lost her strength. And I want good crime stories!

Yes, I love the twisty crime plots. I’m totally into the characters but it was the intelligence and the ingenuity that appealed. For me The Cutting Place might be the peak in that respect. But of course I want to know what happens next!

I did really enjoy the latest and I’m looking forward to the next one. But I did find the scenes with Liv and Georgia bossing Maeve around a bit odd. Maeve suddenly became completely wet when I would’ve imagined she wouldn’t take that at all. And they both came across as really overbearing. As to a character that will get killed off, my money is on Georgia. Along with all the complicated feelings Maeve will probably have about it being her fault etc etc. Georgia because her character arc seems kind of complete and Maeve’s interactions with her, from annoyed to almost subservient.

Oh, and on Josh’s character, in the earlier books I imagined him as a more current day version of Philip Glenister’s character in Life on Mars. Just the misogynistic but still annoyingly somewhat attractive swagger (annoying because the misogyny is somehow part of the attraction!) and he knows it! But I think he’s become technically more good looking in descriptions as the books have progressed. So maybe a slightly more chiseled and fit, younger Philip Glenister!

So I started with Strike, then Tana French, then Maeve, then Ruth Galloway. Devoured all of them.

Reading Will Trent (Karin Slaughter) series now and I’m 4 or 5 books in but it’s not giving me what I need! Any other reccos?

@RollingInTheAisles there’s definitely a hint of Philip Glenister in the first few books!
Karin Slaughter’s too much for me, just getting started on Tana French. I did like Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie series and I think there’s another coming out.

Next Jackson Brodie comes out in August. Not too long to wait! I may reread the series so far, just to get ready!

@Atlantic252

I ended up ordering the hard copy of the Burning so I could read it. Worth it I think!

It seems there is a lot of common taste of books in the thread. I really like the trilogy by Joanne Harris that begins with Gentlemen and Players. And anyone who occasionally indulges in cozy murder mysteries I’d recommend the Dales Detective series.

I’m caught in that zone where cosy
murder makes me want to commit very non-cosy murder but Karin Slaughter feels too gratuitously nasty. It’s a fine balance! I really need to set aside some time to re-read all of the Ruth Galloway books, which are still my absolute favourite.

Oh, and I haven’t read any of the Dalziel and Pascoes for ages. I haven’t quite got over Reginald Hill selfishly dying and cutting off my
supply.

@FortunataTagnips with you on both of those Observations! I can’t do cosy at the moment, either. I do think D and P series worth revisiting. Suitably twisty.
I’ve been amusing myself thinking how I’d bet an imaginary tenner on what happens to Josh in book 12. So far I’ve got DIY disaster (I have ladder phobia), medical emergency, attack by several possible candidates and rash decision in misguided belief doing something risky and complicated is best idea ever. Hmm… that last option sounds plausible. Right. Off to reread Jackson Brodie and Dalziel and Pascoe!

I’ve just read and enjoyed Toni Anderson’s romantic crime thrillers.

I do hope Maeve gets back her older personality in the next book. I don’t mind the romance alongside the crime, but I want any future books to be primarily about her at work.

I've just finished reading The Institution by Helen Fields which was good. It's a standalone book but she has got a detective series that I'm going to dip my toes in now.

For crime fic fans with a complicated main character,, i recommend the TG Reid books.

The murders are graphic and from the POV of the victim, so be warned, but I'm loving the twisty plots and the team are great.

Has anyone read any of Jane Casey’s other books or series? Anything particularly worth trying?

I read her YA series. It’s ok. And I read the Killing Kind which I liked a lot. Both are pretty different from Maeve.

I like the Killing Kind and the YA series is good.
if you want something non-Jane Casey to tide you over to the next book, I’m currently reading Last Witness by Lucie Whitehouse and I would say it’s very much going to appeal to the same readers. Very twisty and great characters.

I can’t read Last Witness because I wouldn’t be able to shake the Wham ear worm.

Thank you for that! And now, neither can I! 😂

😀