Why Book Authors End a Favorite Series

 A review of a few favorite authors of fiction series and why they wrote a final one.

What is a Book Series?

In fiction, a series typically shares a common setting, timeline or set of characters. They are usually found in genre fiction, such as my favorite, crime fiction (murder mysteries, police procedurals, etc.). A series can be any length, the most common one being a Trilogy. 

When a fan of a book series discovers a favorite author has ended the long loved series, there is first disappointment that there will not be any more. And one wonders why the series has to end. 

Margaret Maron, author of the 9-book Sigrid Harald series and her 20 Deborah Knott novels explained it best in a 2017 interview. 

I've said almost everything there is to say (about her characters) and I don't want to start repeating myself. Margaret also admitted that she was more than ready to be done with deadlines.

I feel the way many other fans of novel series such as Maron's books felt when faced with the final book featuring favorite characters; I wish they could go on forever. But Margaret Maron was 76 years old when she wrote her final Deborah Knott book Long Upon The Land. And she  died in 2021 at age 82. She gave all her long-time fans terrific memories that will continue on in her books. 

More Endings

A few more of my favorite authors of series who have ended long series are worth mentioning here. 

Faye Kellerman

I just finished reading Faye Kellerman's The Hunt – Book 27 of 27 in her: Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus. On the dedication page, Kellerman states that this is the final book in this series.

I've been a fan since Book #1 – The Ritual Bath – published in 1986. Twenty-seven books in 37 years. Quite a record. I can see that there is not much else to say about these wonderful characters, but they will be dearly missed. I've followed Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus since they met, then married, through their kids growing up and getting married. Now that these favorite characters are grandparents and author Faye Kellerman is 70 years old, I can understand why Book #27 has become her final one in the series, but I'll still miss them. Luckily I can re-read them any time I want. One of the joys of book collections. 

Sue Grafton

One of my deepest reading regrets is that Sue Grafton – she of the Private Eye Kinsey Millhone “Alphabet” series – is that she didn't live long enough to finish the series. I've been a big fan since 1982 when I met the character 'Kinsey' in “A is for Alibi”. Grafton died in 2017 at age 77 before she could write the Z book. So her series ended with “Y is for Yesterday”. I own every one from A through Y and recently reread them all. 

John D. MacDonald

The very first time I realized that a series could end was in 1985. I had recently joined a book subscription service and you could choose 4 books for a low starter price. I had picked out 3 books I wanted to have and for the 4th book chose a book by an author new to me. The book was the Lonely Silver Rain (1985) by John D. MacDonald. I fell  in love with the main character Travis McGee and immediately became a fan. Come to find out, that book was #21 in the series and was published just a year before MacDonald died at age 70. It was not intended to be the final novel in the series. I was terribly disappointed to discover such a wonderful writer of a character that was so fascinating would not be writing any more Travis McGee novels. Eventually I acquired every one of the previous 20 Travis McGee novels – all with a color in the title - and enjoy them to this day.  Some were difficult to find since the first Travis McGee novel was written in 1964, but used book stores and, later, eBay and Amazon were a good source for out-of-print books. 

Endings Are Also Beginnings...

Image Source: Pixabay

Over the years I have collected all the books in favorite series by favorite authors. It is delightful to me to reread a series beginning with the first book and continuing book after book until the last one. Many people say they don't like reading this way, but I love being able to stay with the characters I love one book after another. If I really like an author, like their style and the characters they have created, I enjoy staying with them until I have read/reread them all. Currently, I have over 8 different authors' complete series. Additionally I have many non-series novels by favorite authors. I haven't counted the number of books I own, but suffice it to say that during year one of the panendemic when my local library was closed, I re-read every book I own. Kept me going for many months! 

Summary

So there you have it – the reasons why authors end a series. Either the series has reached it's natural lifespan or the author has retired or died. But each series has given me a wealth of memories and a great deal of enjoyment.

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*Book Review of book series ending by Wednesday Elf

 Long Upon the Land: A Deborah Knott MysteryCheck Price The Hunt: A Decker/Lazarus Novel (Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Book 27)Check Price Y is for Yesterday
(A Kinsey Millhone Novel
Book 25)Check Price The Lonely Silver Rain by John D. MacDonald(March 12, 1985) HardcoverCheck Price

 

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