This may be a tad late, but a friend in the writing field told me that Cornwell's Hornet's Nest is actually an old book that she couldn't get published before she became famous-which may well be why the book is not up to par. There's a term for this, but I forgot it!

Greed comes to mind.

Talk about feeling cheated. I am not sure yet, but "Biting the Moon" by Grimes...well the first chapter is a let-down, but I do love her Jury books. Who is dependable anymore?

Four authors come to mind when you talk about changing characters when you are in the middle of a successful and generally good series--Sara Paretsky and "Ghost Country", Faye Kellerman's "Moon Music", Abigail Padgess "Blue" and Paul Levine's latest. I sometimes wish that advance notices of new books would contain warnings or at least indicate to those of us who devour books, that this is a change in direction for this author. At least I've started putting most new hardback releases on reserve at the library so the most I'm out is 50 cents if the author lays an egg!

I have found that some writers continue past the time when they need to change their approch to a story. This is when I serch out a new writer to enjoy.

Another example is James Patterson. His last few have not been as good as the earlier ones. I think that some authors get a best seller and then just keep repeating the book that made them a success. they are afraid to change anything for fear that they will not do as well.

Any thoughts on Tony Hillerman and his work?

Hi everyone, let me begin be saying I just found this site so I'm not sure if anyone will respone to my post. However, I agree, it seem the author goes to great pain to develop chatacters, till the reader starts to believe they're real. Then, the author decides that they're not being challrnged creatively and decides to take thier writing in a new direction. Great, this leads the reader out in the cold, sicne the reader has come to expect a certain sytle of writing when reading the authors books. Why can the author, if wanting to strech thier talents. simply create new characters for a diferent seriers of book instead of changind existing characters drasticly? Chri smiley

What bothers me more is when authors hit it big and then are marketed as "mainstream fiction" instead of as mystery authors, as if being a genre author is something to be ashamed of. This also happens to romance authors like Catherine Coulter and Judith McNaught who are writing more suspense-themed books tinged with romance.

I absolutely hated Hornet's Nest and think Kathy Reichs is definitely imitating Cornwell. I am reading Reichs' latest, Grave Secrets, and just can't seem to get into it.

I detested O is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton. I jsut didn't hink it had the goods like her other books did and I don't like the by J.A. Jance where shehas Joanna Bradey and J.P. Beaumont teamed up. WAY too contrived...as is the Quebec/N. Carolina bit with Reichs.

I also just stumbled on this 'conversation'. it is gratifying to see that others also think that Grafton, Paretsky,Cornwall, James and Minette Walters have become disappointing...There have been others that I wanted to throw across the room when I considered their cost..I too will rely on library...maybe being a 'mystery writer'is embarrassing to them and they strive for serious literature..too bad...Jerri