I would answer the question that I don’t have a favorite author but I do have a few authors I really like and will pickup any new book they publish. Currently I am reading the new book by Anthony Horowitz ”A Deadly Episode”. He falls into that category. Otherwise, like you, I don’t follow any author unless they have a series I’m reading.

We had The Thursday Murder Club for book club when it came out, but I didn't enjoy it because some of the premises it was based on were false.

But I'm like KW, I also have a number of authors whose latest book I eagerly anticipate but I wouldn't say I like any one of them "my favourite".

I don't necessarily have a favorite but I am a past fan of Anne Tyler, John Irving, Jennifer Weiner, Fannie Flagg.

Colleen, Inalsi had to read it for a book club. Forbme, meh. I don't understand ehy done books catch on and become favorites for everyone’s book club.

Thursday Murder Club has been made into a fun movie, all star cast, on Netflix. I disagree with about of points in the movie, but it was still fun.

I have a bunch of favorite authors. If I find a book that I like, I'll go find everything else they wrote. Nobody that I'll buy the latest in hardback, tho. I dislike hardback books, because I read in bed and fold back the covers. I buy used books.

Read all the Murder Club books. Read all Louise Penney, Anthony Horowitz, Ian Rankin, Daniel Silva, and about 20 others. I just finished Wallace Stegner's Crossing to Safety, and I loved it, I'll get more of his books.

Like sushipup, if I enjoy a book by an author new to me then I go out & look for the other books by same author. But, I do like to read first books by new authors.

I read at least one book a week and have for my whole adult life. I have a lot of favorites, and if the book I'm currently reading impresses me, I look for more by the author at the library where I go every Wednesday.

My reading is about 50/50 fiction and non-fiction. My non-fiction interests tend to be mostly biographies and also in the history direction, European and a little American history of the last 200 years. Topics attract my attention a bit more than authors, although I've enjoyed most of what McCullough, Larson, Bird and Macintyre have written. No hidden gems these, well known and successful authors. Books about current events, politics and/or people whose lives are so spent involved with same don't interest me.

I have a handful plus some of favorite authors of the suspense/mystery category, also successful ones in the popular fiction genre. No need to mention them, they're well known. But I'm picky, many who are successful are ones whose books I can't stomach - Thor, James, Baldacci, Sanford and Grisham are examples in a group I stay away from.

I think the English comp and Literature Analysis classes I had to take in college permanently ended my toleration of reading fiction containing heavy doses of allegory and symbolism. I like fiction that's entertaining and engaging. I don't care for character development, having my emotions exercised or searching for disguised insights pondering the meaning of life. I don't spend any time trying to guess the directions of whodunit stories, I look for entertainment and engaging stories that are hard to put down.

I don't finish 1/4 to 1/2 of books by authors I'm trying for the first time. For me, it's the book equivalent of the valid saying "Life is too short to drink bad wine or eat mediocre food".

It happens in that category was the Thursday Murder Club.. I got about 1/3 in and couldn't continue.

Michael Connelly author of the Harry Bosch books.

Michael Crichton, Bill Bryson, Yuval Noah Harari. Tolkien. Jennifer Donnelly. I tried the Murder Club...not for me. I found it annoying.

Harlan coben. For one.

Dr. Zeuss

I think all of us have a few authors whose books we read over and over. That, for me, would be a favorite author. Then, there are authors whose new books we look forward to reading. They would be considered favorites too. For me, the "over and over" ones are mostly dead--not writing any new ones, LOL.

The "over and over again" phenomenon is a fair category. I have perhaps a handful of authors whose books I re-read regularly for lack of anything better. There are also other books I consider to be one-off ones I liked especially well. I have a list (alphabetical by author) of books read and when re-read. Depending on the book, enough time needs to pass before I'm ready to read them again.

The short list of authors I like best are still alive and producing books in continuing series, maybe one book every year or two. Michael Connelly and Daniel Silva are on this list. The re-reads fill in the blank time intervals.

I am not into series writers. I don't read for plot, so no wholly mysteries or thrillers. I don't do dystopic or fantasy too. Give me a good Forster, Dickens, Woolf, Wharton and I am happy. I do have breathing authors whom I like. Ian McEwan, Douglas Stuart, Min Jin Lee, among others, but these people don't churn them out on a regular basis. They make us beg!

DH and I have been fans of Michael Connelly since the beginning. I even went to an author's lunch where he was the guest speaker and asked him a question. I've pre-ordered his upcoming Harry Bosch as a Christmas gift for DH :-)

In the crime genre we're also fans of the Rebus books by Ian Rankin. It's been made into a TV series , with Ken Stott as the prefect Rebus for the first ten episodes, then he was replaced with John Hanna who was less convincing.

There is another series by Lindsey Davis which started off with the main character of the "informer" (aka detective) Marcus Didius Falco, which is set in the reign of ancient Rome's Emperor Vespasian. As Falco ages, the business is taken over by his adopted daughter Flavia Albia. They are very witty and well researched for the historical details of day to day life in first-century Rome.

We're also fans of Bill Bryson, Carl Hiassen, the late great Terry Pratchett and a number of science fiction and fantasy authors.

My answer would be that I have more than a few 🙂

@colleenoz - Did Michael Connelly seem as nice or gracious in person as his Harry Bosch character is? I like him and I can’t separate the character Harry from the author Michael Connelly. Connelly even has made Mickey Haller into a nicer guy than he was.

@KW PNW Z8, He was a very nice man, well spoken and graciously answered all the questions the audience had for him. Definitely not his own biggest fan like some authors.

I've met Connelly twice, both were at book release events, about 5 years apart. For both, I intentionally went very early, like 90 minutes early, hoping to have time to chat with him. That worked both times.

He is an extremely nice person. He'd become a successful and well respected author before I first saw him in person. He is disarmingly humble and almost apologetic about his success.

One of the interesting things about him is that he honed his writing craft working as a newspaper reporter. That's who he is to the bone, by his own admission. Writing a new book requires going out and pounding the pavement, doing an investigation and research for settings and locales as ingredients to use as he develops each new story. The first time we had a conversation, which happily lasted about 30 minutes, part of it was like he was interviewing me for a newspaper article.

He asked if I'd read all of his books released so far? Yes. What did I like best about them? I told him I'd grown up and lived into my early adult years in the neighborhoods the stories took place and I had been to almost all the public places and commercial locales mentioned in his stories. His descriptions and portrayals of various real places are accurate and capture the vibe of each place mentioned. Reading his stories was just like taking a trip home for me because the places (including restaurants and the like) were well known and so familiar to me. He asked for some examples and I mentioned probably more than he expected to hear. He asked if there were any areas or things he might consider in a future book? I told him with a chuckle that I thought he was doing just fine without any help from me, no reason to change that. He chuckled too and said Okay.

I've included a copy of the signed inscription I got. I'm tired of how often people who seem to have few experiences in their lives seem inclined to challenge what I describe for myself, thinking I must fabricate what I mention. Which i don't.

I have my name covered. It says:

To XXXXXX,

who knows the LA that Harry knows. Good luck and good reading

MC

Thanks Elmer for sharing your really nice story about your experience with meeting Michael Connelly.

A tad more on Connelly - he's often said that the city of Los Angeles and its neighborhoods and places are very important in his stories. And will always play an important co-staring role because he says he writes stories that are unique to their settings. That's the "vibe" element of his writing that I mentioned before, he knows and accurately captures the essence of the settings he includes in his stories. An interesting sidenote to this is that the TV productions of his characters - the several Bosch ones, the Lincoln Lawyer, and the new series with his character Renee Ballard - are all filmed in LA and deliberately feature well-known sites and landmarks around town.

Connelly readers know that he has branched out from the Harry Bosch character to include stories featuring the few other characters mentioned above and a new one in the past 18 months - Officer Stillwell, an LA County Sheriff based on Catalina Island. The island is very familiar to me, it's where I went to camp as a kid and have returned many times to visit as an adult.

For others familiar with Catalina, it's clear from the many places and locales he mentions in his story that he has done his typical in-depth background investigation work to identify and "know" the territory and its unique spots he's chosen for each "scene" of his stories.

Not that his knowledge of details needs to be proven but for the second book in the Catalina series, he released a map of the small town of Avalon and the island itself, noting the location of the real places (restaurants, public services, hotels, camping sites and trails, the "airport", etc) where the action in the book takes place. Below is a link to the map that should be interesting for anyone who has read or will read the second book in the Catalina Series, Ironwood. Also perhaps of interest for those who have or read the first one, Nightshade, which takes place mostly in Avalon.

Catalina map of sites mentioned in Connelly's book Ironwood

My husband has ”Ironwood” in his stack to be read. He enjoyed ”Niightshade”

The link in my comment just above is safe. It goes to Connelly's website and triggers the download of the map in a PDF file. Your husband might enjoy having a printed copy of it handy to refer to as he reads the book, I know I did.

The link can be found directly by going to the following page and scrolling down to near the bottom. It's in the text opposite the small image of the book and a map. The link says "Print an Ironwood themed map of Avalon and Catalina Island"

Here's the source page

Ironwood (2026) - Michael Connelly