September Series and Sequels

My 75 Book reading challenge group on LibraryThing has decided to throw another challenge into the wind, and this is one I can easily handle.  September has been declared the month of Series and Sequels.  Many of us need no extra encouragement to read good books in a series, and we are constantly bemoaning the discovery of another series to follow because we know how addicting good ones are.

A series is like a family.  You find a place you like - either because the setting is someplace you've always wanted to visit and haven't gotten there yet, or it's someplace you're very familiar with personally, or it's a place you've been to and long to return.

Then you get introduced to characters who become more and more like friends or members of the family.  Some are evil and loathsome, but you find that if they don't continue to be awful and hateful that the series loses some of its appeal.

And finally, you enjoy the stories, the adventures, the mysteries, the day to day reporting of these lives in these settings and find yourself almost mourning when the current book comes to a close.  Those that are especially beloved - Louise Penny and Julia Spencer-Fleming are my favorites- leave us panting for more the minute we finish the latest one.  In fact, last year I re-read all of JSF prior to diving into the latest one.  This year I was lucky enough to get an ARC of Penny's Beautiful Mystery (out this week), and have since then been re-reading all of the Three Pines/Inspector Gamache series.

Some of the possibilities sitting here on Mt. Toobie that fit the Series and Sequels criteria are:

Jana Bibi's Excellent Fortunes by Betsy Woodman (first of a new series )
Body in the Boudoir (A Faith Fairchild Mystery) by Katherine Hall Page
Poppy Done to Death ( an Aurora Teagarden mystery) by Charlaine Harris
Grandad there's a Head on the Beach (Jimm Juree mystery) by Colin Cotterill
A Fistful of Collars ( a Chet and Bernie Mystery) by Spencer Quinn
Bring up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel (sequel to Wolf Hall)
Track of Sand (Inspector Montalbano mystery) - Andrea Camilleri
Chocker - Ike Schwartz mystery - Frederick Ramsay
 and I'll be continuing with a Louise Penny - I think I'm on #5 "The Brutal Telling"

I'm also going to be reading in my series of Presidential biographies - I'm up to John Quincy Adams - and will continue with my World War I books.  So I'm thinking that September will be a busy reading month.

Do you have a favorite series you want to catch up on?  How about a new one you want to start?