DID YOU KNOW Sting of Lies is the first book in a series that is NOT a “series” series? The next Lies series book, Echo ofLies, but it has only one character from Sting of Lies and is set in a different time (late 1940s). So what makes a mystery series a series? The same sleuth? Think Hercule Poirot (84 novels and shorts) or Inspector Gamache (19 and counting). Maybe a series has the same cast of characters except for those imported for the newest crime: e.g., Joe Pickett (25 books) or Joe Leaphorn (26+ books). Most books in these series are easily read as STANDALONES.
Or maybe a series has all the same characters, the crime is new, but the underlying personal stories continue from book to book, like Ruth Galloway and Nelson (15+ books and stories), or (excuse the ego), Nicky Matthews and Franco Martinez (3+ books), or Milly Smith and Luther Nikolai (3+ books). These books are better read in order because of the character conflicts that carry through. These are choices authors and readers make: Commit or Not Commit to a series.
Are you a mystery reader who comes back for the underlying conflict? Or are you more of a one-and-done?