The Mystery Ends. The Journey Continues.
One of my favorite conversations at festivals is when a book catches a reader’s eye. The reader picks up one of my books, flips it over to read the back cover, and says, “This sounds great. Do I have to start with Book 1?”
Sometimes they’re holding Book 4. Sometimes Book 6. Every once in a while, it’s Book 8. It’s a great question, and the answer isn’t always the same.
Some series are designed so that you can jump in anywhere. Each book tells a complete story, and the only thing you might miss is an occasional reference to an earlier adventure.
My series are different. Each mystery is solved by the end of the book, but the characters keep living their lives. They grow, change, make mistakes, celebrate victories, and sometimes carry old wounds into the next story.
Imagine a mystery series where the first novel introduces a lonely orphan boy. While solving a crime, the main character teaches him to read.
In the next story, another mystery is solved, but the main character discovers she can’t adopt or even foster the boy because of a mistake from her own past.
By the third book, someone else has quietly gone through foster training and welcomes him into a loving home.
If you had started with that third book, you would know the mystery was solved and the boy finally found a home.
What you wouldn’t know is the journey. You wouldn’t watch his confidence grow one page at a time. You wouldn’t understand why the main character wanted to help him so badly or why she couldn’t. And you wouldn’t fully appreciate why that final scene feels like such a victory.
That’s the magic of reading a series from the beginning. The mystery keeps you turning the pages, but the characters invite you to come back for the next book.
As an author, I’m always excited when a new release comes out. Right now, I’m especially excited because Maggie Sloan’s newest adventure, The Hunter, Book 8, will be arriving soon.
But when someone at a festival asks me where to begin, I recommend starting with Book 1. Not because you won’t enjoy Book 8, but because I want you to experience everything that made Book 8 possible.
So if a book in a series catches your eye, don’t think of Book 1 as a hurdle.
Think of it as the beginning of a journey.
Happy reading,
You keep reading; I’ll keep writing!
New to Maggie Sloan?
Start where Maggie’s journey begins and experience everything that leads to The Hunter.
