John Dunning lives in Denver and owned a bookstore himself. He is still involved in the sale of first editions through his website. His serial character, Cliff Janeway, is a veteran Denver cop. He’s been chasing a murderer for two years when we find him in Reserved to die. After following the rules for most of her career, Janeway goes out of bounds and then leaves the police force to pursue her other great love books. He opens a bookstore and, when someone close to the business is killed, he locates the murderer. His suspicious nature prevents him from trusting and stinks of havoc in his love life.

In the second book, Janeway acknowledges that she misses the thrill of being a cop and agrees to help another ex-cop bring back a young woman who has skipped bail. It is linked to a small publishing house, whose works are valued as exquisite limited editions. Even if you don’t like harsh detective stories, you must read The awakening of the book. I read it twice and even the second time, I thought it was one of the best mysteries I have ever read. It didn’t hurt that my experience was off the press.

Dunning educates readers on collecting first editions and loves books, so it’s hard as readers not to share his enthusiasm. His stories contain compassionate three-dimensional characters and complex plots. Janeway comes up with great witty lines reminiscent of John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee. For example, when comparing bestsellers and good writers, he states that “show business is often confused with talent.” But as one female character explains, “Fiction is the only way you can really tell the truth.”

Dunning is perhaps best known for his other love, radio programming of yesteryear. He has written a couple of encyclopedic references on the subject. For those who enjoy historical mysteries, he wrote an entertaining independent fiction book on early radio called Two o’clock wartime eastern. His earlier fiction writing, prior to 1992, is not as good as the Janeway series.

While you’re at your favorite mystery bookstore or library, look out for Karen Kijewski’s Kat Colorado series. Here’s another tough private investigator, this time based in Sacramento, California. Kat is a former bartender, as is the author. He has strong family ties and a deep loyalty to the underdog in life. My sister got me interested in this mystery series and in my opinion the books are as good as Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan series. Kijewski won the Shamus and Anthony Awards for his first book in the series, Katwalk, which came out in 1988.

It’s easy to get hooked on the characters in a series, but difficult when the series is suspended. Maybe we should be grateful. I don’t know if I could keep up with all the writers that I like, if some of them didn’t stop their series or become complacent in their writing of them (i.e. they jumped the shark). It’s a mixed blessing in the sense that saying goodbye to one gives you a chance to fill that void with another cast of compelling characters.