Will asked:
"Forgive an ignorant question but does James write stand
alones or a series? I am one of the 'must start at the
beginning' types so I'd like to begin with the first if there
are any series books otherwise I plan to get ahold of a few
of these and sample them myself."
I'm the same way about reading in order. Unfortunately, it's
hard to do with James (since most are out of print, if they
even saw print on this side of the pond; and as Al pointed
out, it seems to be the same in the UK). And I must admit
that for the most part it's unnecessary. I read Count Me Out
first, since it was relatively easy to find, being published
by Serpent's Tail. I liked it a lot, so I sought out the
others. I lucked out. At the time, www.1bookstreet.com had
cheap remainder copies of most of his UK paperbacks (they
still have copies of Payback, a very good one). I then read
them in order, although I'm currently a couple behind.
Okay, on to the real question, do you need to read them in
order? Not really. They are mostly standalones, but with a
few recurring characters. Vinnie Durkin shows up in a few
books, but he's a very minor character who provides muscle
for various crime bosses. And then there are crimeboss
Gottfliesch and his creepy sidekick, whose name I'm blanking
on. They appear in several books. However, even someone as
anal about reading in order as myself must admit it is not
necessary with James as far as continuity goes. You can see
development in his writing and plotting, though, which start
out top-notch and just get better.
By the way, he has a website (www.russelljames.co.uk) and
there's a good page on him at Tangled Wed
(www.twbooks.co.uk).
Mark
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