My library does a whole series of these bookmarks. If you like Tom Clancy, try Clive Cussler! So, one summer, when I had re-read my way through the entire Brother Cadfael series about a 12th century monk solving mysteries, and was looking for more, I picked up the “If you like Ellis Peters…” list.
Uh-huh.
NO, I will not like a book with crappy dialogue, minimal character development, and zero history just because it’s a mystery set in a medieval convent.
If you like Ellis Peters, try Lindsay Davis. (ETA: and I guess I’ll try nominees from this award over the years, also)
PS. I kinda trust Amazon’s approach a bit more—”people who bought this also bought…” no promises about liking, no attempt to guess taste, etc. Just a statement of fact.
29 April 2008 at 8:17 pm
Bahahaha! I know exactly what crappy series you’re talking about because the same thing happened to me, only the recommender was human.
And I also agree with your replacement recommendation.
30 April 2008 at 4:26 am
Thanks for the heads up about the Brother Cadfael series. I will have to check this out.
30 April 2008 at 6:24 pm
Academic—Cadfael is quality work, even if not necessarily to everyone’s taste.
Dr V—Sadly, I think there might be multiple crappy series on the “if you like Ellis Peters…” list. I know my library had about 12, though I think I only tested two or three.
I happened to be looking at the equivalent lists from the Seattle Public Library, and they were much better—instead of “If You Like Ellis Peters…”, it was “Recommended Historical Mysteries” with both Peters and Davis on it. Or the equivalent, for various topics. Can’t find them online, though, which is a bummer, because I’d really like to move past Peters and Davis and keep getting stuck re-reading.