To Be Continued…

Having different authors take over a series isn't new in the world of fiction, even mystery fiction. Both the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series have been going strong for over 80 years, written by a continuing roster of dozens of authors during that time. Robert Goldsborough, with the approval of the estate of Rex Stout, penned seven Nero Wolfe mysteries following Stout's death, and in 1998, Jill Paton Walsh won acclaim for completing Dorothy L. Sayers' unfinished Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane novel, Thrones, Dominations, writing two more Wimsey novels since.

But the pace of literary continuations seems to have picked up lately. The late Joe Gores wrote a prequel published in 2009 to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, titled Spade and Archer. Following the death of Dick Francis last year, Dick's son Felix, who co-authored the last three of the horse-racing themed mysteries with his father, announced he'd be continuing that franchise.

Just this year:  Ian Fleming Publications chose thriller writer, Jeffery Deaver, to write a soon-to-be-released James Bond book; Anthony Horowitz was selected by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's estate to continue the Sherlock Holmes series with a new title coming out in the Fall; author Trevanian's assassin Nicholai Hel, the hero of 1979's Shibumi, was resurrected by Don Winslow; and Robert B. Parker's estate recently announced that Ace Atkins would continue the Spencer series, with Michael Brandman doing the same for Parker's Jesse Stone franchise. (Note that Robert B. Parker himself was commissioned to complete the eighth Philip Marlowe novel, Poodle Springs, left unfinished at the time of Raymond Chandler's death.)

Although many of the writers involved in taking over another's series are fine authors in their own right, it's rather curious that this seems to be an accelerating trend. Perhaps it's just temporary or perhaps we'll see even more of these in the next few years, time will tell.

Now it's your turn to weigh in: which series would you like to see picked up by another author so the character can have new adventures? (Extra credit for coming up with your own ideas about which authors you'd like to see do the honors, and mentioning them in the comments.) Who knows? Maybe you'll give publishers out there some ideas…