Armchair BEA - Characters

Today's Topics

Character Chatter
It's time to give your favorite characters some love! Characters are essential to a story, and they can make or break a book for some readers. Now's your chance to shine the spotlight on your favorite characters, or maybe your least favorite. Who's your favorite couple? What are the components of a well written character? What are you favorite or least favorite cliches associated with characters?

I'm coming to the table late today!  So this will be quick.
I always say that I read series mysteries because of the setting, the love of place, and yes, I fall in love with different 'places' all the time.  (because the authors are so great in setting the scene)  But let's face it---I wouldn't come back to the 2nd or 3rd book in the series if I didn't also love the characters.
Most times, the characters are flawed, but deep and very interesting.   (except I do love  a good cozy once on a while,  Stephanie Plumb? I still  Love her, even if she has no depth--doesn't really grow. But ahhhh  I so want to be her!).  

These are some of my favorite characters:
Cork O' Conner from William Kent Krueger's  "Iron Lake" series
 Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Corcoran "Cork" O'Connor is the former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota. Embittered by his "former" status, and the marital meltdown that has separated him from his children, Cork gets by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt. Once a cop on Chicago's South Side, there's not much that can shock him.

Sebastian St. Cyr from C.S Harris's  Sebastian St. Cyr series
  Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a brilliant young nobleman shattered by his experience in the Napoleonic Wars.

Deborah Knott (MY FAV) from  Margaret Maron's Deborah Knott Series
Deborah Knott, an attorney and the daughter of an infamous North Carolina bootlegger. Known for her knowledge of the region's past and popular with the locals.

 

Clair Ferguson and Russ Van Alstyne fro Julia Spencer-Fleming series (another FAVORITE)
  Clare Fergusson, St. Alban's new priest, fits like a square peg in the conservative Episcopal parish at Millers Kill, New York. She is not just a "lady," she's a tough ex-Army chopper pilot, and nobody's fool. Then a newborn infant left at the church door brings her together with the town's police chief, Russ Van Alstyne, who's also ex-Army and a cynical good shepherd for the stray sheep of his hometown.

Bess Crawford in Charles Todd's series
 The daughter of a distinguished soldier, Bess Crawford, follows in his footsteps and signs up to go overseas as a nurse during the Great War, helping to deal with the many wounded.

Tess Monaghan  in Laura Lippman's series
A former Star reporter who knows every inch of this town—from historic Fort McHenry to the crumbling projects of Cherry Hill—now-unemployed journalist Tess Monaghan. (solves a mystery!)

Peter Decker and Rina Lazurus in Faye Kellerman's series 
 Detective Peter Decker of the LAPD is stunned when he gets the report.Someone has shattered the sanctuary of a remote yeshiva community in the California hills with an unimaginable crime. One of the women was brutally raped as she returned from the mikvah, the bathhouse where the cleansing ritual is performed.
The crime was called in by Rina Lazarus, and Decker is relieved to discover that she is a calm and intelligent witness. She is also the only one in the sheltered community willing to speak of this unspeakable violation. As Rina tries to steer Decker through the maze of religious laws, the two grow closer. But before they get to the bottom of the horrendous crime, revelations come to light that are so shocking that they threaten to come between the hard-nosed cop and the deeply religious woman with whom he has become irrevocably linked.

That's all I have time for now.. .I could go on and on about more great characters in more great novels/series/ mysteries, but no time left today.
We are off to see friends for dinner.