Crime fiction in a series or in stand-alones — which is more appealing?”, was a question raised at the online library EasyLib.com’s book club meet. The easily reached verdict was strongly in favour of the crime series. Reason? Readers seem to enjoy an adventurous romp with a known hero than befriending a new one. If you have enjoyed your time with the CIA agent Jack Ryan (by Tom Clancy), the super spy Jason Bourne (by Robert Ludlum), or the LAPD detective Harry Bosch (by Michael Connelly), here are some more recent intrepid heroes who are motivating their creators to churn books featuring them.

Myron Bolitar

Myron Bolitar came into existence in 1995 with Harlan Coben’s Deal Breaker. Bolitar is an ex-basketball player who had to bow out of professional games due to a knee injury. Myron in his mid thirties is your guy next door — witty, idiosyncratic and decent. After his career as a player ends, he studies law at Harvard and becomes a sports representative. His support system includes ‘Win’, uber rich and an almost sociopath (for a good cause — if there is such a thing!) running a fund house. Myron meets Win at Harvard and both get recruited by FBI as undercover investigators. Each book featuring Myron finds him unwittingly acting as a private eye, often to help friends and family.

The other two supporting characters that make up Myron’s world are Esperanza Diaz and Jessica Culver. The sexy and gorgeous Esperanza, a former wrestler is Myron’s best friend and business associate. Jessica Culver is a popular writer and is Myron’s on-again, off-again love interest. Racy plots sprinkled with wit and just about enough violence keeps readers hooked to the Bolitar series.

Bob Skinner

Scottish writer Quintin Jardine created Bob Skinner, the burly deputy of Edinburgh, in 1993 with Skinner’s Rules. Bob is not an accidental investigator like Myron but a hard-boiled cop. The football loving, golf playing Bob Skinner is a tough cop but a caring husband and a loving father. Adored by bosses and juniors alike, it is not surprising that Jardine is at times accused of creating too perfect a hero. While Skinner has Andy Martin, Neil McIlhenney, Margaret Rose and Mario McGuire as his support system in the police force, he has wife Sarah and daughter Alexis in the personal front.

Among all the characters in the Skinner series, Andy Martin gets featured in most books with his green eyed good looks, his unquestioned faith in Skinner, and for being engaged to Skinner’s daughter. Skinner’s Rules, kick started the series with the mutilated body of an young lawyer in an alleyway. What follows is a  series of seemingly unconnected murders but Skinner works on his premonition that they may all be part of some sinister scheme.

The last book in the series Lethal Intent is no doubt a taut mystery but it has left some fans of Bob Skinner feel disappointed with Bob and his wife Sarah heading for splitsville. The very intelligent and lovable Sarah had become as much a part of readers’ life as she was of Skinner’s. With eighteen books till date, Jardine has created a police procedural series that guarantees a gripping storyline along with a good insight into the life in Edinburgh. Readers who follow the series in order, cannot help getting drawn to the not so ordinary domestic lives of Skinner and his aides.

Sigma Force

James Rollins’ Sigma Force novels are not murder mysteries but are about larger than life crimes threatening the world. Sigma Force is a covert organisation comprising military men and scientists deployed by the US defense to safeguard technology vital to the country. Sandstorm, the first book in the series introduces the concept of ‘Sigma Force’ and ‘Painter Crowe’, the director of the force. It is the second book in the series, The Map of Bones, that puts together core members for the Sigma team — Grayson Pierce, Logan Gregory, Monk Kokkalis, Kat Richardson and Seichan.

Rollins provides a different thrill in every book — in Subterranean you are transported to the bottom of the earth, in Black Order you are acquainted with an illegal experiment with quantum mechanics which was started during the World War II, and in Judas Strain a deadly virus strain unleashed in the modern day sets a trail that makes you look back to Marco Polo’s travel to China.

While Rollins succeeds in providing fast-paced, immensely enjoyable escape novels with his Sigma Force series, he comes under the hammer for his poor character development. With too many primary characters vying for attention, they fail to build a personal rapport with readers. Criticisms aside, there are five Sigma Force novels so far, and Rollins looks good for many more given the mostly five star ratings his books are receiving.