Love this series. Have read/listened to it a half dozen times over the years and the books still make me laugh. I feel like the characters really come together about book 9 and I really enjoy the banter between the characters. Some people say you don't have to read these in order, but I don't think that's true. The beginning of each book does give a who/what/where synopsis, but part of that is the comedy of hearing similar info in different ways, and I feel like you do miss out on character development and references to past events. This is popcorn reading ya'll, not high literature! If you're looking for a fun murder mystery series that moves along, has loveable characters, and doesn't involve little old ladies in English villages or food, this might be the one for you.