I began reading Susan Wittig Albert’s China Bayles series yesterday after giving up on the hope of finding all of them at a bookstore. I read two of them yesterday. And the background information on two people changes significantly between the two books.

In the earlier book Blackie is a father and has a son.

In the later book Blackie is a widower without children, but with three nephews.

In the earlier book Sally and Mike share custody of their son.

In the later book Mike has sole custody and Sally doesn’t even see Brian.

I am enjoying the books. But I hate inconsistency.

Today I read a third, Lavender Lies. It’s an interesting book. There aren’t any of the inconsistencies–at least none that I noticed. It’s only my third book, so I might have missed other information.

But the very last paragraph in the book has a mistake. Josephine is the name of the hurricane that threatens to disrupt the wedding. Hernando is the name of the hurricane that threatens to disrupt the honeymoon. But hurricanes are named in alphabetical order so Hernando should be Kasey or some such name.

It was still a good book. And I’m learning lots about flowers and herbs.

Added later: In one of the books I read today (1 of 4), Blackie is a “bachelor” with no apparent history.

And Ruby gets taller and shorter throughout the books. In book 1 she’s six feet tall. In one of the books I read earlier this week she’s six feet tall in her heels. In another book from today she’s “six feet or more depending on her shoes.”

I still like the books. They’re interesting. Don’t know if I’ll ever re-read them, but…