The Passing of My Two Favorite Authors

Back in the very early 1980's I discovered a British author by the name of Dick Francis, who wrote incredibly entertaining mysteries revolving around horses.  It might be a jockey or stable hand or trainer featured as the main character or it might be a yarn about transporting horses overseas for races, but each one had me hooked mere pages into the story.
My favorite character, Sid Halley, was featured in 3 of his novels.  So if you have the time to visit your library in person or on the web, request Odds Against, Whip Hand, and Come to Grief.  Once you're hooked on this guy you'll want to read all the others.
I not only own everything he's ever written, but there are favorites that I've read 3 or 4 times each, such as the ones featuring Sid.  If you wait a few years between readings, they're familiar, like family you see only at funerals or reunions...you enjoy they're company, but you can't remember who-done-it, and once again, you can't put them down.
His son Felix helped with the last 4 books and while they're different, they're still good, so today I look forward to what Felix has in store for me in the years to come.

My second favorite author, only because I discovered him in recent years, was Robert B. Parker.  While in California last month I learned of his passing and again, I felt it as a personal loss.  I've read all his Spenser novels and enjoyed each and every one.  As a matter of fact I finished one 2 nights ago that was written last year but tells about the childhood of the character Spenser, to give you a background into what made him the man he was to become. 
And I'm on the waiting list for his latest at the library and anxiously await the email announcing that it's finally my turn to read it.

I have more news to post later today, including the 3 classes I'll be teaching at Stampaway, with photos!!  But it was important to me that these two very talented men be acknowledged for the delight they've brought into my life.

I do love to read a book, or two, or twenty.  Can't imagine my life without books.  Which is why today I can't imagine my life without the characters these two talented men brought into my little corner of the world.