Nora Roberts
Ya know who bugs me? Nora Roberts.
Here is this woman, making money hand over fist, putting out books by the dozens and she can't be bothered to do a little research. Well, she does the fun research: the travel and the interviews but not the detail stuff.
I noticed this first in her "Northern Lights" book. It is set in a tiny Alaska town and I lived in a tiny Alaska town so I was excited to read it. Obviously she has been to Alaska. She got the place names and some of the attitude right. But them she spoils it by mentioning the main character sees a group of deer. There are no deer in Alaska. No white tailed deer anyway. There are Sitka deer. On Sitka island. And besides, Sitka deer are tiny: around the size of a German Shepard.
Then in the last one of hers I read "The Hollow" (Very enjoyable story BTW) one of the characters comments on another character's herd of milk goats. She says she recognizes them as LaMancha goats because of the way their ear tilt up. Um, LaMancha goats don't have ears! They have tiny little ear buds called "gopher ears" the external part of the ear may not exceed 2.5 cm! Honestly! How hard is it to google "goats"?
Now in her current book, "High Noon", the main female lead receives a bouquet of Stargazer Lilies. She takes a deep breath of their scent. Okay, Yuck! Most of the Stargazers that florists use now have been bred to have no smell or at least very little cause Stargazers…stink> If you want to know what a natural Stargazer lily smells like go take a deep whiff of a dirty cat litter box. Stargazers smell like ammonia!
Okay, so, yeah, I am being a nit picker and I still read her books and enjoy them. And none of these things ever really have anything to do with the plot of the stories. But every time she goofs like that it throws me out of the story. It's like having a lovely conversation with someone and every so often they suddenly scream "CRAP" at you. I guess it s the literary equivalent of Turrets syndrome.