On the death of a character...

I’ve just started work on Wolf Tales 10 (yep, that’s a number ten, not a Roman numeral for those who are keeping track!) and already I’m dealing with something that’s never happened to me in a story before.

I know that one of my regular characters is going to die.

In an ongoing series, it’s not unusual to occasionally lose a character, but I’ve never actually come across this situation while writing. One thing I don’t want to do is spring it on my readers, because that’s NOT the kind of surprise I want when I’m reading a romance, but before I disclose the character’s identity, I thought I’d toss the question out to those of you who read this blog. I trust your opinions, as I know you’re all serious readers with a lot of ‘book experience’ in your background. I’m curious about your feelings—if a character dies, one you’ve “met” in the course of a series, do you want to be warned in advance, or is it something you’d rather find out about in the story?

Do you need to know their identity, or is it sufficient merely to know there will be a death that’s a necessary part of the story?

Personally, I want to know what to expect, but then I’m the kind of reader who will flip to the end of a book if there’s any doubt about the ending. I hate getting to the end of a story and finding out the hero and heroine aren’t actually going to have their HEA! On the other hand, I know that Wolf Tales 10 will have a very happy and satisfying ending to it in spite of the death, but it’s not going to be an ending that’s easily reached. And, because this is an ongoing series, it’s an ending that will be explored again in the next book as my characters grow and develop within the parameters of their roles.

The weird thing is, while I don’t plot my stories ahead of time, I do have a general idea what direction my tales will take. With this particular character, I realized almost from the beginning that she wouldn’t be in the series for long. I would reread my work at the end of the day and discover she’d been left out of a scene entirely, or when I’d go to write her dialogue, she would become uncharacteristically silent. It was almost as if, once introduced to the series, she made her appearance and then began to fade away. Preparing me, as the author, for her demise? I don’t know, but I do know that when I started putting together ideas for Wolf Tales 10, the very first thing that occurred to me was her death, and what it would mean to her mate and his future within the pack.

So that’s my question, and it’s one that will actually determine the blurb on the back of the book—do I let my readers know in advance that one of my Chanku won’t survive the first chapter, or do I keep it a secret and allow readers to find out on their own? And if I do announce that a Chanku will die, do I give her name or leave it to the reader to discover?

Thank you—your input is really very much appreciated! This is one of those situations where I honestly don’t have the answer.