2023 Fourth Quarter Reading Results

 

Since I started out behind on reporting on my reading this year, I've decided to finish out the year with my quarterly reading round-up. Once I've caught things up for the last three months of 2023, I will follow up with a year-end wrap up post. In previous years I have done a monthly round-up with statistics and handed out a Pick of the Month (POM) Award to the best mystery read. Let's take a look at the overall stats for the quarter and then we'll see who the big winners for each month are for mystery fiction and hand out those sparkly POMs. Then, we'll see which books make the Best of 2023 list.

Total Books Read for the Quarter: 40 (a definite dip since last quarter)

Total Pages: 9,944 (quite a drop from last time)

Average Rating: 3.22 stars

Top Rating: 4.5 stars

Percentage by Female Authors: 40%

Percentage by Male Authors: 58%

Percentage by both Female & Male Authors: 2%

Percentage by US Authors: 68%

Percentage by Non-US/Non-British Authors: 5%

Percentage Mystery: 95%

Percentage Fiction: 98%

Percentage Written 2000+: 28%

Percentage Rereads: 15%

Percentage Read for Challenges: 100% (it's easy when you do as many challenges as I do)

Number of Challenges Complete: 39 (100%)

Mysteries Read

The Mystery of the Silver Spider by Robert Arthur (3 stars)

Sound of Revelry by Octavus Roy Cohen (4 stars)

Only the Good by Mary Collins (3 stars)

The War of the Worlds Murder by Max Allan Collins (3 stars)

Murder for Two by George Harmon Coxe (4 stars)

Murder on the Purple Water by Frances Crane (4 stars)

The Toff & the Runaway Bride by John Creasey (3 stars)

Murder Is a Collector's Item by Elizabeth Dean (3.5 stars)

While the Clock Ticked by Franklin W. Dixon (4 stars)

Vultures in the Sky by Todd Downing (3.5 stars)

Black Friday by David Goodis (4 stars)

Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery as ed. by Alfred Hitchcock (ed. by Robert Arthur) (4 stars)

Body Blow by Kenneth Hopkins (3 stars)

What Happened at Hazelwood? by Michael Innes (3 stars)

Murder on Fifth Avenue by Michael Jahn (3 stars)

The Mistletoe Murders & Other Stories by P. D. James (4 stars)

The Clue in the Jewel Box by Carolyn Keene (3 stars)

The Quest of the Missing Map by Carolyn Keene (3 stars)

The Secret in the Old Attic by Carolyn Keene (4 stars)

Blind Man's Bluff by Baynard Kendrick (4 stars)

Fear Nothing Vol 1 by Dean Koontz (4 stars)

Death of a Doll by Hilda Lawrence (2 stars)

You'll Be the Death of Me by Miriam Lynch (2 stars)

Death & Chicanery by Philip MacDonald (3 stars)

Death & the Conjuror by Tom Mead (4.5 stars)

Uncoffin'd Clay by Gladys Mitchell (3 stars)

The Red Death Murders by Jim Noy (4.5 stars)

The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien (3 stars)

Murder in Bloomsbury by D. M. Quincy (4 stars)

Murder in Mayfair by D. M. Quincy (3.75)

A Most Efficient Murder by Anthony Slayton (4 stars)

The Floating Lady Murder by Daniel Stashower (3 stars)

Secret of the Old Post Box by Dorothy Sterling (4 stars)

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (1 star)

The Will of the Tribe by Arthur W. Upfield (3 stars)

The Professor Knits a Shroud by Wirt Van Arsdale (4 stars)

The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace (3 stars)

Hopjoy Was Here by Colin Watson (3.5 stars)

This year I've been able to stick to my no repeat/reread winners policy. I'll keep to it if I can, but if doing so means I'll be awarding a POM to book that earned three stars or less then I may have to break policy. In general, the fall months were not particularly strong. But both October and November did see run-away winners with 4.5 stars each. In October, I read  Death & the Conjurer, Tom Mead's debut novel in his Joseph Spector series. A very nicely done, very self-aware mystery in the style of the Golden Age. It plays with the tropes that were popular at the time--the puzzle plot, a locked room that gives a tip of the hat to the master John Dickson Carr, and the accomplished amateur to help the police find their way. And what he does really well is make me believe that this could have been written in the Golden Age. The historical period is well represented and the tone and setting is pitch perfect. So, without further ado, let's hand the P.O.M. Award for October to Tom Mead...

Up next in the awards line-up we have another debut--The Red Death Murders by Jim Noy (of The Invisible Event blogging fame) is our other 4.5 star winner for the quarter. This may be Jim's debut book, but he handles it like a pro. The characterization is superb with all nine men well-defined and easily distinguished. I especially enjoyed the relationship between Thomas and his master, Sir William, and Sir William's brother Sir Marcus--even when suspicion fell upon one or another of them. The setting is also well-defined and I easily followed the action and where it happened. I loved that a map was included--just as in so many Golden Age crime novels. It was also fun to have the "Challenge to the Reader" found so often in the early Ellery Queen mysteries. Jim went out of his way to make GAD aficionados happy. And he definitely succeeded with this GAD fan. If Jim will step to the platform, we have a bright, shiny P.O.M. award with his name on it...

And now...for December. December was the most disappointing reading month. No mysteries earned 4.5 stars. Only four earned four stars--one of which (The Secret in the Old Attic) was a reread. This leaves us with Baynard Kendrick's Blind Man's Bluff, P. D. James's The Mistletoe Murders & Other Stories, and Octavus Roy Cohen's Sound of Revelry. The Mistletoe Murders features a quartet of mysterious short stories--three of which take place during the Christmas holiday season and two of which feature James's Adam Dalgliesh. She provides the reader with some surprises and twists to delight the mystery fan. I knew there was a twist coming the first of the stories, but I actually anticipated it twisting in a different direction. Nicely done, but not quite a P.O.M. winner. It's a little harder to choose between our remaining contenders.

Cohen's Sound of Revelry was a delightful read--and a bit of a surprise. This was the first of his mysteries I have tried. I didn't know what to expect (there is no blurb on the back or in the front cover) and the only clue was the cover photo indicating shenanigans at a party. Which is true...sortof. The character of Steve is great. Poor baffled Steve. He knows that bad things are happening, but he's not sure why. Judy inherits a nightclub and everything else from Mr. Tate (our corpse) and after that and after Lieutenant Gold enters the scene she starts acting weird. But insists she's not. Perfect strangers start pumping Steve for everything he knows about Tate and Judy and anything else. And the cops don't care. Steve starts playing a lone hand and finds a mysterious key, a large wad of cash, and a few more dead bodies. But in the end, his lone detective work turns up trumps and nails the bad guys for the cops. A lot action and a lot of fun.

And Kendrick's Blind Man's Bluff was my nominee for the Reprint of the Year (ROY) Awards in December. And when I did so I said, "yes, I know I say 'Vote for...' on every single reprint that I nominate for the ROY Awards. But I really mean it this time. Blind Man's Bluff is the best Kendrick mystery I've read so far and is absolutely deserving of your vote. If you want an unusual detective, Kendrick's got that. Captain Duncan Maclain was blinded during WWI and has spent years working on methods to help him navigate in a world of darkness and to strengthen his other senses in realistic ways to help compensate for his lack of sight. To add to this interesting set-up for a detective, in this mystery, Kendrick has thrown in a bonus. Not only is our detective blind, but so is one of our first victims.  If you like impossible crimes, then Kendrick's got that too. Here we have a string of deaths that the upper levels of the police have called suicides. f you not only like an impossible crime, but an ingenious method for accomplishing it then once again, Kendrick's got you covered. It's both ingenious and terrifying. And he plays fair with the reader. The clues are all there waiting for the observant armchair detective to pick them up and put them together for a clever solution. 

Okay...I've convinced myself...er...the judges. Not only should Kendrick have won the ROY Award voting, he deserves December's P.O.M. Award as well. And we're going to give that one to him right now...

Third Quarter Reading on the Block

 

Since I started out behind on reporting on my reading this year, I've decided to stick with my quarterly reading round-up. It's hard to believe that three quarters of the reading year have passed already. In previous years I have done a monthly round-up with statistics and handed out a Pick of the Month (POM) Award to the best mystery read. Let's take a look at the overall stats for the quarter and then we'll see who the big winners for each month are for mystery fiction and hand out those sparkly P.O.M.

Total Books Read for the Quarter: 59 (up 2 over the half-time results results)

  ~I'm still a bit behind my pace for last year. By the end of September 2022, I had read 187 books. This year I'm sitting on 164--and not as many from my own stacks as I'd like. 

Total Pages: 15,740

Average Rating: 3.68 stars

Top Rating: 5 stars

Percentage by Female Authors: 59%

Percentage by Male Authors: 41%

Percentage by both Female & Male Authors: 0%

Percentage by US Authors: 67%

Percentage by Non-US/Non-British Authors: 3%

Percentage Mystery: 81%

Percentage Fiction: 92%

Percentage Written 2000+: 47%

Percentage Rereads: 34%

Percentage Read for Challenges: 100% (it's easy when you do as many challenges as I do)

Number of Challenges Complete: 24 (65%)

Mysteries Read

The Final Appointment by Marcia Blair (3 stars)

The Private Wound by Nicholas Blake (3 stars)

Beverly Gray on a Treasure Hunt by Clair Blank (3 stars)

 Psycho by Robert Bloch (4 stars)

Slay Bells by Eunice Mays Boyd (7/7/23)

The Frightened Pigeon by Richard Burke (3.5 stars)

Juggernaut by Alice Campbell (2.5 stars)

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (4 stars)

Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie (4 stars)

Nemesis by Agatha Christie (4 stars)

Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie (4 stars)

The Case Against Paul Raeburn by John Creasey (4 stars)

The Figure in the Dusk by John Creasey (4 stars)

Depart This Life by E. X. Ferrars (2.25 stars)

What Darkness Brings by C. S. Harris (4 stars)

What Remains of Heaven by C. S. Harris (4 stars)

What the Devil Knows by C. S. Harris (5 stars)

When Falcons Fall by C. S. Harris (4.5 stars)

When Maidens Mourn by C. S. Harris (4 stars)

Where Shadows Dance by C. S. Harris (4 stars)

Where the Dead Lie by C. S. Harris (4 stars)

Who Buries the Dead by C. S. Harris (4.5 stars)

Who Cries for the Lost by C. S. Harris (5 stars)

Who Slays the Wicked by C. S. Harris (4.5 stars)

Who Speaks for the Damned by C. S. Harris (4.5 stars)

Why Kill the Innocent by C. S. Harris (5 stars)

Why Kings Confess by C. S. Harris (4 stars)

Hemlock Hollow by Culley Holderfield (4 stars)

The Widening Stain by W. Bolingbroke Johnson [Morris Bishop] (4 stars)

In the Shadow of Agatha Christie by Leslie S. Klinger (3 stars)

Ashes to Ashes by Emma Lathen (3.5 stars)

The Birthday Murder by Lange Lewis (4 stars)

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell (3 stars)

Birthday Party Murder by Leslie Meier) (2.5 stars)

Who Is Simon Warwick? by Patricia Moyes (4.5 stars)

Borkmann's Point by Hakan Nesser (3 stars)

Holding by Graham Norton (3.5 stars)

The Alarm of the Black Cat by D. B. Olsen/Dolores Hitchens (2.5 stars)

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman (4 stars)

The Body in the Cast by Katherine Hall Page (3 stars)

The Man in the Cellar by Palle Rosenkrantz (3.5 stars)

Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers (3.5 stars)

Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers (5 stars)

Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott (2 stars)

The Bell in the Fog by John Stephen Strange (3.5 stars)

See Also Murder by Larry D. Sweazy (3 stars)

The Mystery of the Yellow Hands by Jake & Luke Thoene (3 stars)

The World's Best One Hundred Detective Stories by Eugene Thwing, ed (2 stars)

So far I've been able to stick to my no repeat/reread winners policy. I'll keep to it if I can, but if doing so means I'll be awarding a POM to book that earned three stars or less then I may have to break policy. If that policy were not in place, then our clear winners would be Sayers in July and C. S. Harris in August and September. Let's see who else provided good reads this summer. In July, both John Creasey and Lange Lewis provided four-star treats. Creasey's The Figure in the Dusk is a highly suspenseful entry in the Inspector West series--full of action and a more thrillerish atmosphere. A very good--and slightly unusual--addition the inspector's cases. And Lewis's The Birthday Murder has a good puzzle plot  and the clues are very subtle, so subtle that I didn't catch them. Lewis does a good job of spreading the suspicion around even without concrete motives to hang that suspicion on. I kept changing my mind about who really snuck into the kitchen and grabbed the ant poison but never did come up with the right answer.  Very enjoyable--and very appropriate. I started this book on my birthday. Fortunately, no fatalities at my house. I think, in honor of my birthday month, I really must award the July P.O.M. To The Birthday Murder.

August's selection of mysteries brought us two more new four-star winners. The Widening Stain by W. Bolingbroke Johnson (Morris Bishop) is a delightful send-up of academic life in the 1940s. It comes complete with debonair Professor Parry and his just-barely-printable (at the time) limericks. And lots of funny repartee between the professors and between Gilda and Parry. Given when the book was written there are, of course, many references that are dated--and possibly mildly offensive, especially to women. But Gilda is a woman who knows her own mind and though romance may be in the air, the outcome may not be quite what readers expect. The plot is serviceable, but not brilliant nor is Gilda's detective work. There is just a tad too much thinking about who might have done what and little actual sleuthing going on. If the plotting and detection had been more solid, this would easily have garnered five stars. What carries the book for me are the characters and the verbal play--as well as the academic setting. Johnson/Bishop certainly knew what he was doing when it came to setting the academic scene and I do love me an academic mystery. The other book is one that I never thought I'd read and if I didn't participate in a couple of challenges that push me out of my comfort zone I probably still wouldn't have. Psycho by Robert Bloch is more thrillerish/horror than my norm, but there is definitely a mystery there. And--if Psycho weren't so firmly embedded in pop culture, I'm sure the ending would have surprised me more. It was an interesting and absorbing read. Bloch is a master and we get great insight into the characters of Norman and Mary--less so with the others, though the detective is also interesting even though he's not on the page much. An excellent examination of Norman's psychology and the motivations behind the events at the Bates Motel that fateful night.... 

But...it should come as no surprise to anyone who reads the blog regularly to find that August's P.O.M. goes to...The Widening Stain. As I said, I love me an academic mystery--especially when it's so entertaining.

And now for the September Award. September gave us the only new 4.5 star winner of the quarter. I almost always enjoy Patricia Moyes's Inspector Henry Tibbett mysteries, but Who Is Simon Warwick? is, I believe, the best one I've read to date. The solution was quite interesting--and a first for me in the field. If I've read another with a similar solution, then it's fallen through my sieve-like memory. An interesting premise and I appreciated how Emmy Tibbett got involved and managed, in certain ways, to save the day. A quick read with plenty of action once the initial groundwork was laid. 

Here's hoping for a strong final quarter!

Half-Time! Second Quarter Reading on the Block

 

Since I started out behind on reporting on my reading this year, I've decided to stick with my quarterly reading round-up. Don't mind the marching band and its half-time show, lets just focus on the statistics. In the past I have done a monthly round-up with statistics and handed out a Pick of the Month (POM) Award to the best mystery read. Let's take a look at the overall stats for the quarter and then we'll see who the big winners for each month are for mystery fiction and hand out those sparkly P.O.M.

Total Books Read for the Quarter: 57 (up 12 over the first quarter results)

  ~I'm a still bit behind my pace for last year. By the end of June 2022, I had read 129 books. This year I'm sitting on 105. 

Total Pages: 13,883

Average Rating: 3.5 stars

Top Rating: 5 stars

Percentage by Female Authors: 42%

Percentage by Male Authors: 44%

Percentage by both Female & Male Authors: 14%

Percentage by US Authors: 58%

Percentage by Non-US/Non-British Authors: 9%

Percentage Mystery: 65%

Percentage Fiction: 91%

Percentage Written 2000+: 40%

Percentage Rereads: 14%

Percentage Read for Challenges: 100% (it's easy when you do as many challenges as I do)

Number of Challenges Complete: 15 (27%)

Mysteries Read

The Mammoth Book of Roaring Twenties Whodunnits by Mike Ashley, ed. (3 stars)

52 Miles to Terror by Ruth Christoffer Carlsen & G. Robert Carlsen (2.5 stars)

Murder Is Pathological by P. M. Carlson (3.5 stars)

Death Turns the Tables by John Dickson Carr (4 stars)

The Four False Weapons by John Dickson Carr (4 stars)

The Beauty Queen Killer by John Creasey (2 stars)

Inspector West Kicks Off by John Creasey (4 stars)

Murder, London--New York by John Creasey (3 stars)

The Curriculum Murders by Marlis Day (2 stars)

And So to Murder by Carter Dickson (4 stars)

Nine--And Death Makes Ten by Carter Dickson (4 stars)

Gone West by Carola Dunn (3 stars)

Blackstone Fell by Martin Edwards (4.5 stars)

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (2 stars)

The Gentle Hangman by James M. Fox (3 stars)

Death Among Friends & Other Detective Stories by Cyril Hare (4 stars)

Where Serpents Sleep by C. S. Harris (4 stars)

Pride of the Peacock by Victoria Holt (3 stars)

Murder & Blueberry Pie by Frances & Richard Lockridge (3 stars)

Murder Is Suggested by Frances & Richard Lockridge (4 stars)

Family Skeletons by Rett MacPherson (3 stars)

Murder in Miniatures by Sam Merwin, Jr. (3 stars)

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton (3 stars)

Jimmie Dale & the Blue Envelope Murder by Frank L. Packard (3.5 stars)

Murder in Burgundy by Audrey Peterson (3 stars)

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine July 1958 by Ellery Queen, ed (4 stars)

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Feb 1961 by Ellery Queen, ed (2 stars)

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Oct 1965 edited by Clayton Rawson (4 stars)

Death Demands an Audience by Helen Reilly (3.5 stars)

Line-Up by John Rhode, ed (4 stars)

Speakers of the Dead by J. Aaron Sanders (2.5 stars)

Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers (5 stars)

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield (2.5 stars)

And Be a Villain by Rex Stout (4 stars)

Fatal Enquiry by Will Thomas (3.5 stars)

Mystery of the Hidden Hand by Phyllis A. Whitney (3 stars)

Inquest by Percival Wilde (4 stars)

Danger at the Drawbridge by Mildred A. Wirt (3 stars)

Silent Witness by Margaret Yorke (3 stars)

This year I'm going to try very hard to stick to my no repeat/reread winners policy. It may be difficult--and if doing so means I'll be awarding a POM to book that earned three stars or less then I may have to break policy. If that policy were not in place, then our clear winners for May and June would be Blackstone Fell by Martin Edwards and Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers. Both authors are very deserving...perhaps I should think about establishing a Hall of Fame for obvious repeat winners...

In April we had several four-star winners including two by Carter Dickson (John Dickson Carr) and one by C.S. Harris who are previous POM recipients. That leaves us with Inquest by Percival Wilde. This is an interesting and unusual book. It is entirely set at the coroner's inquest--not a courtroom trial--just the inquest. The only thing we're supposed to determine is how the deceased came by his death--was he shot, did he die of heart failure, sudden apoplexy, or, as has been suggested at the very beginning, a "shock to the nervous system"? For a very long time, it appears that Wilde is merely giving us a commentary on early 20th Century American justice (or miscarriages thereof). We see how (apparently) little towns where everyone knows everyone and officials are either in someone's pocket or have people in their pocket. There is a lot of good local color and Ben Willett is an absolute hoot to listen to. I very much appreciated that our coroner is much shrewder and on the lookout for justice (in its truest sense) than first appears. It was also interesting to have all evidence and clues brought forth in the ramblings of the witnesses at the inquest.

May found Martin Edwards' Blackstone Fell leading the pack with 4.5 stars and John Dickson Carr close behind with two more 4-star winners. Our only newcomer was Line-Up, a short story collection edited by John Rhode. This line-up includes several non-fiction pieces among the collection of short stories. Two of the non-fiction essays are interesting and this is a fairly strong collection of short stories by members of the Detection Club. I am quite sure it was welcomed with open arms by the reading public in the 1940s, especially since this anthology was the first appearance of these stories in anthology form. 

And now for June's POM winner. Dorothy L. Sayers snapped up one of the few 5 star ratings of the year with Busman's Honeymoon and was followed by fellow previous POM awardees, Francis & Richard Lockridge and Cyril Hare with 4 stars. Other 4-star winners include Rex Stout's And Be a Villain and Inspector West Kicks Off by John Creasey. Even though I enjoyed the Creasey novel a lot more than the other recent Inspector West novels, I'm hoping he has an even better one up his sleeve (and on my TBR shelves)--so I'm going to keep him waiting a bit longer for his POM. Which means, the final winner for this quarter is And Be a Villain by Stout. This was a particularly good visit to the brownstone because I listened to the story as read by Michael Prichard and he does such an admirable job with Archie's voice. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to most of the mystery on my road trip home to my parents' house and back. The radio program setting was good and I really had a good time listening to Archie's method for bringing Nancylee and her mother to see Nero Wolfe. Very clever, Archie. Stout had me fooled on the culprit until just before the big wrap-up scene in Wolfe's office. But I got there just in time. As Wolfe would say, "Satisfactory." 

First Quarter on the Block

 

I am woefully behind on reporting on my reading this year. In the past I have done a monthly round-up with statistics and handed out a Pick of the Month (POM) Award to the best mystery read. Here we are at April 1st and nary a POM Award in sight. Time to rectify that. Let's take a look at the overall stats for the quarter and then we'll see who the big winners for each month are for mystery fiction.

Total Books Read for the Quarter: 49

  ~I'm a bit behind my pace for last year. By the end of March 2022, I had read 67 books. Need to pick up the pace if I want to make Mount Olympus on my Mount TBR Reading Challenge!

Total Pages: 9,967

Average Rating: 3.44 stars

Top Rating: 5 stars

Percentage by Female Authors: 37%

Percentage by Male Authors: 53%

Percentage by both Female & Male Authors: 10%

Percentage by US Authors: 41%

Percentage by Non-US/Non-British Authors: 18%

Percentage Mystery: 71%

Percentage Fiction: 82%

Percentage Written 2000+: 33%

Percentage Rereads: 16%

Percentage Read for Challenges: 100% (it's easy when you do as many challenges as I do)

Number of Challenges Complete: 3 (9%)

Mysteries Read 

The Fear Sign by Margery Allingham (4 stars)

The Becket Factor by Michael David Anthony (3 stars)

The Woman in the Picture by John August (3 stars)

Dead, Mr. Mozart by Bernard Bastable (1 star)

Mysterious Invitation by Bernice Bloom (3 stars)

The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian (5 stars) February

Swing Low, Swing Death by R. T. Campbell (2.5 stars)

It Walks by Night by John Dickson Carr (3 stars)

Phi Beta Murder by C. S. Challinor (3 stars)

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (5 stars)

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie (4 stars)

A Murder Is Announced by Agatha Christie (4 stars)

Towards Zero by Agatha Christie (4 stars)

Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper (4 stars) [Fantasy/Mystery]

The Crimson Clue by George Harmon Coxe (3.25 stars)

The White Priory Murders by Carter Dickson (4 stars)

The Angry Heart by Leslie Edgley (4 stars)

Blood on the Tracks by Martin Edwards, ed (3.5 stars)

Tintin in America by Hergé  (3.5 stars)

A Gentleman's Murder by Christopher Huang (4 stars)

The Genesis Secret by Tom Knox (3.5 stars)

Here Come the Dead by Robert Portner Koehler (4 stars)

The Dante Game by Jane Langton (2.5 stars)

Bats in the Belfry by E.C.R. Lorac (4 stas)

Garden of Deadly Delights by Cynthia Manson [ed] (4 stars)

The Black Cat Murders by Karen Baugh Menuhin (3 stars)

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Jan. 1996 [appears on Goodreads] (3 stars)

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn (4 stars

Beauty Marks the Spot by Kelley Roos (4 stars)

Sidney Chambers & the Perils of the Night by James Runcie (2 stars)

Speakers of the Dead by J. Aaron Sanders (2.5 stars)

Murder R.F.D. by Leslie Stephan (3.5 stars)

Bony & the Kelly Gang by Arthur W. Upfield (3 stars)

Wings Above the Diamantina by Arthur W. Upfield (3 stars)

Marple: Twelve New Mysteries by various (3 stars)

This year I'm going to try very hard to stick to my no repeat/reread winners policy. It may be difficult--and if doing so means I'll be awarding a POM to book that earned three stars or less then I may have to break policy. Fortunately, the first three months pose no such difficulty. While there were plenty of books that earned three stars or less (and one real stinker...Bernard Bastable, I'm looking at you), there were also a lot of really strong contenders for the glittery POM prize. 

January saw four stars going out to Carter Dickson's The White Priory Murder (a reread); Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper (a children's fantasy/mystery); The Angry Heart by Leslie Edgley, Christopher Huang's A Gentleman's Murder; and Beauty Marks the Spot by Kelley Roos (who has previously won the coveted prize. Edgley's book was a nicely plotted mystery with an interesting look at revenge and the fantasy/mystery by Cooper was highly enjoyable (and would have been more so if I had found it when I was young), but Huang's historical mystery just had that extra something that put him over the top in the first month of the year. It was a delightful homage to the Golden Age of mystery with just a touch of thriller--lots of nods to Christie, Earl Der Biggers, Sayers, and others. Makes a GAD fan's heart happy.

There was no doubt about February's winner. Chris Bahjalian takes home all the glory with the only five-star POM for the quarter. As I said in my review at the time, it was "An absolutely beautifully written bloodbath. So many unnecessary violent deaths--so many. Generally speaking this type of book is not my type of book. I'm a Golden Age, every murder is a puzzle and "there's a discernable meaning/motive for each death" kind of girl. Not much into Russian terrorists and killing just because someone asked one question too many (some of the time, just one question is too many). BUT Bohjalian can write. Man, can he write. I was sucked right in from the beginning and even the high body count couldn't keep me from turning the pages to find out what happened next." The runner up for February was no slouch--Robert Portner Koehler's Here Comes the Dead took a familiar Christie ploy and gave it a nice little twist. But it wasn't quite enough to win the honors.

In March, the only real competition for our winner was Dame Agatha Christie. The Christie mysteries were all rereads and, of course, Christie already has pretty little POM awards stashed on shelf so she was out of the running on two counts. That leaves us with the only new four-star winner, Deanna Raybourn and her Killers of a Certain Age. I thought this was just a fun book. It's a girl-power book. I'm not saying I'm in favor of killing people (whether they seem to need it or not), but in a world where this is a thing, then I'm all about don't mess with the girls. And don't think that age is going to make them an easy target. And don't think that just because you're a guy you can automatically outsmart, out-maneuver, and out-fight women who have been in the game for forty years. 

So, there you have it...let's have a round of applause for the Block's first three winners of 2023.

January: A Gentleman's Murder by Christopher Huang

February: The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian

March: Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

2022 Catch-Up: POM Awards for November & December

 

So....life went a little off the rails at the end of November. My husband suffered a mild stroke and once we got him diagnosed and analyzed and released from the hospital and settled into a therapy schedule, I discovered that it was almost mid-December and I hadn't awarded a P.O.M. for November. So I decided to do November and December all in one go, with two winners: one from each month. The good news for the POM awards is that all but one of the books read were mysteries. The bad news is few garnered more than three or three & a half stars. Here's how things look for the last two months of 2022:

Total Books Read: 25 (which early in the year was about a month's total)

                               November = 14; December = 11
Total Pages: 5,724
Average Rating: 3.04 stars 
Top Rating: 4.5 stars 
Percentage by Female Authors: 48%

Percentage by Male Authors: 44%

Percentage by both Female & Male Authors: 8%

Percentage by US Authors: 52%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors:  4%
Percentage Mystery: 96%

Percentage Fiction: 100%
Percentage written 2000+: 16%
Percentage of Rereads: 24%
Percentage Read for Challenges: 100% {It's easy to have every book count for a challenge when you sign up for as many as I do.}    
Number of Challenges fulfilled so far: 34 (100%)

 

Mysteries Read:

Murder Impossible by Jack Adrian & Robert Adey [eds] (3.5 stars)

Wrapped Up in Crosswords by Nero Blanc (2.5 stars)

A Nameless Coffin by Gwendoline Butler (2.5 stars)

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie (4 stars)

Sweet Poison by Douglas Clark (3.5 stars)

The Old English Peep Show by Peter Dickinson (1 star)

Streaked with Crimson by Charles J. Dutton (3 stars)

The Hanover Square Affair by Ashley Gardner (2.5 stars)

Holmes for the Holidays by Martin H. Greenberg, Jon L. Lellenberg, & Carol-Lynn Waugh [eds] (3.5 stars)

The Last Noel by Jean Hager (3.5 stars)

The Candle Shop Mystery by Eileen Hill (3 stars)

The Mist in the Mirror by Susan Hill (4 stars)

The 10:30 from Marseille by Sebastien Japrisot (3 stars)

The Clue of the Velvet Mask by Carolyn Keene (3.5 stars)

The Triple Hoax by Carolyn Keene (3 stars)

The Longer the Thread by Emma Lathen (2 stars)

The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell (2.5 stars)

Death Beneath the Christmas Tree by Robert Nordan (3 stars)

The Old Dark House by J. B. Priestley (2 stars)

The King Is Dead by Ellery Queen (3.5 stars)

No More Dying Then by Ruth Rendell (3 stars)

Murder in Black Tie by Sara Rosett (3.5 stars)

Down Among the Dead Men by Stewart Sterling (3 stars)

Murder at the College by Victor Whitechurch (4.5 stars)

 

 

As you can see, I never did capture that elusive five-star read from a new-to-me or at least new to the POM awards author. We came close with a few 4.5 stars, but every five-star winner this year was someone who had already won several times (Agatha Christie And C. S. Harris) or were books from outside the mystery genre. And now that I'm looking at the list--our winners are obvious. The two highest ranking books were read in different months, so our November POM goes to....

The Mist in the Mirror by Susan Hill. Hill can writes a really good mystery with a ghostly, gothic feel. We're not told explicitly, but I get the idea that the events Sir James describes take place in the early 20th Century while what he finds out about Vane must have taken place in the mid- to late-Victorian period. The atmosphere is just right for a nice shivery, spooky story and I enjoyed what we learn from Sir James's point of view. Overall, a very absorbing read from the author of The Woman in Black (one of my favorites) with just the right mix of mystery and the supernatural--but a somewhat anticlimactic ending and a few quibbles kept it from either a 4.5 or 5 star rating.

Which leaves our December POM award for....

Murder at the College by Victor L. Whitechurch. This was one of my picks for the annual Reprint of the Year award and, as far as I'm concerned you can't beat a good academic mystery. As I said at the time of reivew: this is just a delightful book. If you like college-settings, then this is a book for you. If you like interesting characters, then you'll find some here. If you like cryptic clues, then Whitechurch has you covered. If you like a surprise ending, then he manages to give you that as well. If you're just looking for a fun, fast-moving read, then here you go. Whitechurch ticked off so many boxes that needed covered for me, that I'm tempted to sit down and read it again just for the pure pleasure of experience. There is a slight disappointment at the end (which is more a "me" thing than a Whitechurch thing), otherwise I would probably give this five stars. That's how much I enjoyed it.

And now...stay tuned. The My Reader's Block end of year wrap-up is coming soon--including the big reveal: The Mystery Pick of the Year.