The Best (and Worst) of 2024

 

This is a place to celebrate and review my reading journey over the last year. And...despite 2024 not being the best reading year every (especially in the last three months or so...) it still wasn't bad. I didn't make the 200 books read as I have the last three years, but by mid-October I knew that dream was out the window. I did manage (somehow) to complete all 37 challenges that I signed up for (yes, I am a bit addicted to the reading challenge...) and I also managed to shift 117 books off of my own TBR mountain range (shhh--don't ask how many are left). Overall, a fairly satisfying year for this reader and challenge-aholic. I still don't visit my fellow bloggers as often as I used to (hardly at all--I'm sorry, folks!). I wish I could go back to the early days of the blog when I seemed to have time to read and write reviews and go visit all my virtual friends. And I wish life would stop getting in the way.

But...back to celebrating. Let's take a look at the year-end reading stats.

Total Books Read: 156

Books Owned & Read: 117

Pages Read: 38,801

Percentage of Rereads: 17%

Percentage of New-to-Me Authors: 30%

Percentage Mystery: 89%

Percentage Nonfiction: 5%

Percentage by Women: 51%

Percentage Written 2000+: 32%

Percentage Non-US/UK: 15%

Non-US/UK Authors: Australian, Brazilian, Canadian, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish,Taiwanese

Non-US States/UK Settings: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, a Fantasy World, Fictitious European Country, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Outer Space, Russia, Ship (Atlantic Ocean), South America (unspecified), Sweden, Taiwan

Top Vintage Mysteries of 2024 (no rereads)

The Twelve Deaths of Christmas by Marian Babson (Silver Age, 1979; 4 stars)

Seven Keys to Baldpate by Earl Derr Biggers (Golden Age, 1913; 4 stars)

Crossed Skis by Carol Carnac (Golden Age, 1952; 4 stars)

Heberden's Seat by Douglas Clark (Silver Age, 1979; 4 stars)

Miraculous Mysteries ed by Martin Edwards (all stories Golden Age, 2017; 4 stars)

Murder by the Book ed by Martin Edwards (all stories Silver Age or earlier, 2021; 4 stars)

The Final Days of Abbot Montrose by Sven Elvestad (Golden Age, 1917; 4 stars)

Murder in C Major by Sara Hoskinson Frommer (Silver Age, 1986; 4 stars)

Dance of Death by Helen McCloy (Golden Age, 1938; 4 stars)

Bodies from the Library 3 ed by Tony Medawar (all stories Silver Age or earlier, 2020; 4 stars)

Bodies from the Library 4 ed by Tony Medawar (all stories Golden Age, 2021; 4 stars)

McKee of Centre Street by Helen Reilly (Golden Age, 1933; 4 stars)

The Owl in the Cellar by Margaret Scherf (Golden Age, 1945; 4 stars)

Death, My Darling Daughters by Jonathan Stagge (Golden Age, 1945; 4 stars)

The Final Deduction by Rex Stout (Silver Age, 1961; 4 stars)

Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout (Golden Age, 1934; 4 stars)

The Desert Moon Mystery by Kay Cleaver Strahan (Golden Age, 1927; 4 stars)

The New Shoe by Arthur W. Upfield (Golden Age, 1951; 4 stars)

Wicked Uncle by Patricia Wentworth (Golden Age, 1947; 4 stars)

Top Modern Mysteries 2024 (no rereads)

The Blood-Dimmed Tide by Rennie Airth (2004; 4 stars)

The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves (2022; 4 stars)

Think Twice by Harlan Coben (2024; 4 stars)

Sepulchre Street by Martin Edwards (2023)

A Fete Worse Than Death by Dolores Gordon-Smith (2007; 4 stars)

Murder & Mendelssohn by Kerry Greenwood (2013; 4.5 stars)

What Cannot Be Said by C. S. Harris (2024; 5 stars)

Unnatural Ends by Christopher Huang (2023; 4 stars)

Inspector of the Dead by David Morrell (2015; 4 stars)

Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi (2020; 4 stars)

Still Life by Louise Penny (2005; 4 stars)

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn & Janie Change (2024; 4 stars)

Coronation Year by Jennifer Robson (2023; 4 stars)

Top Fiction 2024 (no rereads)

Amphigorey by Edward Gorey (4 stars)

The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton (4 stars)

The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin (5 stars)

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa (4 stars)

Top Nonfiction 2024 (no rereads)

Dorothy & Jack: The Transforming Friendship of Dorothy L. Sayers & C. S. Lewis by Gina Dalfonzo (4 stars)

Only in Books by J. Kevin Graffagnino (4 stars)

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson (4 stars)

Playing with Myself by Randy Rainbow (4 stars)

Making It So by Patrick Stewart (4 stars)

Monthly P.O.M. (Pick of the Month) Award Winners

January: Murder & Mendelssohn by Kerry Greenwood

February: The Final Days of Abbot Montrose by Sven Elvestad

March: Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

April: Sepulchre Street by Martin Edwards

May: The Owl in the Cellar by Margaret Scherf

June: Still Life by Louise Penny

July: Crossed Skis by Carol Carnac

August: Dance of Death by Helen McCloy

September: Think Twice by Harlan Coben

October: Wicked Uncle by Patricia Wentworth

November: Heberden's Seat by Douglas Clark

December: McKee of Centre Street by Helen Reilly

Now...before we move on to the big winner of 2024--the P.O.Y. (Pick of the Year) Award, I have a few other awards to hand out--my own version of the Razzie Awards.

The Penny For Your Thoughts [and mine aren't very good] Award goes to The Penny Detective by John Tallon Jones. I really wanted to give this a glowing review. One of my Secret Santas in 2016 sent me this and the second Penny Detective novel as part of my gift. But I just couldn't do it. I'm not a huge private eye/hardboiled detective fan, but when I do read them I want them to be good. And this one just wasn't. I assume the title is a reference to how much Morris Shannon's services are worth, because he certainly isn't a very good PI. Of course, he really hasn't been all that good or dedicated at any of the jobs he's had up till now, so why would opening up his own private detective business be any different? If he didn't have his ex-cop bestie Shoddy to do his leg work, he wouldn't be solving anything ever....

The Where's Waldo Award goes to Kill the Boss Good-by by Peter Rabe. Rabe has the honor of earning the only one-star rating I handed out last year (the previous award winner came close with 1.5 stars). The only thing it had going for it was an interesting look at the psychotic boss's descent into madness--but there was no detective, no clues, and nearly no mystery in sight. I had pretty good success with the Waldo books--but Rabe hid all hints of a good mystery where I doubt anyone could find them. If gang-land shoot-em-ups are your thing, then this may be for you. But there are better examples of those out there than this.

The Sleeping Pill Award goes to The Moneypenny Diaries by Kate Westbrook. This is meant to read like nonfiction--with Jane's niece supposedly going to all kinds of trouble to cross-reference and prove the validity of all these incidents. Which makes this read like a dry-as-dust historical account for about 90% of the book. It would be a heck of a lot more interesting if the story had just been told through Moneypenny's diaries and without all the footnotes and editorializing by Jane Moneypenny's niece. It has a great hook--with Moneypenny wanting to investigate what really happened to her father--but really poor execution.

Sleeping Schoolboy Reading a book by J. B. Greuze

The It's So Secret I Can't Even Tell Myself Award and the Math for No Reason Award both go to H. F. Wood for The Passenger from Scotland Yard. So....according to E. F. Bleiler, who provides the introduction to Wood's novel, this is the best detective novel between Poe and Doyle (and he doesn't really count Doyle's longer works because they are "detective short stories tacked onto historical romances"). I have to say--if this was the best thing going, I'm surprised detective fiction took off at all. Because Wood has a bizarre narrative style. Yes, a detective novelist is trying to pull the wool over the reader's eyes in an effort to surprise her with the solution at the end...but never have I read a book where the detective (here, Inspector Byde) almost seems intent on keeping the clues secret from himself. He never refers to any of his suspects by name, always using the most circuitous methods of description to indicate who he's talking about. And his obsession with mathematical theorems were enough to make me want to pull my hair out. 

And now...the moment we've all been waiting for...the presentation of the Mystery Pick of the Year! This has been a tough decision for our judges this year. If I go purely by the star-rating, then it's obvious that Murder & Mendelssohn is the winner with the only 4.5 rating (there were no five-star winners which were not rereads this year). And the review is a strong one. But Helen McCloy gave a great introduction to Basil Willing in a very solid, fairly-clued mystery. And Harlan Coben surprised with an out-of-our comfort zone mystery that tempts me to go back and read the series from the beginning (that doesn't happen very often). 

So...after much deliberation (drum roll please), I'm pleased to present the P.O.Y. Award to Think Twice by Harlan Coben!

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."