Saturday, January 4, 2025

Reminder 2025 My Reader's Block Sponsored Challenges

 It's early days in 2025 and just wanted to remind my faithful challengers and all those looking for reading challenges that the posts for my regular Reader's Block Challenges went up in November. And the Headquarters links in the sidebar also have been updated for this year's challenges. Here's a handy list of each one. Come join me for new reading adventures in 2025!

 







 










Wednesday, January 1, 2025

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!





Color Coded & Read It Again, Sam Headquarters


These remain fairly popular, so as long as there is a demand I will continue to offer them. However, since I don't monitor these quite as closely as my other challenges, I am setting these up on the same headquarters site. Will continue to use the Google form method for review links.




2025 Reviews
Click on the first link to submit your review. At the second link you can see links for all reviews submitted for that color prompt and may visit others' reviews, if you'd like.

Color Coded Reviews:


Read It Again, Sam


 

Calendar of Crime Headquarters

 


Here you will find a link to the original challenge post and links to the Category and Mystery Author Spreadsheets. This year I have set up Google forms for each month's reviews (first link) as well as links to the reviews already submitted. You will be able to see who else has reviewed books for various prompts and visit those links if you like. There will also be a Wrap-Up link enabled at the end of the year. 


January 2025 Reading by the Numbers Reviews

 


Reading By the Numbers Headquarters

 


Here you will find a link to the original challenge post and a list of the challengers. Each month I will enable a Monthly Review link where review posts for the month can be linked up. With the linky provider I currently have, the review link will close on the last day of the month. But no worries--you are welcome to post any review from the previous month on the current linky. There will also be a Wrap-Up link enabled at the end of the year. And the 2022 Wrap-Up Post will remain until it closes



February Reviews
March Reviews 
April Reviews
May Reviews
June Reviews
July Reviews
August Reviews
September Reviews
October Reviews 
November Reviews
December Reviews






January 2025 Virtual Mount TBR Reviews

 


Virtual Mount TBR Headquarters

 


Here you will find a link to the original challenge post. Also each month I will enable a Monthly Review link where review posts for the month can be linked up. With the linky provider I currently have, the review link will close on the last day of the month. But no worries--you are welcome to post any review from the previous month on the current linky. There will also be a Wrap-Up link enabled at the end of the year.



February Reviews
March Reviews
April Reviews
May Reviews
June Reviews
July Reviews
August Reviews
September Reviews
October Reviews
November Reviews
December Reviews

January 2025 Mount TBR Reviews

 


Mount TBR Headquarters

 


Here you will find a link to the original challenge post. Also each month I will enable a Monthly Review link where review posts for the month can be linked up. With the linky provider I currently have, the review link will close on the last day of the month. But no worries--you are welcome to post any review from the previous month on the current linky. There will also be a Wrap-Up link enabled at the end of the year.



February Reviews
March Reviews
April Reviews
May Reviews
June Reviews 
July Reviews 
August Reviews
September Reviews
October Reviews
November Reviews
December Reviews


January 2025 Scavenger Hunt Reviews

 


Vintage Scavenger Hunt Headquarters

 


Here you will find a link to the original challenge post. Also each month I will enable a Monthly Review link where review posts for the month can be linked up. With the linky provider I currently have, the review link will close on the last day of the month. But no worries--you are welcome to post any review from the previous month on the current linky. There will also be a Wrap-Up link enabled at the end of the year. 

January Reviews
February Reviews
March Reviews
April Reviews
May Reviews
June Reviews
July Reviews
August Reviews
September Reviews
October Reviews
November Reviews
December Reviews


Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Dead Man Manor


 Dead Man Manor (1935) by Valentine Williams

Mr. Horace "H. B." Treadgold,tailor and partner in a long-established off-Fifth Avenue establishment, has arrived at the remote French-Canadian fishing-camp of St. Florentine, ostensibly for rest and relaxation in the more out-of-the-way place he could find. In reality, a friend of his has told him of a certain Monsieur Ruffier, shop keeper and mayor of the little village, who just might have some fine old stamps that Treadgold could buy for his collection. So, he reserves a cabin at the camp--which he will share with a young doctor by the name of George Wood--and pretends interest in fishing, all the while planning to visit the village at the earliest opportunity to get a look at those stamps.

He asks for walking directions to Ruffier's shop and when told he'd better take his car rather than walk  through the woods as planned. He can't understand why. Apparently, there is an abandoned house in the woods, name of Dead Man Manor, and the locals believe it to be haunted. He pooh-poohs this idea and insists on walking--the brisk exercise and fresh air is just what he needs. What he doesn't need is a nasty-looking character peering at him from the bushes while he's looking at the Manor. He learns later that the man is "One-Eye," a drunken poacher who has appointed himself the overseer of the abandoned Manor. He's sure that anyone who shows an interest in it must be plotting to take it away from its rightful owner, an absent nobleman.

It isn't long before the Manor becomes a focus of attention--to Treadgold, the young doctor, and, eventually...the police. The absent nobleman, an elderly gentleman, and his granddaughter have returned to the house (with no one the wiser), but the gentleman has a bad heart and Dr. Wood winds up treating him. He warns the granddaughter that Seigneur de Remy must stay in bed and be protected from shocks for at least three weeks, but by the next night she has sent for him again because her grandfather got out of bed and collapsed. Seigneur de Remy dies...but he isn't the only dead man in the manor. One of Treadgold's fellow campers, a man named Adams who had a run-in with the drunken tramp, is found dead in another part of the house--stabbed with a triangular-shaped instrument. More deaths follow and as the local officials focus on the poacher as suspect and a young detective from Quebec casts his suspicions on the granddaughter and the de Remy's (either separately or in cahoots), Treadgold suspects that someone else may be subtly directing the official investigation. So, Treadgold decides to conduct his own investigation.

It took me a little bit to get into this one. The opening descriptions of Treadgold, the fishing camp, the locals, and fellow campers are all very good and interesting. And the first chapter or so would make a fine traditional novel. But then he seems to be going for a gothic, spooky vibe here (speaking of the doctor once he hears about the haunted house):

A haunted house! He'd have to see that!...It was dusk and already the bats were skimming between the trees.

Further description of the abandoned house and the dark woods surrounding it, give a definite ghost story feel. It's like Williams wasn't quite sure what he wanted to write yet. Once he settles down to a good, old-fashioned mystery, he does a very good job. There are definitely clues for an observant reader to pick up (I didn't get them all, but I got enough to spot the villain of the piece). Treadgold makes for an intelligent and likeable amateur detective. At one point he strikes a very Holmesian note: pipe, dressing gown, and telling Dr. Wood not to talk to him. "I'm not fit for human society tonight!" This, just before he sits down for a really long think about the case. The romance between Dr. Wood and Mademoiselle de Remy is handled well--integrated into the mystery nicely so it doesn't seem extraneous. Oh and those stamps? You might keep them in mind if you track this one down and decide to read it.  ★★★ and 1/2

First line: The peace of the warm July afternoon rested over the fishing-camp like a benediction.  

...this case puts me in mind of going out to post a letter in a London fog. You stumble along to the letter-box at the corner of the square and when you look for your house again, hey, presto! it's gone. Dim figures loom up--you stop one and find it's somebody who's lost his bearings the same as you. You step aside to avoid a lamp-post and lo and behold! it's a policeman trying to locate his surroundings; you politely address a tall shape confronting you and it's a tree...Now I'm groping in the fog again...all the time I've the sensation that somewhere close at hand, towering through the fog, is a presence, unseen but fully realized... (Mr. Treadgold; p. 197)

Mr. Treadgold chuckled, "I've had all manner of odd experiences in my life," he observed humorously, "but I cannot recall ever having been kissed by a policeman before!" (p. 260)

Last line: With that he closed the book and turned his face, kindly and wise, toward the verandah.
**************

Deaths = 6 deaths [one neck broken; one heart attack; one stabbed; two drowned; one strangled]

The Cat Wears a Noose


 The Cat Wears a Noose (1944) by D. B. Olsen (Dolores Hitchens)

Miss Jennifer Murdock, sister to that intrepid 70-year-old sleuth Miss Rachel, is coming home after a late session of balancing the books for the Parchly Heights Methodist Ladies Aid Society and stops to admire the brilliant silvery moonlight. As she stands in front of her fellow treasurer's house, a drunken man stumbles out of taxi and makes his unsteady way up to the vestibule of the house opposite. The next thing she knows, a shot rings out and the man falls to the ground. She's never liked Miss Rachel's involvement in murder and she's not about to be caught up in one herself--so she takes to her heels [the elderly women in Olsen's books are remarkably spry...] and rushes home...dropping her glasses case behind her.  And on the way she promises herself one thing: 

...that nothing short of death itself could maker her reveal to Rachel the part she had played in that night's terror. For if she were to know, of course Miss Rachel would be in the middle of things at once.

Meanwhile, back at the Murdock house, Miss Rachel has a late-night visitor. Shirley Grant, nineteen years old and who just happens to be a poor relation living at the house where a man has just been shot, has come to consult Miss Rachel about some disturbing incidents. Word of the septuagenarian's involvement in previous murder mysteries have got about and Pete, another poor relation in the house, had suggested that Shirley pay her a visit. Ever since Shirley was taken in by her Uncle John Terrice and his wife, they have treated her mostly as unpaid help. They and their family pretty much ignore her, but there's never seemed to be any ill-feeling or dislike. But now...things have been broken in such a way that the blame will fall on Shirley and, the prime reason the young woman decided to consult Miss Rachel, someone has killed Shirley's pet bird. Miss Rachel senses a malevolent hand behind the incidents and determines to help Shirley.

Despite warnings from Detective Stephen Mayhew to leave this case alone (for once!), she manages to infiltrate the house--applying for the position of cook when the family's Eastern European cook leaves after swearing she saw a werewolf stalking outside Shirley's room. In between making salads and plucking ducks, Miss Rachel tracks down a slew of clues. Before she is able to make sense of them, she will wind up sending her sister to jail, hiding under a bed while someone searchers the room, and discovering a second and more violent murder as well as murderous items planted on Shirley meant to distract the police away from the killer. But Miss Rachel comes through in the end and helps Mayhew spot the culprit.

Not my favorite of the Miss Rachel mystery series, but it does still have its good points. I think my favorite is the fact that it is the prim and proper Miss Jennifer who first stumbles upon the murder and thought she vows not to tell Rachel about it, she can't help spilling some of the beans as soon as she gets home. Of course, Rachel already knows something is up at that house (courtesy of Shirley), but Jennifer doesn't know that. And it's funny to see Jennifer's reaction when Rachel tells her, "There is something going on in that house....a mean and clever intelligence which has turned at last to death." Jennifer gets shakily out of her chair, doesn't say another word, and speeds off to her room and her bed.

...there was no getting Miss Jennifer out of bed. She was crouched under the bedding with all the lights on, shivering as if with cold, and when Miss Rachel peeped under at her she made a chattering remark about witches and a request that Miss Rachel go away.

    "You've meddled with it so long," Miss Jennifer got out as Miss Rachel paused at the door, "that you've gotten psychic about it. You know it before it happens."

And, of course, at this point Miss Rachel thinks her sister is batty because Miss Rachel doesn't know yet that murder has happened.

The mystery itself is fair and like Kate (who has reviewed this over at Cross Examining Crime) there was a subtle clue that I missed. I did have my suspicions about the culprit (especially after the second murder), but I didn't really have the clue in hand to prove why I thought so. ★★

First line: Outside the moon filled the night with such a silver flood that Miss Jennifer Murdock stood still to take it in.

Last line: "And I had," Miss Jennifer rushed on, "the most wonderfully exciting time!"
*********************

Deaths =  3 (one shot; two stabbed)

Monday, December 30, 2024

2025 Clock Reading Challenge

 


Jo at Jo Linsdell is once again sponsoring a very straightforward reading challenge: 12 books in 12 months. Each book should have numbers from one to twelve in the title so we can fill in our clock face. For more info and to join in, please see her link. I've listed my tentative choices.

One: And One for the Dead by Pierre Audemars OR One Fell Sloop by Susan Kenney
Two: A Thief or Two by Sara Woods OR Two Against Scotland Yard by David Frome
Three: Look Three Ways at Murder by John Creasey OR Three Motives for Murder by Roy Winsor
Four: Murder in Four Degrees by J. S. Fletcher OR The Fourth Postman by Craig Rice
Five: Five Victorian Ghost Novels by E. F. Bleiler (ed) OR Bodies from the Library 5 by Tony Medawar (ed)
Six: Six Nuns & a Shotgun by Colin Watson OR Bodies from the Library 6 by Tony Medawar (ed)
Seven: Seven Chose Murder by Roy Vickers OR The Seven Deadly Sisters by Pat McGerr
Eight: The Eight Circle by Stanley Ellin OR The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo
Nine: Nine Strings to Your Bow by Lee Thayer OR The Nine Waxed Faces by Francis Beeding
Ten: Bloody Ten by William F. Love OR Ten Plus One by Ed McBain
Eleven: The Best of Trek #11 by Walter Irwin & G. B. Love OR In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem & Fun in the Sandbox by Carol Burnett
Twelve: Twelve Drummers Drumming by C. C. Benison OR Twelve Women Detectives by Laura Marcus (ed)