All right, folks--2012 is here! Let the challenge begin! I am setting up this post as the place to track everyone's progress on the Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge and also to link reviews, if you review the books you read. There will be two linkys--one for reviews and one for a wrap-up post. If you do not have a blog, please submit a final tally of books read in a comment below. I will accept updates through January 6, 2013.
Please enter your review links below. For Name Display, please use the following format as an example:
Bev@My Reader's Block (Book Title and Author)
Please enter your wrap-up post below:
Example: Bev@My Reader's Block (Wrap-up)
62 comments:
Well, I finished my first read of the Vintage Mystery Challenge of this year and it was a clever locked room mystery that gave a nod and a wink to John Dickson Carr, Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle. Corsari's books, ranging from psychological novels to detective stories, were translated in many different languages – so this one might be available to some of you.
Full review of: Willy Corsari's Voetstappen op de trap (Footsteps on the Stairs, 1937).
Well I finished my first book for 2012 and it was for The Vintage Mystery challenge. Link is done. Happy New Year!
I got my first reviw posted. The Great Mistake by Mary Roberts Rinehart. I will count it towards my Golden Age Girls challenge.
http://wordsmithonia.blogspot.com/2012/01/great-mistake-by-mary-roberts-rinehart.html
I'm off on my three part challenge! For the next two months it's Perilous Policeman. Link is up for my review of THE CASE OF THE BEAUTIFUL BODY.
Okay, I've got my first entry up on the blog: DEAD MAN'S WATCH by G.D.H. and M. Cole.
It qualifies for Lethal Locations.
The book is written by a husband and wife duo so I'm not sure I can use it for my other two themes.
Link is done.
Just for the record...the images connected to the links are a bit of a surprise for me. I don't remember choosing that as part of my Linky thingy....
Have added link for first challenge book completed for Lethal Locations. Five Red Herrings by Dorothy Sayers.
My first review is up, of "The Lighthearted Quest" by Ann Bridge. Recommended, with some reservations.
But you still want us doing the linky thing - right?
Anyway, just posted my second book for the challenge.
It qualifies for Lethal Locations and Cherchez L'Homme. :)
Yes, I do want you to use the Linky if at all possible. I hoped to save myself hunting through over a hundred comments (like I did last year)....
Hi Bev, just posted my first one ofthe Challenge LANDSCAPE WITH DEAD DONS - I really loved it, thanks so much it was a splendid gift and a great way to start 2012 - I didn't quite get the linky thing right, but I will next time!
Sergio
My second on is in... :)
My first challenge entry in the Deadly Decades section is my "pre-1900" entry: Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet," the book that introduced Sherlock Holmes to the world (not to mention Dr. Watson). I've linked the review in the linky section above - please let me know if I did it right!
The images in the linky thingy is a happy suprise! I've just posted my link to my first, Wilkie Collins' "The Woman in White", which was super. I might not have read it except for this challenge, so thanks for that! (Deadly Decades, pre-1900's).
Posted by fourth one today, Bev. DEATH IN KASHMIR by M.M. Kaye.
Golden Age Girls and Lethal Locations.
Added my first review for "cherchez le homme". Sherwood King's "Between Murders".
Ooof, sorry I didn't do the name thing right. It's been a bit of a crazy time lately, and we all know I ain't right to begin with :)
Just posted my first "golden age girls" review.
I've just put up my review of Pamela Branch's LION IN THE CELLAR. Branch is one of the authors I selected for my "Persons of Interest" theme.
My third decade for the Deadly Decades theme is Edgar Wallace's 1917 thriller, "The Secret House." It's sheer fun, with the action moving so fast the reader doesn't have time to realize how far-fetched the story is. Full review at ClassicMysteries.
Week four, and the roaring 20s. This week's entry: "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," by Agatha Christie, first published in 1920. It was her first novel and the first to feature Hercule Poirot. Full review at Classic Mysteries.
I just posted a review of an engrossing historical mystery, set during the Rangaku in Japan, with a clever inverted plot at its core.
Full review of Bertus Aafjes' Een lampion voor een blinde (A Lantern for the Blind).
I've just posted the links to my second and third read for the challenge. Going great!
I've added the link for my review of "An Oxford Tragedy" by J.C. Masterman.
The link I provided earlier (#61) goes only to the book cover. I've added the correct link to the review at #64.
For the "Deadly Decade" of the 1940s this week, I offer a review of Elizabeth Daly's "Any Shape or Form." It's a classic puzzle-plot type of mystery and one of Daly's best (she was said to be Agatha Christie's favorite American author). It's #69 above, or at Classic Mysteries.
My review of WHO KILLED THE CURATE? by Joan Coggins is up at #70 above. Goodness, there are going to be lots of links when we're through with this challenge.
@Carol: I know! It would have been a much more compact and tidier list if I hadn't mysteriously programmed the thing to ask for a thumbnail picture. I don't know how that happened and I haven't been able to undo it. I figure at this point we'll just have to go with it....I don't want to lose anybody's entry.
Bev, I have a question. Would a book like The Floating Admiral count for my short story challenge. It's one novel, but each chapter is written by a different author (13 authors in all).
Have added my latest review - The Grand Babylon Hotel by Arnold Bennett. Theme - Location
Hi Bev - just added my review of TH White DARKNESS AT PEMBERLEY, another excellent Golden Age mystery set at Cambridge University.
Thanks for looking after us.
Sergio
@Ryan: As long as it fit a theme and is pre-1960, then, yes, it may count.
My post for the "deadly decade" of the 1950s is Patricia Moyes' "Dead Men Don't Ski," from 1959. The novel introduces the delightful Chief Inspector Henry Tibbett. It takes place at a remote ski lodge at the top of "the longest chair-lift in Europe." Full review at Classic Mysteries".
(What's wrong with the links above? Mine keep getting shortened to something unreadable!)
Les: I don't know what's wrong with it. I tried early on to fix it (before there were so many links and it was easier to know if I lost one and what it was). I never wanted the thumbnail pictures and have no idea why that option got tacked on. I envisioned a much cleaner list. At this point I'm afraid to mess with it--I don't want to lose anybody's review.
I just posted my review of "Murder at Shots Hall/Green December Grows the Graveyard by Maureen Sarsfield, as #84. Yes, I realize I misspelled murder in the title. Long day.
Okay, my first Vintage Mystery review is up - Rex Stout's The Red Box, an early Nero Wolfe. (This is part of my "Murderous Miscellany" - A Year of Death, 8 books published in 1937.
For my eighth and last post for the "deadly decades" section, here's a review of Cyril Hare's "Suicide Excepted," a late Golden-Age (1939) mystery. The death of an elderly man is ruled a suicide - but the insurance company won't pay if the death was suicide, so his family sets out to prove it was murder. You'll find a review, with a link to a detailed podcast review, at Classic Mysteries.
Just added the first in my Golden Girls part of the challenege with WHY SHOOT A BUTLER by Georgette Heyer
Another two reviews - The Hand in the Glove, by Rex Stout and A Holiday for Murder by Agatha Christie.
I reviewed Theo Joekes' short story collection, Klavertje moord (Four-Leaf Murder).
Another Agatha Christie - Cards on the Table. There were four killers in the room, playing bridge together. But which one stabbed Mr. Shaitana?
And now for a little John Dickson Carr - The Burning Court. Was the body stolen out of the bricked-up family crypt - or did the corpse get up and walk away on his own?
Late to the party, but first review posted in the challenge: COME AWAY, DEATH by Gladys Mitchell. A very interesting read, by a rather forgotten and overlooked Golden Age Grande Dame.
And another one! Patricia Wentworth's Dead or Alive. Everybody tells Meg O'Hara her husband has been dead for a year. Why won't she believe them?
Perry Mason strikes again! And a good thing, because it sure looks as if somebody has it in for would-be actress Evelyn Bagby, the Restless Redhead.
Today, I review a detective/thriller from the hands of a writer who earned with his words a nomination for a Nobel Prize. As a matter of fact, this book was his first success as a writer and penned four additional mysteries before moving on
to loftier, more sophisticated climes. Oh well...
Here's the full review of Een linkerbeen gezocht (Wanted: A Left Leg, 1935) by Jan de Hartog (writing as "F.R. Eckmar").
Sorry Bev - entered my latest review into the wrong link - the wrap up posts. Please ignore or remove if you can.
Whoops - I have a problem; I reviewed two books in one post, and the link system won't let me report them both (since it detects a duplicate URL.) Oh well -
The Problem of the Green Capsule: several people watched carefully while Marcus Chesney was poisoned. Not one of them interfered, and when the police questioned them later not one of them was quite sure what had just happened!
Nine - and Death Makes Ten: It's dangerous enough crossing the Atlantic during World War II. Your ship might be blown up and sunk at any moment! But on the Edwardic, the handful of passengers also has to worry about a killer whose fingerprints don't match a single person on board.
Hi Bev! I am halfway through my challenge. I have competed one vintage theme, Deadly Decades, of my target of two vintage themes. Now on to the next eight from the theme Golden Age Girls.
Oh that should read 'completed', not 'competed'. :-)
Poor Miss Arundell is dead - but everybody tells Poirot she died of perfectly natural causes. And when she fell down the stairs a few weeks before she died, that was the dog's fault. Besides, she recovered from the fall. Why can't Hercule Poirot leave this absolutely completely perfectly natural death alone?
Somehow the images of the books are not showing up now. The two books recently submitted are: The Eight of Swords by J.D. Carr and The Double Traitor by E.P. Oppenheim.
Just posted two links to reviews (Fer-de-Lance and With a Bare Bodkin). Tried to post a third (An English Murder, also by Cyril Hare), but I reviewed it in the same post as With a Bare Bodkin and it would not take the same link twice. It doesn't matter, I am not doing this for a prize and I may have more than the eight for that category anyway. Just thought I would note that. If I include that mystery in another post somewhere, maybe I will use that link. Glad I am catching up on this challenge, a bit.
I have completed the challenge! I had chosen two categories, a total of 16 books. I have linked up my completion post. Thank you Bev for hosting this wonderful challenge! :-)
Hi Bev
Completed the challenge! As last year, had great fun this year too. I've linked-up the wrap-up post. Thank You for hosting this challenge and looking forward to next year's edition of it.
Thanks once again.
I just posted my wrap up post.
Just posted my wrap up post and linked it here. Out of 80 books I read this year, 16 were vintage mysteries. Glad I joined in on this challenge.
Just posted my final review - thanks very much for hosting Bev, it's been pretty amazing. Have a great 2013.
Is a closing post required? Could I reiterate the joining post, updated? I try to limit 'biz' on my blog. Well: I'm thrilled to show you my last "Deadly Decades" entries! I ran out of time for more but chose what I think is the toughest and did succeeded! :) Happy new year to all! ~Carolyn~
@Carolyn (cmriedel): a link to your updated joining post showing everything complete will be fine. Congratulations!
Very nice to accommodate that. I decided my vintage post is long. I'd listed all your options. I made up a combo closure I hope everyone enjoys.
In case my blog doesn't send you notifications, I nod to you in this one! :) http://cmriedel.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/eclectic-person-and-reader/
2012 Wrap-up - not sure where to leave this link:
http://www.exurbanis.com/archives/8315
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