September Wrap-Up & POM Award

Up by one this month, with 15 books. And I've managed to get Goodreads to declare that I'm "on track"--we'll see how long that keeps up.  Anyway...I'm continuing to combine my monthly wrap-up post with Kerrie's Crime Fiction Pick of the Month over at Mysteries in Paradise. And here we go with the August totals:  

Total Books Read: 15
Total Pages:  3,181 
Percentage by Female Authors:  43%
Percentage by US Authors:  53%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors:  7%
Percentage Mystery: 60%
Percentage Fiction: 93%
Percentage written 2000+: 20%
Percentage of Rereads: 13%
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: 19 (59%)


AND, as mentioned above, Kerrie has started us up for another year of Crime Fiction Favorites. What she's looking for is our Top Mystery Read for each month. In July, twelve of the books I read count as mysteries:
 
 Murder & Blueberry Pie by Frances & Richard Lockridge (3 stars) Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie (2 stars) Malcolm Sage, Detective by Herbert Jenkins (3.5) The Yard by Alex Grecian (3 stars) The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene (4 stars) The Dreadful Hollow by Nicholas Blake (3.5 stars) Death Knocks Three Times by Anthony Gilbert (3.75 stars) The Yellow Violet by Frances Crane (3.75 stars)
 

If we go by stars, then top billing this month would go to Nancy Drew in The Secret of the Old Clock.  However, Nancy is a several times over reread for me--and I've made it a rule not to feature rereads for my P.O.M. Award.  That leaves us with two books snagging a 3.75 rating: Death Knocks Three Times by Anthony Gilbert and The Yellow Violet by Frances Crane.  This is a toughie for me....my liking for these two is really about equal.  But....if I have to pick a winner....then I'm going to give you 

...for the simple reason that this is the first time that I enjoyed a Gilbert novel as much as I hoped to.  Arthur Crook makes a very good showing in this one.