December Wrap-Up & P.O.M. Award

Well, here we are...down to the last monthly pick of 2016. I've spent the year combining my monthly wrap-up post with Kerrie's Crime Fiction Pick of the Month over at Mysteries in Paradise. December was a whirlwind of mad-dashing reading (to try and meet my Goodreads/Outdo Myself reading goals) and holiday merry-making (with the books above being part of the Christmas loot and headed for the TBR stacks of reading future). I'm pleased to say I read a fair amount even with holiday parties popping up everywhere. Here's the run-down:

Total Books Read: 15
Total Pages: 1,889 [quite a drop....]
Average Rating: 3.2 stars  
Top Rating: 4 stars 
Percentage by Female Authors: 40%
Percentage by US Authors: 87%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors:  13% 
[And, this is the shocker...I read NO books by British authors this month.]
Percentage Mystery:  33% 
Percentage Fiction: 67%
Percentage written 2000+: 7%
Percentage of Rereads: 7%
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: 32 (94%) One of the challenges (Semi-Charmed) runs over into 2017, isn't finished and didn't have to be, so I didn't count it in my calculations.


AND, as mentioned above, Kerrie had us all set up for another year of Crime Fiction Favorites. What she was looking for is our Top Mystery Read for each month. December found me with only five mysteries--one of those a children's book--adding up to a rather odd month for me.


Dark Lady by Doris Miles Disney (12/8/16) 
Cold Steal by Alice Tilton (12/18/16) 
A Corpse for Christmas by Carter Brown (12/31/16) 
The Vanishing Professor by Jack Long (12/31/16)
The Best Cellar by Charles A. Goodrum


There were no five star winners this month. Of the 4 four star awards doled out, only two were mysteries: The Vanishing Professor by Jack Long and Cold Steal by Alice Tilton. The Vanishing Professor is a fun children's book with private investigators Otter O'Reilly and L. Pinkerton asked to track down the missing inventor. Great fun for kids, but not quite a P.O.M. award-winner. So the month's POM Award goes to....

Cold Steal by Alice Tilton is another fast-paced, hilarious romp with Witherall and company. It's the kind of silly heavy-on-the-fun and light-on-the-detection kind of mystery that one needs to be in the mood for in order to enjoy. But when you're in that mood--these are delightful. It's like getting on a roller-coaster that runs at top-speed the whole ride and when you come to a stop, you catch your breath and try to figure out if you've still got all the clues with you.

Stay tuned for the complete year-end review with the P.O.M. Grand Prize and other tidbits.