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

I'm still running a bit behind on reviewing and summing up--but at least I'm doing better than July and August. So...here is my September wrap-up post and my contribution to Kerrie's Crime Fiction Pick of the Month.  I'll also be handing out the coveted P.O.M. Award for the best mystery. So, here's what happened here on the Block in September....

Total Books Read: 16
Total Pages:  2,879

Average Rating: 3.23 stars  
Top Rating: 5 stars 
Percentage by Female Authors: 47%
Percentage by US Authors: 47%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors:  13%
Percentage Mystery:  86% 
Percentage Fiction: 100%
Percentage written 2000+: 7%
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: 20 (63%)

 

AND, as I note each month, 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. September was another big month for mysteries with all but two of the sixeen books falling into that genre. The only five-star winner was a non-mystery, Adam McOmber's My House Gather's Desires, so we'll have to look further for our P.O.M. Award Winner.

 

Here are the mystery books read in September:

 

The Far Traveller by Manning Coles (4 stars) 

Let Dead Enough Alone by Frances & Richard Lockridge 3 stars) 

The Title Is Murder by Hugh Lawrence Nelson (3.75 stars) 

Case With No Conclusion by Leo Bruce (2.75 stars) 

Coffin from the Past by Gwendoline Butler (3 stars) 

McGarr at the Dublin Horse Show by Bartholomew Gill (1 star)

The Menehune Murders by Margot Arnold (4 stars)

The World's Best 100 Detective Stories Vol. 7 by Eugene Thwing, ed (3.5 stars)  

The Gloved Hand by Leigh Bryson (3.5 stars) 

Mr. & Mrs. North & the Poisoned Playboy by Frances & Richard Lockridge (4 stars) 

The Small World of Murder by Elizabeth Ferrars (1 star) 

Journey's End by Evelyn Berckman (DNF) 

Stag Dinner Death by John Penn (3 stars) 

To Wake the Dead by John Dickson Carr (4 stars)

 

September finds us with four books earning a four-star rating: The Far Traveller by Manning Coles, a comic mystery that's heavy on ghosts and light on mystery--but great fun; The Menehune Murders by Margot Arnold, another winner starring the team of Penny Spring and Sir Toby Glendower; Mr. & Mrs. North & the Poisoned Playboy by Frances & Richard Lockridge, the Norths are always fun; and To Wake the Dead by John Dickson Carr that master of locked room mysteries. I am pretty sure that all of these authors have gone home with a P.O.M. Award in the past (though it's getting harder to keep up--note to self, go back and make a list of all the previous winners). So, we're going to move along to the next in rank...

 

 

 

The Title Is Murder by Hugh Lawrence Nelson with 3.75 stars. A killing spree at the bookstore! Who would have thought there would be more blood than ink in the fiction section? Nelson shows us what murderous fiends bookworms and book dealers can be in his debut mystery. Nelson knows his way around the book world and gives us a good view of an exclusive bookshop from the 40s. Good characterizations and light romance help balance the story and it makes for an enjoyable evening's read.