June Pick of the Month (Running Late Again...)

 

 

 

 And...just like last month..I just realized that another month is in the books (😉) and I haven't posted my reading stats or chosen June's mystery star. I've managed to keep the reading mojo going and have met my stated Mount TBR challenge goal (100 of my own books). We'll see if I can keep going and plant that flag on Mount Olympus on Mars. I managed another 20 books and all but three had a mystery flair. I'm totally counting Hans Brinker in the mystery ranks--there are definite mysteries to be solved including a mysterious disappearance and a death. We'll take a look at the mystery star ratings in a moment, but before we hand out the shiny prize/s, let's take a look at the stats.

Total Books Read: 20
Total Pages: 4,834
Average Rating: 3.46 stars  
Top Rating: 5 stars 
Percentage by Female Authors: 40%

Percentage by Male Authors: 50%

Percentage by both Female & Male Authors: 10%
Percentage by US Authors: 85%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors:  5%
Percentage Mystery: 90%

Percentage Fiction: 95%
Percentage written 2000+: 10%
Percentage of Rereads: 20%
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: 16 (50%)

Mysteries Read:

 

Give the Little Corpse a Great Big Hand by George Bagby (3.5 stars)

John Smith Hears Death Walking by Wyatt Blassingame (2.5 stars)

Murder Gone Minoan by Clyde B. Clason (4 stars) 

Hans Brinker by Mary Mapes Dodge (4 stars)

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Month of Mystery as edited by Alfred Hitchcock (3 stars) 

Bullets for Macbeth by Marvin Kaye (3 stars)

The Bluebeard Room by Carolyn Keene (3 stars)

The Scarlet Slipper Mystery by Carolyn Keene (3.75 stars) 

The Secret of the Golden Pavilion by Carolyn Keene (3 stars)

Trixie Belden & the Black Jacket Mystery by Kathryn Kenny (3.5 stars)

The Golden Man by Frances & Richard Lockridge (3 stars)

The Queen & The Corpse by Max Murray (3 stars) 

Still Life with Crows by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (4 stars) 

Death Among the Sunbathers by E. R. Punshon (3 stars) 

The White Elephant Mystery by Ellery Queen, Jr. (4 stars) 

Cat's Paw by Roger Scarlett (3.5 stars) 

All Hallows' Evil by Valerie Wolzien (1.5 stars)

 

 

And now it's time to identify our P.O.M. Award recipient. The only five star winners in June were non-mysteries: The Trouble With Tribbles by David Gerrold, a photo-novel telling the story through stills from the Star Trek episode, and What Just Happened by Charles Finch, a diary-style account of the pandemic year. Both are absolutely excellent in different ways, but they're not mysteries. In the mystery ranks, we have four which garnered four stars. Murder Gone Minoan by Clyde Clason, Hans Brinker by Mary Mapes Dodge, Still Life with Crows by Preston & Child,and The White Elephant Mystery by Ellery Queen, Jr. 

 

I can hear the crowd getting a bit restless--Hans Brinker is not a true mystery; what are the judges thinking?--they mutter. Well, you might have a point. However, while the story may be a charming children's story focused on family, loyalty and friendship, there is a mystery at the heart of it. Two mysteries, in fact. First, there is the missing savings of the Brinker family. A large sum of money--all of their savings--went missing on the same night that Mr. Brinker had his fall from the dyke. The second mystery involves Dr. Boekman's missing son. The answers to both mysteries are locked in Mr. Brinker's brain and it isn't until Hans convinces Dr. Boekman to treat his father that the mysteries will be solved. 

I do agree, however, that we should look elsewhere for our P.O.M. Award. Murder Gone Minoan was an interesting entry in the Westborough series. It has a very epistolary set-up--beginning with letter exchanges and with intermissions for transcripts of the written statements from the various witnesses each time there's a murder. Clason drops clues in the documents and in conversations so adroitly that I definitely did not spot the important ones which would have told me what the letters Westborough sent (which we didn't get to see...) contained. I also would have known who did it. But Clason kept that secret till the very end...at least from me. Another pleasant puzzler featuring an academic. I can't resist those. Still Life with Crows is another excellent thriller from Preston & Child. I don't generally gravitate to thrillers, but they do seem to keep me coming back for more and they certainly know how to write an edge-of-the-seat, scare-the-crap-out-of-you thriller that is so absorbing and fast-paced that even I (the biggest coward when it comes to horror and grisly murders) can read the thing straight through, hanging on every word, and impatient to find out what it's all about. Pendergast is an interesting, nuanced character. We get hints that his is an unusual back story and I certainly hope that we learn more about him as the series goes along. I appreciated seeing his softer side as he plainly wants to give Corrie Swanson (the assistant he takes on from Medicine Creek) a way to make a new start in life (if she gets a chance...). The White Elephant Mystery is a fun adventure in the Queen, Jr. series. Djuna is a well-drawn, intelligent, independent young boy who maybe takes a few chances that perhaps he shouldn't (but where would the drama be if he didn't?). He's very good at picking up on clues that the adults don't notice. His dog, Champ, isn't as prominent as in other stories, but Champ does help provide the vital clue that leads Djuna to the solution of the mystery. It's all great fun in a perfect setting for kids of all ages--the circus!

So...now it's time to see what the judges have decided. Envelope, please....And the winner of the June Pick of the Month Award is.....