August Pick of the Month

 

 

 

It's that time again...time to choose August's mystery star and take a peak at the reading statistics. August is always a busy month for me. The university starts up again and I have new graduate student orientation and other "beginning of the academic year" items to navigate. So...my reading stats have dropped since July. I managed 16 books (down from 25) and my page total was cut considerably. But all of the books had a mystery flair. . We'll take a look at the 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: 16
Total Pages: 3,908
Average Rating: 2.81 stars 
Top Rating: 4 stars 
Percentage by Female Authors: 56%

Percentage by Male Authors: 38%

Percentage by both Female & Male Authors: 6%

Percentage by US Authors: 44%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors:  19%
Percentage Mystery: 100%

Percentage Fiction: 100%
Percentage written 2000+: 44%
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: 21 (66%)

Mysteries Read

Slow Dancing with the Angel of Death by Helen Chappell (1 star)

The Coffin Trail by Martin Edwards (3 stars)

The Lady with the Gun Asks the Questions by Kerry Greenwood (4 stars)

A Question of Death by Kerry Greenwood (4 stars)

The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett (2.5 stars)

Treachery in the Yard by Adimchinma Ibe (2.5 stars) 

Kill the Butler! by Michael Kenyon (1.5 stars) 

The Long Skeleton by Frances & Richard Lockridge (4 stars)

Four Days' Wonder by A. A. Milne (4 stars) 

Dead Man's Gift by Zelda Popkin (2.75 stars) 

Garden of Lies by Amanda Quick (4 stars)

You Only Hang Once by H. W. Roden (2.75 stars)

The Abrus Necklace Mystery by Elizabeth Seibert (3 stars) 

X Marks the Spot by Lee Thayer (3.5 stars) 

The World's Best 100 Detective Stories Vol. 6 by Eugene Thwing, ed. (2 stars) 

The Bad Quarto by Jill Paton Walsh (3 stars)

 

 

 

And now for the coveted P.O.M. Award. August produced one of the weakest line-ups I've had in a while. I can't remember the last time the average star rating dropped below the mid-range three stars. Ranging from the pretty dire Slow Dancing with the Angel of Death to the supposedly funny Kill the Butler! (spoiler--I didn't think it was funny nor much of a mystery), I had a fair number of not so good mysteries. There were no five-star winners this time, but we do have a selection of four-star novels. Both Greenwood's A Question of Death and The Long Skeleton by the Lockridges are rereads, so they are out of the running. The Lady with the Gun Asks the Questions by Greenwood is an updated version of A Question of Death with additional stories and, while I enjoyed them all very much, I don't think the new stories add enough to allow it to contend for the P.O.M. Which leaves us with Four Days' Wonder by Milne and Garden of Lies by Amanda Quick...

 

Neither of these are all-out straight mysteries. Under the Amanda Quick name, Jayne Ann Krentz writes historical romantic suspense mysteries. The romance in Garden of Lies is there (including a couple of fairly steamy scenes), but I don't consider the romance to be the main component. The investigation takes center stage and there is much for mystery fans to enjoy. Four Days' Wonder  has often been billed as a mystery comedy or a comedic thriller. I'd say it's a romantic, comedic, mystery parody with a thrillerish slant. Four Days' Wonder is Milne's Red House Mystery with a heavy dose of Wodehouse thrown in. And it's perfectly delightful except for one spoilerish item--which I won't reveal here. Other than my one quibble, I loved the story. The adventure was good, the characters lively, and the action was fast-moving. Great fun as long as you aren't set on a fairly clued murder mystery.

 

I'm just not sure which way to go with this one...let me consult with the judges (er...flip a coin)...and the winner is...