September Pick of the Month

 

It's that time again...time to choose September's mystery star and take a peak at the reading statistics. September is another a busy month for me. The university is in full swing and it seems like everything is going on. But I still managed to do a bit better than last month--17 books--up just slightly from 16--even though my page count went down. All but two 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: 17
Total Pages: 3,741
Average Rating: 3.35 stars 
Top Rating: 4.5 stars 
Percentage by Female Authors: 53%

Percentage by Male Authors: 47%

Percentage by both Female & Male Authors: 0%

Percentage by US Authors: 41%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors:  6%
Percentage Mystery: 88%

Percentage Fiction: 100%
Percentage written 2000+: 6%
Percentage of Rereads: 12%
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: 72 (66%)

Mysteries Read

A Scream in Soho by John G. Brandon (4 stars)

Read & Buried by Erika Chase (2 stars)

Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie (3.5 stars)

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie (4.5 stars)

N or M? by Agatha Christie (4 stars)

The Witch Tree Symbol by Carolyn Keene (3 stars)

The Corpse on the Hearth by Harry Lang (2 stars)

Murder by Matchlight by E. C. R. Lorac (4 stars)

Zanzibar Intrigue by F. Van Wyck Mason (3.5 stars)

Six Deadly Dames by Frederick Nebel (2.5 stars)

Goodbye, Nanny Gray by Susannah Stacey (3 stars)

The World's Best 100 Detective Stories by Eugene Thwing [ed] (2.5 stars)

The Uninvited Corpse by Michael Underwood (3 stars)

Murder at the Pageant by Victor L. Whitechurch (4 stars)

The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo (4 stars)

And now it's time to award the coveted Reader's Block P.O.M. Of course, if we just look at the stars, it's easy. Agatha Christie's Five Little Pigs is the only 4.5 star winner in the bunch. In general, I don't give Dame Agatha the glittering pom-pom because when I read one of her books it is usually a reread. But in the case of FLP, I don't think that's the case. I know I have seen the dramatization with David Suchet, but I don't actually remember ever reading the book. This was an excellent read with a good plot. One thing I really enjoyed was the retrospective quality which had Poirot investigating a cold-case murder. He has to rely on his interview skills and the psychology of those involved to help him get to the truth of the matter. Even if he were one to use a magnifying glass and search for all the physical clues, that method is denied him here. He always says that all he needs is to hear all the facts and then to put his little grey cells to work in order to solve the mystery. This case allows us to see how well this works for him. And it works very well, indeed.