2023 Medical Examiner Mystery Reading Challenge

 

Once again Rick at the Rick Mills Project will be offering up the Medical Examiner Mystery Reading Challenge as well as the Six Shooter Challenge. I, having no self-control when it comes to challenges--especially mystery-related challenges, will--of course--sign up for both. He's got them both on deck for 2023 (and also the Beachcomber Challenge), so here I go again....For full details, check out the link above. Basically, just read mysteries and log the number of named corpses on his handy form.

Rick doesn't require a sign-up post, but in order to claim this one as complete on my own personal challenge tally sheet, I must submit at least 20 death certificate reports. With the number of mysteries I read per year, this shouldn't be too difficult.

 

1. The White Priory Murders by Carter Dickson [2 deaths] (1/7/23)

2. Beauty Marks the Spot by Kelley Roos [2 deaths] (1/7/23)

3. The Becket Factor by Michael David Anthony [14 deaths] (1/9/23)

4. The Dante Game by Jane Langton [9 deaths] (1/13/23)

5. Swing Low, Swing Death by R. T. Campbell [2 deaths] (1/17/23) 

6. The Angry Heart by Leslie Edgley [7 deaths] (1/21/23)

7. A Gentleman's Murder by Christopher Huang [10 deaths] (1/22/23)

8. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper [2 deaths] (1/23/23)

9. Mysterious Invitation by Bernice Bloom [9 deaths] (1/27/23)

10. The Crimson Clue by George Harmon Coxe [4 deaths] (1/30/23)

11. Wings Above the Diamantina by Arthur W. Upfield [7 deaths] (2/3/23)

12. Here Come the Dead by Robert Portner Koehler [4 deaths] (2/5/23)

**************The following stories all come from Garden of Deadly Delights edited by Cynthia Manson (2/7/23)

13. "How Does Your Garden Grow" by Agatha Christie [one death]

14. "The Cop Who Loved Flowers" by Henry Slesar [one death]

15. "Garden of Evil" by Carol Cail [5 deaths]

16. "Clubbed to Death" by Donald Olsen [one death]

17. "The Garden of Smoke" by G. K. Chesterton [2 deaths]

18. "The Price of Tomatoes" by William Bunce [one death]

19. "Early Retirement" by Frances Usher [5 deaths]

20. "Venus Fly-Trap" by Ruth Rendell [one death]

21. "The Puzzle Garden" by Edward D. Hoch [3 deaths]

22. "A Curtain of Green" by Eudora Welty [one death]

23. "The Scent of Murder" by Frances & Richard Lockridge [one death]

24. "Three Men in a Garden" by Lord Dunsany [one death]

25. "The Ronnie" by K. D. Wentworth [2 deaths]

26. "Rappaccini's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne [one death]

27. "Parrots in My Garden" by Dorothy B. Davis [2 deaths]

28. "The Azalea War" by Wyc Toole [3 deaths]

29. "The Mushroom Fanciers" by Lawrence Treat [one death]

*****************

30. Murder R.F.D. by Leslie Stephan [6 deaths]

31. The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian [19 deaths]

****************The following stories all come from Marple: Twelve New Mysteries (2/15/23)

32. "Evil in Small Places" by Lucy Foley [2 deaths]

33. "The Second Murder at the Vicarage" by Val McDermid [2 deaths]

34. "The Unravelling" by Natalie Haynes [one death]

35. "The Open Mind" by Naomi Aldeman [one death]

36. "The Jade Empress" by Jean Kwok [2 deaths]

37. "A Deadly Wedding Day" by Dreda Say Mitchell [one death]

38. "Murder at the Villa Rosa" by Elly Griffiths [4 deaths]

39. "The Murdering Sort" by Karen M. McManus [one death]

40. "The Mystery of the Acid Soil" by Kate Mosse [2 deaths]

41. "The Disappearance" by Leigh Bardugo [2 deaths]

******************

The following stories are from the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Jan. 1996 (2/16/23)

42. "The Silent Night Before Christmas" by Gene DeWeese [2 deaths]

43. "A House Is Not a Home" by Martin Edwards [2 deaths]

44. "Hoops" by S. J. Rozen [2 deaths]

45. "The Carer" by Ruth Rendell [one death]

46. "The Problem of the Enormous Owl" by Edward D. Hoch [one death]

47. "The Prosecutor of DuPrey" by David Vaughn [3 deaths]

48. "Death Takes the Funicular" by Gunnar Staalsen [2 deaths]

49. "Lord Peter's Last Case" by Stephen Murray [7 deaths]

50. "Intent to Kill" by Monica Quill [one death]

**********************

51. Bats in the Belfry by E.C.R. Lorac [6 deaths] (2/18/23)

52. Phi Beta Murder by C. S. Challinor [3 deaths] (2/20/22)

53. The Fear Sign by Margery Allingham [4 deaths] (2/22/23)

54. It Walks by Night by John Dickson Carr [4 deaths] (2/24/23)

55. The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie [5 deaths] (2/28/23)

56. The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie [6 deaths] (3/1/23)

57. Towards Zero by Agatha Christie [5 deaths] (3/5/23)

58. The Black Cat Murders by Karen Baugh Menuhin [11 deaths] (3/7/23)

59. The Woman in the Picture by John August (Bernard de Voto) [4 deaths] (3/10/23)

60. Sidney Chambers & the Perils of the Night by James Runcie [6 deaths] (3/11/23)

61. Dead, Mr. Mozart by Bernard Bastable [2 deaths] (3/15/23)

62. A Murder Is Announced by Agatha Christie [9 deaths] (3/17/23)

************************

The following stories are from Blood on the Tracks edited by Martin Edwards (3/20/23)

63. "The Man with the Watches" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [one death]

64. "The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel" by L.T. Meade & Robert Eustace [2 deaths]

65. "The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway" by Baroness Orczy [one death]

66. "The Case of Oscar Brodski" by R. Austin Freeman [one death]

67. "The Eighth Lamp" by Roy Vickers [one death]

68. "The Unsolved Mystery of the Man with No Face" by Dorothy L. Sayers [2 deaths]

69. "The Railway Carriage" by F. Tennyson Jesse [3 deaths]

70. "Mystery of the Slip-Coach" by Sapper [one death]

71. "The Level Crossing" by Freeman Wills Crofts [one death]

72. "Murder on the 7.16" by Michael Innes [one death]

*************************

73. Bony & the Kelly Gang by Arthur W. Upfield [8 deaths] (3/23/23)

74. Beyond by Theodore Sturgeon (2 stories = mystery-based) [5 deaths] (3/26/23)

75. The Genesis Secret by Tom Knox [6 deaths] (3/29/23)

76. Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn [9 deaths] (3/30/23)

77. Speakers of the Dead by J. Aarons Sanders [9 deaths] (4/1/23)

78. Where Serpents Sleep by C. S. Harris [16 deaths] (4/3/23)

79. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold [8 deaths] (4/4/23)

80. Gone West by Carola Dunn [2 deaths] (4/6/23)

81. Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield [14 deaths] (4/7/23)

82. Fatal Enquiry by Will Thomas [9 deaths] (4/9/23)

83. Danger at the Drawbridge by Mildred A. Wirt [one death] (4/10/23)

84. Nine--And Death Makes Ten by Carter Dickson [5 deaths] (4/11/23)

85. And So to Murder by Carter Dickson [one death] (4/12/23)

86. Inquest by Percival Wilde [6 deaths] (4/15/23)

87. Murder in Miniatures by Sam Merwin, Jr. [6 deaths] (4/15/23)

88. Death Demands an Audience by Helen Reilly [4 deaths] (4/17/23)

89. Silent Witness by Margaret Yorke [6 deaths] (4/22/23)

90. Pride of the Peacock by Victoria Holt [7 deaths] (4/23/23)

************************The following stories all come from The Mammoth Book of Roaring Twenties Whodunnits by Mike Ashley, ed. (4/30/23) Total Deaths = 28

91. "Timor Mortis" by Annette Meyers [one death]

92. "Brave New World" by H.R.F. Keating [one death]

93. "So Beautiful, So Dead" by Robert J. Randisi [one death]

94. "There would have been murder" by Ian Morson [one death]

95. "Someone" by Michael Collin [one death]

96. "Kiss the Razor's Edge" by Mike Stotter [one death]

97. "Thoroughly Modern Millinery" by Marilyn Todd [one death]

98. "The Day of Two Cars" by Gillian Linscott [one death]

99. "The Hope of the World" by Mat Coward [one death]

100. "Bullets" by Peter Lovesey [one death]

101. "He Couldn't Fly" by Michael Kurland [3 deaths]

102. "Valentino's Valediction" by Amy Myers [2 deaths]

103. "Skip" by Edward Marston (Keith Miles) [one death]

104. "The Broadcast Murder" by Grenville Robbins [one death]

105. "For the Benefit of Mr. Means" by Christine Matthews [one death]

106. "Without Fire" by Tim Holt [one death]

107. "The Austin Murder Case" by Jon L. Breen [2 deaths]

108. "A Pebble for Papa" by Max Allan Collins & Matthew V. Clemens [2 deaths]

109. "Beyond the Call of Beauty" by Will Murray [2 deaths]

110. "The Problem of the Tin Goose" by Edward D. Hoch [one death]

111. "I'll Never Play Detective Again" by Cornell Woolrich [2 deaths]

****************************

112. Jimmie Dale & the Blue Envelope Murder by Frank L. Packard [3 deaths] (5/1/23)

113. The Gentle Hangman by James M. Fox (Johannes Knipscheer) [2 deaths] (5/3/23)

114. Mystery of the Hidden Hand by Phyllis A. Whitney [one death] (5/7/23)

115. Death Turns the Tables by John Dickson Carr [2 deaths] (5/9/23)

116. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley [2 deaths] (5/11/23)

117. The Four False Weapons by John Dickson Carr [one death] (5/12/23)

118. The Beauty Queen Killer by John Creasey [7 deaths] (5/13/23)

119. Murder in Burgundy by Audrey Peterson [5 deaths] (5/17/23)

*****************************The following stories all come from Line-Up edited by John Rhode (5/22/23)

120. "The Sweet Shot" by E. C. Bentley (one death)

121. "Person or Things Unknown" by John Dickson Carr (3 deaths)

122. "Wireless" by Agatha Christie (one death)

123. "Death by Drowning" by Agatha Christie (one death)

124. "Too Clever by Half" by G.D.H. & M. Cole (2 deaths)

125. "The Match" by Freeman Wills Crofts (2 deaths)

126. "The Crime in Nobody's Room" by Carter Dickson (one death)

127. "A Professional Episode by Arthur Morrison (2 deaths)

128. "A Shot in the Night" by Baroness Orczy (one death)

129. "Striding Folly" by Dorothy L. Sayers (one death)

130. "The Sub-Branch" by Henry Wade [Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher] (one death)

131. "Four to One--Bar One" by Henry Wade [Aubrey-Fletcher] (4 deaths)

132. "The Perfect Close" by Hugh Walpole (one death)

******************************

133. Blackstone Fell by Martin Edwards [19 deaths] (5/23/23)

134. Murder & Blueberry Pie by Frances & Richard Lockridge [4 deaths] (5/25/23)

******************************The following stories all come from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine October 1965

135. "Flair for Murder" by Frances & Richard Lockridge [2 deaths] (5/26/23)

136. "The Course of Justice" by Hugh B. Cave [one death] (5/26/23)

137. "Jericho & the Dying Clue" by Hugh Pentecost (Judson Phillips) [2 deaths] (5/26/23)

138. "Not Easy to Kill" by Philp Wylie [2 deaths] (5/29/23)

139. "The Sound of the Peepers" by Caroline Breedlove [one death] (5/29/23)

140. "Baskets of Apples & Roses" by Victor Canning [one death] (5/29/23)

141. "Father Crumlish & the Cherub Vase" by Alice Scanlan Reach [2 deaths] (5/29/23)

142. "Grandfather & the Labor Day Mystery" by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. [one death] (5/29/23)

*****************************

143. Murder Is Suggested by Frances & Richard Lockridge [4 deaths] (6/1/23)

144. The Curriculum Murders by Marlis Day [2 deaths] (6/6/23)

145. Family Skeletons by Rett MacPherson [7 deaths] (6/7/23)

146. Murder Is Pathological by P. M. Carlson [one death] (6/8/23)

147. 52 Miles to Terror by Ruth Christoffer Carlsen & G. Robert Carlsen (6/9/23)

      "Hit & Run" by John D. MacDonald [one death]

148. "Hearse of the Speedway" by Peter Granger [5 deaths]

149. And Be a Villain by Rex Stout [4 deaths] (6/9/23)

120. Death Among Friends & Other Detective Stories by Cyril Hare [35 deaths] (6/12/23)

*****************************The following stories all come from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine July 1958

151. "Hunting Day" by Hugh Pentecost [3 deaths]

152. "Investigation by Telegram" by Agatha Christie [one death]

153. "Silent Informer" by Helen McCloy [2 deaths]

154. "The Man Who Lost His Taste" by Lawrence G. Blochman [3 deaths]

155. "An Official Position" by Somerset Maugham [one death]

156. "Lioness vs. Panther" by Q. Patrick [one death]

157. "Wanted: An Accomplice" by Frederick Nebel [one death]

158. "For Tom's Sake" by Sheila Kaye-Smith [one death]

159. "Nothing Is Impossible" by Clayton Rawson [one death]

160. "Chicago Night's Entertainment" by Ben Hecht [4 deaths]

******************************

******************************The following stories all come from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine February 1961 (6/21/23)

161. "A Winter's Tale" by Frances & Richard Lockridge [one death]

162. "A Matter of Speculation" by H. C. Bailey [3 deaths]

163. "The Rubber Doorstops" by Hugh Pentecost [4 deaths]

164. "Out of the Darkness" by Gordon R. Dickson [2 deaths]

165. "The Dead Do Not Come Back" by Jack London [one death]

166. "The Marvelous Mundo Case" by June McMahon Roy [2 deaths]

167. "The Man in the Next Cell" by Henry Slesar [one death]

*******************************

168. Murder, London--New York by John Creasey [7 deaths] (6/22/23)

169. Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers [2 deaths] (6/22/23)

170. Inspector West Kicks Off by John Creasey [5 deaths] (6/23/23)

171. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton [19 deaths] (6/29/23)

172. The Figure in the Dusk by John Creasey [9 deaths] (7/2/23)

173. The Birthday Murder by Lange Lewis [2 deaths] (7/3/23)

174. Who Cries for the Lost by C. S. Harris [13 deaths] (7/4/23)

175. The Frightened Pigeon by Richard Burke [5 deaths] (7/5/23)

176. See Also Murder by Larry D. Sweazy [8 deaths] (7/7/23)

177. Slay Bells by Eunice Mays Boyd [3 deaths] (7/7/23)

178. Juggernaut by Alice Campbell [3 deaths] (7/11/23)

179. Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott [10 deaths] (7/16/23)

180. The Final Appointment by Marcia Blair [5 deaths] (7/16/23)

181. Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers [2 deaths] (7/17/23)

182. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers [2 deaths] (7/20/23)

183. What Remains of Heaven by C. S. Harris [4 deaths] (7/23/23)

184. Where Shadows Dance by C. S. Harris [12 deaths] (7/23/23)

185. When Maidens Mourn by C. S. Harris [5 deaths] (7/24/23)

186. The Private Wound by Nicholas Blake [2 deaths] (7/25/23)

187. What Darkness Brings by C. S. Harris [12 deaths] (7/26/23)

188. The Bell in the Fog by John Stephen Strange [8 deaths] (7/29/23)

189. Why Kings Confess by C. S. Harris [11 deaths] (7/31/23)

190. The Body in the Cast by Katherine Hall Page [2 deaths] (8/1/23)

191. Ashes to Ashes by Emma Lathan (Mary Jane Latsis & Martha Henissart) [one death] (8/3/23)

192. Who Buries the Dead by C. S. Harris [6 deaths] (8/10/23)

******************The following stories all come from In the Shadow of Agatha Christie by Leslie S. Klinger, ed.

193. "The Advocate's Wedding Day" by Catherine Crowe [2 deaths]

194. "The Squire's Story" by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell [2 deaths]

195. "Traces of Crime" by Mary Fortune [one death]

196. "Mr. Furbush" by Harriet Prescott Spofford [one death]

197. "The Statement of Jared Johnson" by Geraldine Bonner [one death]

198. "Point in Morals" by Ellen Glasgow [one death]

199. "The Blood-Red Cross" by L. T. Meade & Robert Eustace [2 deaths]

200. "The Regent's Park Murder" by Baroness Orczy [one death]

201. "The Case of the Registered Letter" by Augusta Groner [4 deaths]

202. "The Winning Sequence" by M. E. Braddon [one death]

203. "Missing: Page Thirteen" by Anna Katharine Green [2 deaths]

204. "Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell [one death]

*********************

205. The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell [2 deaths] (8/13/23)

206. The Alarm of the Black Cat by D. B. Olsen/Dolores Hitchens [3 deaths] (8/14/23)

207. The Mystery of the Yellow Hands by Jake & Luke Thoene [3 deaths] (8/16/23)

208. Psycho by Robert Bloch [6 deaths] (8/18/23)

209. When Falcons Fall by C. S. Harris [13 deaths] (8/21/23)

210. The Widening Stain by W. Bolingbroke Johnson (Morris Bishop) [3 deaths] (8/24/23)

211. Where the Dead Lie by C. S. Harris [12 deaths] (8/24/23)

***********************The following stories are all from The World's Best One Hundred Detective Stories Vol. 3 by Eugene Thwing, ed (8/26/23)

212. "Naboth's Vineyard" by Melville Davisson Post [2 deaths]

213. "The Problem of the Five Marks" by Post [one death]

214. "The Inspiration" by Post [one death]

215. "The Phantom Woman" by Post [one death]

212. "The New Administration" by Post [one death]

213. "The Pigeon on the Sill" by Herman Landon [one death]

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214. Birthday Party Murder by Leslie Meier [2 deaths] (8/27/23)

215. Who Slays the Wicked by C. S. Harris [11 deaths] (8/29/23)

216. Sparkling Cyanide {Remembered Death} by Agatha Christie [2 deaths] (8/21/23)

217. The Case Against Paul Raeburn by John Creasey [4 deaths] (9/1/23)

218. The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier [5 deaths] (9/2/23)

219. Who Speaks for the Damned by C. S. Harris [10 deaths] (9/5/23)

220. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler [5 deaths] (9/9/23)

221. What the Devil Knows by C. S. Harris [24 deaths] (9/9/23)

222. Borkmann's Point by Häkan Nesser [8 deaths] (9/10/23)

223. Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie [6 deaths] (9/16/23)

224. Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson [6 deaths] (9/18/23)

225. Hemlock Hollow by Culley Holderfield [6 deaths] (9/19/23)

226. The Man in the Cellar by Palle Rosenkrantz [5 deaths] (9/20/23)

227. Who Is Simon Warwick? by Patricia Moyes [9 deaths] (9/22/23)

228. Nemesis by Agatha Christie [7 deaths] (9/23/23)

229. The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman [4 deaths] (9/28/23)

230. Depart This Life by E. X. Ferrars [5 deaths] (9/30/23)

231. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt [4 deaths] (10/2/23)

232. Murder on the Purple Water by Frances Crane [3 deaths] (10/8/23)

233. While the Clock Ticked by Franklin W. Dixon [2 deaths] (10/9/23)

234. What Happened at Hazelwood? by Michael Innes [7 deaths] (10/14/23)

235. "The Haunted Trailer" by Robert Arthur (in Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery) [2 deaths] (10/16/23)

236. "The Waxwork" by A. M. Burrage (in Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery) [one death] (10/16/23)

237. Hopjoy Was Here by Colin Watson [4 deaths] (10/17/23)

238. Death & Chicanery by Philip MacDonald [3 deaths] (10/19/23)

239. The Will of the Tribe by Arthur W. Updike [3 deaths] (10/21/23)

240. Body Blow by Kenneth Hopkins [2 deaths] (10/22/23)

241. Secret of the Old Post Box by Dorothy Sterling [one death] (10/22/23)

242. Death & the Conjuror by Tom Mead [6 deaths] (10/26/23)

243. The Floating Lady Murder by Daniel Stashower [4 deaths] (10/28/23)

244. Uncoffin'd Clay by Gladys Mitchell [3 deaths] (11/2/23)

245. Black Friday by Dave Goodis [4 deaths] (11/3/23)

246. The Red Death Murders by Jim Noy [5 deaths] (11/6/23)

247. Murder for Two by George Harmon Coxe [2 deaths] (11/9/23)

248. The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace [12 deaths] (11/10/23)

249. Fear Nothing Vol 1 by Dean Koontz [4 deaths] (11/12/23)

250. Only the Good by Mary Collins [11 deaths] (11/12/23)

251. You'll Be the Death of My by Miriam Lynch [2 deaths] (11/13/23)

252. The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien [5 deaths] (11/16/23)

253. Death of a Doll by Hilda Lawrence [one death] (11/17/23)

254. A Most Efficient Murder by Anthony Slayton [7 deaths] (11/18/23)

255. Vultures in the Sky by Todd Downing [6 deaths] (11/22/23)

256. The Professor Knits a Shroud by Wirt Van Arsdale [4 deaths] (11/26/23)

257. Murder in Mayfair by D. M. Quincy [4 deaths] (11/29/23)

258. Murder in Bloomsbury by D. M. Quincy [2 deaths] (11/30/23)

259. The Toff & the Runaway Bride by John Creasey [2 deaths] (12/2/23)

260. The Mystery of the Silver Spider by Robert Arthur [one death] (12/3/23)

261. Murder on Fifth Avenue by Michael Jahn [3 deaths] (11/6/23)

262. Sound of Revelry by Octavus Roy Cohen [5 deaths] (12/10/23)

263. Blind Man's Bluff by Baynard Kendrick [4 deaths] (12/12/23--finished; review coming 12/16/23 for ROY Awards)

264. The Mistletoe Murder & Other Stories by P. D. James [10 deaths] (12/20/23)

265. The Quest of the Missing Map by Carolyn Keene [3 deaths] (12/22/23)

266. Murder Is a Collector's Item by Elizabeth Dean [3 deaths] (12/30/23)

267. The Secret in the Old Attic by Carolyn Keene [2 deaths] (12/30/23)

268.