Half-Time! Second Quarter Reading on the Block

 

Since I started out behind on reporting on my reading this year, I've decided to stick with my quarterly reading round-up. Don't mind the marching band and its half-time show, lets just focus on the statistics. In the past I have done a monthly round-up with statistics and handed out a Pick of the Month (POM) Award to the best mystery read. Let's take a look at the overall stats for the quarter and then we'll see who the big winners for each month are for mystery fiction and hand out those sparkly P.O.M.

Total Books Read for the Quarter: 57 (up 12 over the first quarter results)

  ~I'm a still bit behind my pace for last year. By the end of June 2022, I had read 129 books. This year I'm sitting on 105. 

Total Pages: 13,883

Average Rating: 3.5 stars

Top Rating: 5 stars

Percentage by Female Authors: 42%

Percentage by Male Authors: 44%

Percentage by both Female & Male Authors: 14%

Percentage by US Authors: 58%

Percentage by Non-US/Non-British Authors: 9%

Percentage Mystery: 65%

Percentage Fiction: 91%

Percentage Written 2000+: 40%

Percentage Rereads: 14%

Percentage Read for Challenges: 100% (it's easy when you do as many challenges as I do)

Number of Challenges Complete: 15 (27%)

Mysteries Read

The Mammoth Book of Roaring Twenties Whodunnits by Mike Ashley, ed. (3 stars)

52 Miles to Terror by Ruth Christoffer Carlsen & G. Robert Carlsen (2.5 stars)

Murder Is Pathological by P. M. Carlson (3.5 stars)

Death Turns the Tables by John Dickson Carr (4 stars)

The Four False Weapons by John Dickson Carr (4 stars)

The Beauty Queen Killer by John Creasey (2 stars)

Inspector West Kicks Off by John Creasey (4 stars)

Murder, London--New York by John Creasey (3 stars)

The Curriculum Murders by Marlis Day (2 stars)

And So to Murder by Carter Dickson (4 stars)

Nine--And Death Makes Ten by Carter Dickson (4 stars)

Gone West by Carola Dunn (3 stars)

Blackstone Fell by Martin Edwards (4.5 stars)

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (2 stars)

The Gentle Hangman by James M. Fox (3 stars)

Death Among Friends & Other Detective Stories by Cyril Hare (4 stars)

Where Serpents Sleep by C. S. Harris (4 stars)

Pride of the Peacock by Victoria Holt (3 stars)

Murder & Blueberry Pie by Frances & Richard Lockridge (3 stars)

Murder Is Suggested by Frances & Richard Lockridge (4 stars)

Family Skeletons by Rett MacPherson (3 stars)

Murder in Miniatures by Sam Merwin, Jr. (3 stars)

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton (3 stars)

Jimmie Dale & the Blue Envelope Murder by Frank L. Packard (3.5 stars)

Murder in Burgundy by Audrey Peterson (3 stars)

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine July 1958 by Ellery Queen, ed (4 stars)

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Feb 1961 by Ellery Queen, ed (2 stars)

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Oct 1965 edited by Clayton Rawson (4 stars)

Death Demands an Audience by Helen Reilly (3.5 stars)

Line-Up by John Rhode, ed (4 stars)

Speakers of the Dead by J. Aaron Sanders (2.5 stars)

Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers (5 stars)

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield (2.5 stars)

And Be a Villain by Rex Stout (4 stars)

Fatal Enquiry by Will Thomas (3.5 stars)

Mystery of the Hidden Hand by Phyllis A. Whitney (3 stars)

Inquest by Percival Wilde (4 stars)

Danger at the Drawbridge by Mildred A. Wirt (3 stars)

Silent Witness by Margaret Yorke (3 stars)

This year I'm going to try very hard to stick to my no repeat/reread winners policy. It may be difficult--and if doing so means I'll be awarding a POM to book that earned three stars or less then I may have to break policy. If that policy were not in place, then our clear winners for May and June would be Blackstone Fell by Martin Edwards and Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers. Both authors are very deserving...perhaps I should think about establishing a Hall of Fame for obvious repeat winners...

In April we had several four-star winners including two by Carter Dickson (John Dickson Carr) and one by C.S. Harris who are previous POM recipients. That leaves us with Inquest by Percival Wilde. This is an interesting and unusual book. It is entirely set at the coroner's inquest--not a courtroom trial--just the inquest. The only thing we're supposed to determine is how the deceased came by his death--was he shot, did he die of heart failure, sudden apoplexy, or, as has been suggested at the very beginning, a "shock to the nervous system"? For a very long time, it appears that Wilde is merely giving us a commentary on early 20th Century American justice (or miscarriages thereof). We see how (apparently) little towns where everyone knows everyone and officials are either in someone's pocket or have people in their pocket. There is a lot of good local color and Ben Willett is an absolute hoot to listen to. I very much appreciated that our coroner is much shrewder and on the lookout for justice (in its truest sense) than first appears. It was also interesting to have all evidence and clues brought forth in the ramblings of the witnesses at the inquest.

May found Martin Edwards' Blackstone Fell leading the pack with 4.5 stars and John Dickson Carr close behind with two more 4-star winners. Our only newcomer was Line-Up, a short story collection edited by John Rhode. This line-up includes several non-fiction pieces among the collection of short stories. Two of the non-fiction essays are interesting and this is a fairly strong collection of short stories by members of the Detection Club. I am quite sure it was welcomed with open arms by the reading public in the 1940s, especially since this anthology was the first appearance of these stories in anthology form. 

And now for June's POM winner. Dorothy L. Sayers snapped up one of the few 5 star ratings of the year with Busman's Honeymoon and was followed by fellow previous POM awardees, Francis & Richard Lockridge and Cyril Hare with 4 stars. Other 4-star winners include Rex Stout's And Be a Villain and Inspector West Kicks Off by John Creasey. Even though I enjoyed the Creasey novel a lot more than the other recent Inspector West novels, I'm hoping he has an even better one up his sleeve (and on my TBR shelves)--so I'm going to keep him waiting a bit longer for his POM. Which means, the final winner for this quarter is And Be a Villain by Stout. This was a particularly good visit to the brownstone because I listened to the story as read by Michael Prichard and he does such an admirable job with Archie's voice. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to most of the mystery on my road trip home to my parents' house and back. The radio program setting was good and I really had a good time listening to Archie's method for bringing Nancylee and her mother to see Nero Wolfe. Very clever, Archie. Stout had me fooled on the culprit until just before the big wrap-up scene in Wolfe's office. But I got there just in time. As Wolfe would say, "Satisfactory."