Book Challenge by Erin 22.0

 

Book Challenge by Erin 22.0 

First and foremost, have fun. Don't stress. No one is being judged, graded, or penalized. Even if you finish only one book the entire challenge, if you enjoy it and it's an accomplishment for you, then that's awesome.

The challenge runs from January 1, 2025 - April 30, 2025. You submit your book list prior to beginning the challenge. Exchanges are accepted for the first round, but not in the bonus round (announced later). No books started before 12 a.m. on January 1 or finished after 11:59 p.m. on April 30 will count. (We live in different time zones--follow according to your own time zone.) Each book must be at least 200 pages long. Audio books are fine too. Read one book for each category. For full details see Erin's page on Facebook (link above). You will need to join the private group to view.

Categories:

*5 points: Freebie (a book at least 200 pages): Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective by Leslie Thomas (285 pages)

*10 points: Book you intended to read in 2024 but didn't get to it (or added to your TBR in 2024): Murder in Williamstown by Kerry Greenwood (288 pages)

*10 points: Book with main character who is an artist (performer, writer, musician, dancer): The Art School Murders by Moray Dalton (214 pages)

*15 points: Book with picture of sunset/sunrise on cover: Behold a Fair Woman by Francis Duncan (336 pages)

*20 points (chosen by Ashley NL): Book recommended by book clubs of *Jenna Bush, Oprah Winfrey, or Reese Witherspoon: The Cloisters by Katy Hays (312 pages)

*20 points (chosen by Dani D): Book whose title starts with "I": Inquest by Henrietta Clandon (207 pages)

*25 points: Book with specific city/town name in title: Capital Crimes: London Mysteries by Martin Edwards, ed. (416 pages)

*30 points: Book with a female villain: The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge (492 pages)

*30 points: Book written by author with first name Erin or surname Gray: The Book of Killowen by Erin Hart (332 pages)

*35 points (chosen by Joanna D): Book about climate change/climate fiction: The Last Resort by Michael Kaufman (266 pages)

Eight Detectives

 Eight Detectives (2020) by Alex Pavesi

Grant McAllister was a mathematician in the 1930s with an interest in murder mysteries. He determined that all murder mysteries follow a simple set of rules that could be explained as a mathematical formula. He wrote a scholarly paper about it and then put together a set of short stories titled The White Murders with seven examples of the "permutations of murder" (as he called them). The book sold modestly during the boom years of the Golden Age of mysteries but never reached the fame that McAllister hoped for. The book fell out of publication and Grant McAllister disappeared.

Years later, Julia Hart is on a mission to find him. When she tracks him to a Mediterranean cottage, she sends him a letter from Blood Type Books, a publisher that, after discovering an original copy of The White Murders, would like to bring out a new, annotated edition of his only mystery work. He invites her to visit and as they work through the stories together, she realizes that there are more mysteries here than just those on the written page. McAllister is an older man, but is he really so old that he's forgotten how/when/why he came to write the stories? And why are there references to a real unsolved murder throughout the book--not least the title itself? And who exactly is/was Francis Gardner? 

For the most part, this seems to be a love it or hate it kind of book. There are a few reviews out there that hit the middle of the road, but not many. Personally, I love it--with two qualifications. I think it's a very clever twist on the classic murder mystery. It takes tropes from the Golden Age and gives them a little whirl. I enjoyed the way the story was framed and that there are mysteries surrounding the mysteries and even when you think Pavesi has twisted things round as much as possible, there is one more up his sleeve. My only qualifications--First, Pavesi is obviously well-versed in his Agatha Christie. So much so that he steals the plot of two of her most famous stories. One practically point for point. Yes, there is a twist in the tale that is clever* (see below for a spoiler point), but I'm not in favor of this kind of poaching. Second, as the Puzzle Doctor points out in his review, the short stories within the story have a pretty modern feel for work that was supposedly written in the 1930s. But neither of these qualifications kept me from enjoying myself thoroughly. There is a lot to like for those who enjoy classic mysteries--if only to spot the tropes that have appeared in stories actually written during the Golden Age.  ★★★★

SPOILER AREA

*Just a couple of spoilerish points: I am curious, however, to know how the Colonel's wife plans to get away with the only murder that wasn't part of the original ten. Is she going to plead ignorance--that her husband opened that drawer and fell prey to a booby-trap that neither or them knew was there? Oh--and for a man who had served in the army, he seems awfully squeamish about danger and bodies and such....

First line: The two suspects sat on mismatched furniture in the white and almost featureless lounge, waiting for something to happen.

Last line: But in his soaked white suit he looked like a snowman, already starting to melt.
*********************

Deaths = 31 (four stabbed; four poisoned; seven natural; four fell from height; one drowned; seven strangled/asphyxiated; one hanged; one hit on head; two burned to death)

Jane Withers & the Phantom Violin

 Jane Withers & the Phantom Violin (1943) by Roy J. Snell

Jane Withers and her friends Jeanne and Greta head to the shoreline in the boundary waters just this side of the Canadian border and find the ideal place to stay--a wrecked boat called the Pilgrim that a helpful young man named Sven helps them fix up enough to shelter them. Greta has been sent north for the crystal clear air to help her with hayfever. She's supposed to be resting--if climbing all over the ridge on the shore for adventurous funsies can be called resting. But the girls soon find themselves in the middle of mysteries--ranging from a black schooner with diving men to hauntingly beautiful violin music that drifts down from the ridge (which is supposed to be uninhabited). Of course, they can't resist a mystery and set out to discover what's happening.

If this book is any indication, Snell couldn't plot his way out of a wet paper bag. At least not if it had to be one plot that made complete sense. There is just too much going on in this one--it's as if Snell couldn't make up his mind between about four different mysteries and decided to use them all. There is the mysterious black schooner with men diving in the water and trying to climb on board the wreck where Jane and her friends are staying, there's the "headhunter/poacher, there's the mysterious violin music, and there's the girls' fixation on a buried barrel of gold (an idea which just suddenly pops into Jane's head out of nowhere). And there are more mysteries that pop up along the way just for fun. He jumps from scene to scene and even from one day to the next without warning. It isn't easy to keep up with him.And then there are the girls...None of them have ever been to the area before, but they blythely go off alone into the wilderness and even though they may tumble down ridges or into abandoned copper mines, they magically find their way back to their latest camp or the boat or wherever it is they came from.

Then there is our star, Jane. Jane is contradictory in the extreme--one moment she's all for heading up the ridge and searching for adventures and answers to the various mysteries that have popped up and then when Greta mentions something mysterious that she's obsverved while off wandering alone (as one does in the strange wilderness where one has never been), Jane dismisses it. Greta thinks she's seen a kidnapping. Jane says the people involved could be perfect little law-abiding citizens and they shouldn't disturb them. 

There are so many loose threads left over when this book screeches to a halt that I'm not sure I could even tell you how many of the mysteries are solved. The source of the mysterious music--yes. Exactly why the black schooner had men diving in the water and who was behind it--no. I'm not sure why this book leapt off the local library's used bookstore shelf and insisted I needed to bring it home. I had no idea who Jane Withers was at the time--an American actress who was a child star around the same time as Shirley Temple--so that wasn't the draw. Maybe just the idea of a phantom violin? I don't know, but I don't feel like it lived up to whatever promise I saw in it six years ago. ★★

First line: "Jane! They saw me!"

Last line: That which remained they placed in the bank, a treasure hoard to be spent, in part, at least, on some future adventure.

Scarhaven Keep (spoilers)

 Scarhaven Keep (1920) by J. S. Fletcher

Bassett Oliver, renowned actor and theatrical producer, is also known for his strict adherence to schedule. So, when he is half an hour late for the first rehearsal at the Theatre Royal in Norcaster, it throws his business manager Mr. Stafford into a bigger tizzy than one might expect. But Oliver has never been late for anything. Ever. The theatrical company had come into Norcaster over the weekend from their previous engagement at Northborough. Oliver's usual plan when engagements are in towns fairly close together is to travel by car and stop somewhere along the way that has interesting sights. His journey this time would have taken him along the coast--along a portion of the coast that could be very dangerous for someone unfamiliar with the terrain.

Also on hand is Richard Copplestone, a young playwright whom Oliver had just telegraphed to say he would produce his play. A meeting had been set at the Royal for Monday as well. Copplestone volunteers to go with Stafford in an attempt to retrace Oliver's steps. They fear an accident, but hope to find the actor alive. The trail leads them to the village of Scarhaven and it seems to end at Scarhaven Keep. The Keep is the home of Marston Greyle, newly-made squire of the manor who had spent his formative years in the United States. Oliver was heard to say that he had met a Marston Greyle while on tour in the States and planned to see visit the Keep and see if his Greyle and the new sauire were one and the same. Greyle claims he never arrived...and no one has seen Oliver since he started up the trail to the Keep.

Oliver's brother comes to the area and immediately fears the worst...and believes Scarhaven Keep to hold the answers. He asks Copplestone to stay in the village and "listen without seeming to listen and observe without seeming to observe." Copplestone has already developed an interest in the case (as well as Greyle's impoverished cousin, Audrey Greyle) and is more than happy to comply. He soon discovers that Marston Greyle is under the thumb of his estate manager (fears him, no less) and finds a web of motives and characters that may explain Oliver's disappearance. But is he dead--and, if so, how did he die?

Spoilers ahead! I can't really talk about my reaction without them...read at your own risk.

So--this mystery really falls more in the suspense/adventure category than well-plotted mystery. There is lots of intrigue, skulduggery, and jiggery-pokery going on. There are secrets and plots and a dose of attempted theft. I thoroughly enjoyed Copplestone and his involvement. The first few chapters when he and Stafford were playing detectives and tracking down Oliver were good, but then it took a deep dive into adventure and "let's throw the rules out the window." Oliver dies--but no one gets the blame because it's supposedly not a murder. The villains try to swindle Audrey and her mother out of their just inheritance--but everything is returned and we're not going to fuss over it. The villains of the piece get away and one of them even gets a nice pension out of it and we're all supposed to be happy. Well...I'm not. I feel cheated. No real murder. No real justice. So the ending just kind of falls flat. ★★ and 1/2

First line: Jeremy, thirty years' stage-door keeper at the Theatre Royal, Norcaster, had come to regard each successive Monday morning as a time for the renewal of old acquaintances.

Last line:"[Redacted]! Sublimely ungrateful that he isn't in Dartmoor!"
******************

Deaths =  4 (three natural; one fell from height)

Murder Every Monday: Carried Away by Emotion

 

Kate at Cross Examining Crime hosts a fun mystery cover game on Instagram called Murder Every Monday. Our assignment, should we choose to accept it, is to display book covers and titles from books you own that meet prompts which she posts well in advance (see link). 

 

Today's theme is title with an emotion--one of the driving forces of murder.

The Sad Variety ~Nicholas Blake

Sad Cypress ~Agatha Christie

Unhappy Returns ~Elizabeth Lemarchand

The Case of the Unhappy Angels ~Geoffrey Homes

Unhappy Hooligan ~Stuart Palmer

The Happy Birthday Murder ~Lee Harris

The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligan ~Stuart Palmer

Happy Returns ~Manning Coles

The Happy Valley Mystery ~Kathryn Kenney

The Happy Highwayman ~Leslie Charteris

The Case of the Angry Mourner ~Erle Stanley Gardner

Troubled Journey ~Richard Lockridge

Kill Joy ~Elisabeth Sanxay Holding

Fear & Miss Betony ~Dorothy Bowers

Fear to Tread ~Michael Gilbert

A Sudden, Fearful Death ~Anne Perry

The Valley of Fear ~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Fellowship of Fear ~Aaron J. Elkins

Bachelors Get Lonely ~A. A. Fair

Trial by Fury ~Craig Rice

Trial by Fury ~E. X. Ferrars

The Thomas Street Horror ~Raymond Paul

The West End Horror ~Nicholas Meyer

Terror in Times Square ~Alan Handley

The Terror of the Handless Corpse ~William Dale

Rim of Terror ~Hildegarde Tolman Teilhet

A Comedy of Terrors ~Michael Innes

DeKok & Murder in Ecstasy ~A. J. Baantjer 

Death in Ecstasy ~Ngaio Marsh

Rebecca's Pride ~Donald McNutt Douglass

Ruling Passion ~Reginald Hill

Panic in Box C ~John Dickson Carr

Panic ~Helen McCloy

A Surprise for Christmas ~Martin Edwards, ed

Surprise! Surprise! ~Agatha Christie

Beverly Gray's Surprise ~Clair Blank

The Burden of Guilt ~Ian Gordon

Guilt Edged ~W. J. Burley

Please Pass the Guilt ~Rex Stout

Thrilling Stories of the Railway ~Victor L. Whitechurch

The Frightened Wife ~Mary Roberts Rinehart

The Frightened Stiff ~Kelley Roos

Stories Not for the Nervous ~Alfred Hitchcock (as edited by)

The Mystery of the Nervous Lion ~Nick West

Miss Withers Regrets ~Stuart Palmer

Make Death Love Me ~Ruth Rendell

To Love & Be Wise ~Josephine Tey

All for the Love of a Lady ~Leslie Ford

Only in Books

 Only in Books (1996) by J. Kevin Graffagnino

From a child...all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out on books. ~Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Absolutely. 100%. From the time I was earning an allowance, I would drag my parents to bookstores and the book sections of stores and eagerly hand over my hard-earned cash for books. When I was old enough to walk downtown by myself (much younger than today's parents would even think about...), I would go to Mason's Rare & Used Bookstore during happy hour (for half-price books!) and stumble home with as many as I could carry. I had a library card of my own at the earliest age I could get one and, again, would take home as many as I could carry. Need I say it? I love books.

This book of quotations is meant for those of us who love books, the written word, and the bookstores and libraries that contain them. It is full of quotations about books, book lovers, and collectors Quotes about bookstores, libraries, and publishing houses. Quotes about authors, editors, and critics. If it's about books in way at all, there's a quote in here about it. And if there's anything I like almost as much as I like books, it's a good quote. And if it's a quote about books and/or bookish things, even better. So, when the local library was purging reference books, this was one of the books of quotations that came home with me. ★★★★

First bookish quote: In every University of character, the library is regarded as of fundamental importance. ~Charles Kendall Adams (1835-1902)

Last bookish quote: The minute arrived when with bated breath, I read that the publisher had decided to publish my book and even stipulated an option for later ones. The package with the first set of proofs came and was untied in great excitement, so as to see the type, the type-page, the very embryo of the book, and then, after a few weeks, the book itself, the first copies. One never tired of looking at them, touching them, comparing them, again and again and again. And then the childish visites to the bookstores to see if copies were already on display, whether they were resplendent in the center of the shop or hidden bashfully at the side. And then to await the first letter, the first notices, the first reply from the unknown, the incalculable. I secretly envy the young man all his suspense, excitement and enthusiasm, who casts his first book into the world. ~Stefan Zweig (1881-1942)

The 52 Book Club 2025

 

I'm back for another round of Liz's reading challenge at The 52 Book Club. Hers is a low-key challenge, so there is no pressure to fulfill all 52 categories I'm setting a personal goal of 26. I may read more that fit the categories, but at 26 I can claim my challenge goal fulfilled. Several times in the past I've managed to pull off all 52--so who knows, maybe I'll get there again. I'll list some tentative selections below and update as needed.

1. Pun in the Title: No Police Like Holmes by Dan Andriacco

2. Character with Red Hair: The Corpse with the Red-Headed Friend by R. A. J. Walling

3. Title starts with Letter "M":

4. Title starts with Letter "N":

5. Plot Includes a Heist: Still as Death by Sarah Stewart Taylor

6. Genre 1 Set in Spring:

7. Genre 2 Set in Summer:

8. Genre 3 Set in Autumn:

9. Genre 4 Set in Winter:

10. Author's Last Name is a First Name: Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective by Leslie Thomas

11. A Prequel: Death Cloud: Sherlock Holmes the Legend Begins by Andrew Lane (library)

12. Moon on Cover:

13. Title Is Ten Letters or Less: Mortal Term by John Penn

14. Climate Fiction: The Last Resort by Michael Kaufman (library)

15. Includes Latin American History

16. Author Has Won an Edgar: The Cipher Garden (or other book) by Martin Edwards

17. Told in Verse:

18. Character Who Can Fly: The Man Who Didn't Fly by Margot Bennett 

19. Has Short Chapters

20. Fairy Tale Retelling: Poisoned Apples: Poems For You, My Pretty by Christine Heppermann (library)

21. Character's Name in Title: Dead Mrs. Stratton by Anthony Berkeley

22. Found Family Trope

23. Sprayed Edge: The Benson Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine

24. Title Is a Spoiler: The Death of Lucy Kyte by Nicola Upson

25. Breaks the Fourth Wall: 

26. More Than a Million Copies Sold: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (over 50 million sold)

27. Features a Magician: Death from a Top Hat by Clayton Rawson

28. Crossover (Set in Shared Universe):

29. Shares Universe with Prompt 28:

30. In the Public Domain:

31. Audiobook Has Multiple Narrators:

32. Includes a Diary Entry:

33. Standalone Novel

34. Direction in the Title:

35. Written in the Third Person:

36. Final Sentence Less Than Six Words Long:

37. Genre Chosen for You by Someone Else:

38. Adventure Story:

39. Has an Epigraph:

40. Stream of Consciousness Narrative (YIKES): Tarantula by Bob Dylan (library)

41. Cover Font In Primary Color:

42. Non-Human Antagonist: 

43. Explores Social Class: 

44. Celebrity on Cover:

45. Author Releases More Than One Book a Year: The Feathered Serpent by Edgar Wallace

46. Read During a "-Ber" Month:

47. "I Think It Was Blue":

48. Related to Word Puzzle: Puzzle in Porcelain by Robin Grey (Elizabeth Gresham)

49. Set in Country With Active Volcano:

50.  Set in the 1940s

51.  300-400 Pages Long:

52. Published in 2025: Who Will Remember by C. S. Harris

2025 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge

 

Kim & Tanya have posted their 2025 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge. Click on the link for full details. For this challenge each month is assigned a motif or theme. The task is to read one book each month that fits the motif...I will list my tentative choices below.

January: Who Killed Robert Prentice? by Dennis Wheately; Sherlock Holmes: Fact or Fiction? by T. S. Blakeney; Or Was He Pushed? by Richard Lockridge

February: The Book of the Dead by Preston & Child; 

March: The Silver Peril by Maryse Rutledge; The Follower by Patrick Quentin (mining engineer); Journey into Fear by Eric Ambler (arms engineer); Dragon's Island by Jack Williamson (genetic engineering)

April: TBR on pile more than 2 years

May: TBD

June: The Talk Show Murders by Steve Allen; Cool Repententence by Antonia Fraser; Benefit Performance by Richard Sale; A Dark Coffin by Gwendoline Butler; Murder, Murder, Little Star by Marian Babson

July: action takes place in a single day

August: book takes place in England

September: Panic in Paradise by Alan Amos; Poppy Ott & the Stuttering Parrot by Leo Edwards; Crows Can't Count by A. A. Fair; The Mystery of the Blue Pelican by Eileen Hill; the Avengers: Dead Duck by Patrick Macnee; The Case of the Talking Bug by The Gordons

October: Karen Baugh Menuhin book (all have black covers)

November: TBD

December: The Ghost & Mrs. Jeffries by Emily Brightwell; Murder in the Mystery Suite by Ellery Adams

2025 Key Word Reading Challenge

 

It's time to start thinking about a new year of the Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge sponsored by Kim & Tanya at Chapter Adventure. Just read one book per month with one of the key words in the title. This is one of my favorite challenges. Click on the link for full details. Hope you'll join me! Possible titles listed below.

January: House of Storm by Eberhart; Time to Kill by Miriam Lynch; Nightmare Time by Hugh Pentecost; A Time to Die by Hilda Lawrence; The Hour Before Midnight by Velda Johnston; Death Knows No Calendar by John Bude; The Escher Twist by Jane Langton; Happy Returns by Manning Coles; The Price of Silence by Kate Wilhelm

February: The Golden Spiders by Rex Stout; Golden Ashes by Freeman Wills Crofts; The Dream Doctor by Arthur B. Reeve; First Hit of the Season by Jane Dentinger; The Club of Queer Trades by G. K. Chesterton

March: The Sleep Is Deep by Hugh Lawrence Nelson; The Clever One by Edgar Wallace; The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey; Murder, Murder, Little Star by Marian Babson; The Wedding Guest Sat on a Stone by Richard Shattuck

April: Pilgrim's Rest by Patricia Wentworth; Ten Days' Wonder by Ellery Queen; Days of Misfortune by Aaron Marc Stein; The Case of the Singing Skirt by Erle Stanley Gardner

May: Indiana Jones & the Lost Treasure of Sheba by Rose Estes; Lost Lady by Octavus Roy Cohen; A City of Strangers by Robert Barnard; Winds of Evil by Arthur W. Upfield; Murder Clear, Track Fast by Judson Philips

June: Great Cases of the Thinking Machine by Jacques Futrelle; The Great Mistake by Mary Roberts Rinehart; A Child's Garden of Death by Richard Forrest; Murder by the Book by Rex Stout; Murder by the Book ed. by Cynthia Manson

July: Sunrise by Grace Livingston Hill; Sweet Poison by David Roberts; Sweet & Low by Emma Lathen; The Last Resort by Van Siller; A Very Good Hater by Mary Challis; Murder on the Left Bank by Elliot Paul

August: The Blind Side by Patricia Wentworth; The Player on the Other Side by Ellery Queen; The World's Best 100 Detective Stories Vol. Five ed. by Eugene Thwing; Sound Evidence by June Thomson; The Trial of Scotland Yard by Stuart Martin; The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

September: Borrowed Crime by William Irish; Murder Listens In by Elizabeth Daly; Guilt Is Where You Find It by Baynard Kendrick; The Sleeping Tiger by Dominic Devine; Murder, Maestro, Please by Delano Ames

October: Bury Me Deep by Harold Q. Masur;The Ghost of Dibble Hollow by May Nickerson Wallace; Error of the Moon by Sara Woods; Mystery of the Mooncusser by Eleanore Myers Jewett; Death in Harley Street by John Rhode

November: Murder by the Tale by Dell Shannon; The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett; The Final Ring by Marcia Blair; Murder on the Cliffs by Joanna Challis

December: The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop by Gladys Mitchell: The Dead of Winter by Rennie Airth; Dead of Winter by Christopher Hale; Death Warmed Over by Mary Collins; Murder Loves Company by John Mersereau; My True Love Lies by Lenore Glen Offord

2025 Mystery Marathon

 

Last year Rick over at the Mystillery decided that we needed to stretch our mystery-reading muscles and start training for a Mystery Marathon. [Full disclosure: I've been in training for this since my mom introduced me to Nancy Drew.] For each marathon we need to read at least 26 mystery books plus one short story. It looks like I'll finish five marathons in 2024, but I'm going to keep my goal at one--and at that point I can claim my personal challenge complete--even though I may keep running.

Marathon 1

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

Short Story: 

2025 Six Shooter Mystery Reading Challenge

 

I'm heading out to the shooting range again with Rick and his Six Shooter Mystery Reading Challenge in 2025. The goal is pretty straight-forward--read six books on the same target (by the same author) to complete your round. Any targets started in 2024 but not yet complete will carry over to the new year, so Rick's page won't be fully ready to go for a while. But you can check out the current details at the link above.

As with his other challenges, Rick doesn't ask for a commitment. But I will set a personal goal in order to claim the challenge complete for 2025. I've been setting it at four targets--and I will be aiming for the same in the new year.  Most likely targets will include Agatha Christie, the Lockridges, and Carolyn Keene. Other authors TBD.

Target 1

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Target 2

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Target 3

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Target 4

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

2025 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 and the Mystery Marathon. I, having no self-control when it comes to challenges--especially mystery-related challenges, will--of course--sign up for all three. For full details, check out the link above after the new year starts. 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 doesn't prove too difficult--so, there should be plenty of toe tags signed by "Quincy" Hankins at the Mystillery Morgue.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

2025 Read It Again, Sam--My Sign-Up

 

I don't do a lot of re-reading, but it does seem that I wind up with at least a handful each year. So, I'm going to sign up for my Read It Again, Sam Challenge again.
 
There are several levels (below) and the full rules may be found at the link above.
Déjà vu: Reread 4 books  
Feeling Nostalgic: Reread 8 books
A Trip Down Memory Lane: Reread 12 books  
Living in the Past: Reread 16+ books

I'm just going to go for Déjà vu: Reread 4 books. If I find myself doing more rereads, then I'll level up.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Déjà vu

2025 Calendar of Crime--My Sign-Up

 

As I mention elsewhere, mysteries are my genre of choice. So, I have little difficulty filling up my calendar with all sorts of mysterious dates and dastardly deeds. The goal--to read one month-related mystery book per month for a total of twelve books. See link at the Calendar of Crime for details and a link to the monthly prompts.

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

2025 Color Coded Challenge--My Sign-Up

 

Every year I think I've used up my last title with "Brown" (or a shade of brown) for the Color Coded Reading Challenge and every year I prove myself wrong (or buy more books with suitable titles). I'll keep signing up as long as I have suitable titles or author's name (I don't plan on ever using cover color...).

Here's the basic rule: read nine books with the various colors listed below in their titles, the author's name, or as a dominant color/image on their covers. For full details, click the link above. I'll list my books and date read as they come.

1. Read book with "Blue" (or a shade of blue):

2. Read a book with "Red" (or a shade of red):

3. Read a book with "Yellow" (or a shade of yellow):

 
4. Read a book with "Green" (or a shade of green):

5. Read a book with "Brown" (or a shade of brown):

 

6. Read a book with "Black" (or a shade of black):

7. Read a book with "White" (or a shade of white): 

8. Read a book with any other color:

9. Read a book a word/image that implies color (rainbow, polka dot, etc): 

2025 Reading by the Numbers Challenge--My Sign-Up

 

The Reading by the Numbers Challenge is the reading challenge at its most basic--just track everything you read. Anything counts--graphic novels or comic books, hard copy, e-books, audio novels, etc. If it is a book, it counts. And although the covers shown in the challenge image are all mysteries, you may read from any and all genres that interest you. Just set a goal and when January 1 comes around, start reading.

For the last two years, I've set my goal at 150 and I'm going to stick with it for 2025. Hopefully, I'll rack up more than that. But with 150 I can claim the challenge complete.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

2025 Virtual Mount TBR Challenge--My Sign-Up

 

Every year my goal is to read from my own stacks (hence the original Mount TBR Challenge). And every year I decide that there are TBR books that I don't own that I just have to Read. So--with my Virtual Mount TBR Challenge, I get to count that mountain too. As per usual, I'm starting with Rum Doodle and, hopefully, I won't get too carried away with library books. Though it would be nice to say that I've climbed the steps to Vulcan's Mount Seleya....

Click to enlarge

If you have tons of books on your want to read list that you don't own, then please join me as we tackle fictional mountains in the TBR world. Just click on the link above.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

Rum Doodle