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. The Devil's Flute Murders by Seishi Yokomizo [11 deaths] (1/5/25)

2. The Price of Silence by Kate Wilhelm [9 deaths] (1/10/25)

3. Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective by Leslie Thomas [4 deaths] (1/11/25)

4. The Deadly Truth by Helen McCloy [4 deaths] (1/15/25)

5. The Art School Murders by Moray Dalton [4 deaths] (1/20/25)

6. The Cloisters by Katy Hays [6 deaths] (1/24/25)

7. Poison for Teacher by Nancy Spain [4 deaths] (1/31/25)

8. The Book of Killowen by Erin Hart [6 deaths] (2/4/25)

9. The Girl from the Mimosa Club by Leslie Ford [one death] (2/6/25) 

************The following are from Capital Crimes by Martin Edwards, ed (2/10/25)

10. "A Mystery of the Underground" by John Oxenham (6 deaths)

11. "The Finchley Puzzle" by Richard Marsh (3 deaths)

12. "The Magic Casket" by R. Austin Freeman (3 deaths)

13. "The Holloway Flat Tragedy" by Ernest Bramah (2 deaths)

14. "The Magician of Cannon Street" by J. S. Fletcher (2 deaths)

15. "The Stealer of Marble" by Edgar Wallace (one death)

16. "The Tea Leaf" by Robert Eustace & Edgar Jepson (one death)

17. "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" by Thomas Burke (4 named)

18. "The Little House" by H. C. Bailey (one death)

19. "Wind in the East" by Henry Wade [Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher] (one death)

20. "The Avenging Chance" by Anthony Berkeley (one death)

21. "The Unseen Door" by Margery Allingham([one death)

22. "Cheese" by Ethel Lina White (one death)

23. "You Can't Hang Twice" by Anthony Gilbert [Lucy Beatrice Malleson] (2 deaths)

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

Commitment Met! Still Reading!

24. The Last Resort by Michael Kaufman [5 deaths] (2/13/25)

25. Murder in Williamstown by Kerry Greenwood [2 deaths] (2/15/25)

26. "Inquest" by Henrietta Clandon [2 deaths] (2/21/25)

27. Deadly Is the Diamond by Mignon G. Eberhart [4 deaths] (2/22/25)

28. Murder on the Orient Express: The Graphic Novel by Agatha Christie/Bob Al-Greene [4 deaths] (2/22/25)

29. Death in Shallow Water by Miles Burton [6 deaths] (2/24/25)

30. Behold a Fair Woman by Francis Duncan [3 deaths] (2/25/25)

***************The following are from Bodies from the Library 5 by Tony Medawar, ed (3/2/25)

31. "The Predestined" by Q. Patrick (2 deaths)

32. "Villa for Sale" by Ellis Peters (one death)

33. "Sugar-Plum Killer" by Michael Gilbert (one death)

34. "Vacancy with Corpse" by Anthony Boucher (2 deaths)

35. "Where Do We Go From Here?" by Dorothy L. Sayers (2 deaths)

36. "Benefit of the Doubt" by Anthony Berkeley (one death)

37. "The Pressure of Circumstance" by J. J. Connington (2 deaths)

38. "The Riddle of the Cabin Cruiser" by John Dickson Carr (one death)

39. "Skeleton in the Cupboard" by Ianthe Jerrold (2 deaths)

40. "The Year & the Day" by Edmund Crispin (2 deaths)

41. "Murder in Montparnasse" by John Bude (2 deaths)

42. "The Thistle Down" by H. C. Bailey (one death)

43. "The Magnifying Glass" by Cyril Hare (2 deaths)

44. "The What's My Line? Murder by Julian Symons (one death)

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45. Murder & Magic by Randall Garrett [12 deaths] (3/7/25)

46. Too Many Magicians by Randall Garrett [6 deaths] (3/8/25)

47. Lord Darcy Investigates by Randall Garrett [7 deaths] (3/9/25)

48. "The Bitter End" by Randall Garrett [5 deaths] (3/9/25)

49. "The Spell of War" by Randall Garrett [3 deaths] (3/9/25)

50. Nothing Is the Number When You Die by Joan Fleming [4 deaths] (3/12/25)

51. A Thief or Two by Sara Woods [2 deaths] (3/13/25)

52. The Sleep Is Deep by Hugh Lawrence Nelson [5 deaths] (3/14/25)

53. Ambush for Anatol by John Sherwood [4 deaths] (3/17/25)

54. No Vacation from Murder by Elizabeth Lemarchand [2 deaths] (3/18/25)

55. Murder by Lamplight by Patrice McDonough [15 deaths] (3/19/25)

56. The Incredible Umbrella by Marvin Kaye [2 deaths] (3/21/25)

57. The Green Mill Murder by Kerry Greenwood [3 deaths] (3/23/25)

58. Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood [2 deaths] (3/24/25)

59. Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud by Andrew Lane [5 deaths] (3/25/25)

60. Death at Victoria Dock by Kerry Greenwood [5 deaths] (3/27/25)

61. The Silver Peril by Maryse Rutledge [3 deaths] (3/30/25)

62. The Bus Station Murders by Louisa Revell [8 deaths] (4/2/25)

63. No Pockets in Shrouds by Louisa Revell [3 deaths] (4/6/25)

64. A Slash of Emerald by Patrice McDonough [10 deaths] (4/10/25)

65. The Strange Case of Eliza Doolittle [4 deaths] (4/11/25)

********************From The World's Best 100 Detective Stories Vol Ten by Eugene Thwing, ed (4/14/25)

66. "The Music of Robert the Devil" by Karl W. Detzer (one death)

67. "Through Bolted Doors" by Detzer (2 deaths)

68. "The Guilty Party" by Detzer (one death)

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69. The Cipher Garden by Martin Edwards (7 deaths)

70.