MY READER'S BLOCK

Sunday, February 1, 2026

February Reading by the Numbers Reviews

February Virtual Mount TBR Reviews

February Vintage Scavenger Hunt Reviews

Saturday, January 31, 2026

GAD Mystery Word of the Day

It was chilly in the wind that springs up just before dawn, and I was glad of my woolen himation over my bare arms and scanty khiton. (Aristotle Detective by Margaret Doody)

Bonus Word of the Day: khiton (noun, a light-weight, often sleeveless, tunic worn by ancient Greeks

Masterpieces of Mystery: Amateurs & Professionals

Masterpieces of Mystery: Amateurs & Professionals (1978) selected by Ellery Queen

In the 1970s Ellery Queen put together a set of red leatherette books featuring the best of the best short stories and novellas--a large number of which appeared in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. This particular edition features amateur sleuths and professionals, ranging from hotel manager Pierre Chambrun to the dedicated cops at the 87th Precinct. Of course, in any collection it would be an extraordinarily difficult task to pick stories where absolutely everyone thought every story was the all-time best. And it's true here. My favorites are the Chambrun (even though I spotted the answer early), "The Stripper," "The Happy Days Club," "Smash & Grab," "Cause for Suspicion," and "The Botany Pattern." These are all nicely plotted with good clues that the reader can spot. The rest are decent mysteries--so no duds--but not quite as fair or interesting as those mentioned. ★★★ 3/4

"Chambrun & the Electronic Ear" by Hugh Pentecost (Judson Philips): Chambrun is disgruntled to find that the FBI is playing spy games in his hotel. He's even more upset when wire-tapping leads to murder. [one broken neck]

"The Poisoned Dow '08" by Dorothy L. Sayers: Montague Egg, wine salesman extraordinaire, must help the police discover how a man was poisoned using one of Egg's firm's bottles of wine. [one poisoned]

"The Stripper" by H. H. Holmes (Anthony Boucher/William Anthony Parker White): Jack the Stripper, a serial killer who strips before he kills, is terrorizing a southern California town. Sister Ursula's friend, Professor Flecker, thinks he may know who it is and writes a cryptic letter asking her to put him in touch with her police friend, Lieutenant Marshall. But he's killed before he can speak with Marshall. If Sister Ursula can decipher Flecker's cryptic last message, she will be able to name the murderer as well. [one stabbed--plus others not named]

"The Affair at the Bungalow" by Agatha Christie: Jane Heiler, a beautiful actress, tells this story. She presents it as having happened to "a friend," but the others are quite sure that the story is Jane's own. While on tour with a play, she was called in by the police to be identified by a young man who claimed she had written a letter and requested his presence at a certain bungalow which belonged to another actress. He had met her there and then been drugged. A robbery had taken place at the bungalow and he is being held as a suspect. But when Jane arrives at the police station, the man says that she isn't the right woman. What really happened? Miss Marple knows...even though she says she doesn't while the group is all together.

"Wally the Watchful Eye" by Paul W. Fairman: Could also be titled "How to Solve a Murder in Two easy lessons. Wally is a clerk in the local grocery store who longs to be a private eye. He signs up for a correspondence course on detection and solves a murder disguised as suicide before completing all his lessons. [one gassed]

"The Happy Days Club" by James M. Ullman: A mutual fund company gets suspicious when the Happy Days Club in Iowa seems to be following their buy and sell movements--almost before they make them. They hire James & Bennett, couple of industrial espionage men, to find out how it's done.

"They Can Only Hang You Once" by Dashiell Hammett: Sam Spade pays a call on the uncle of his client--a lawyer who thinks his cousin is putting pressure on the old man. But before Spade can fulfill his commission there is murder in the house. [two shot]

"Wild Goose Chase" by Ross Macdonald (Kenneth Millar): An anonymous woman hires Lew Archer to attend a trial--to use his judgment about how the jury reacts to the defendant. If they appear to think him guilty, then she just might have to give evidence...evidence that could damage her. [two shot; one car accident]

"File #1: The Mayfield Case" by Joe Gores: A rookie investigator gets a little too emotionally involved with a case of a defaulted loan. [one stabbed]

"About the Perfect Crime of Mr. Digberry" by Anthony Abbot (Fulton Oursler): Mr. Digberry is a master wigmaker who seems to be the latest victim of "The Driller," criminal who is extorting money from various well-known people. But when it's noted that Digberry's escapades with The Driller coincided with the murder of one of Digberry's most famous clients, he immediately comes under suspicion. Thatcher Colt gets to the bottom of the surprising case. [one shot]

"The Devil Is a Gentleman" by Charles B. Child: Inspector Chafik J. Chafik of the Baghdad police investigates the murder of the most recent admirer of a beautiful dancer who is suspected of being a spy. [one stabbed]

"A Winter's Tale" by Frances & Richard Lockridge: A miserly old man who was thought to have died from a fractured skull is found to have froze to death. Captain Heimrich must figure out how he froze to death in an 80 degree house. [one froze to death]

"Clancy & the Shoeshine Boy" by Robert L. Pike (Robert L. Fish): Lt. Clancy investigates the murder of an eccentric old man who was rumored to have a stamp and coin collection. But was it worth killing for? Along the way he reforms the grandson of a shoeshine "boy" who just happens to give him the one clue he was missing. [one beaten to death]

"Smash & Grab" by Henry Wade (Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher: There's a rash of smash and grab robberies taking place across London and when the latest hits a jewelry store, Detective Constable John Bragg, fresh from the Downshire countryside, has his chance to make his mark at Scotland Yard.

"The Motive" by Ellery Queen (Dannay & Lee): When the son of a local farmer is hit on the head and left in a ditch, the town is upset that the sheriff's deputy assigned to the investigation can't find the killer--especially when other deaths follow. But how do you track a killer who's left no clues and seems to have no motive? [three hit on head]

"Cause for Suspicion" by George Harmon Coxe: Dr. Paul Standish refuses to believe that a woman who tried to kill herself once has finally succeeded. Everything tells him that this time it's murder. [one poisoned]

"The Stollmeyer Sonnets" by James Powell: A straight-up farce about the cold war spy era where stamps serve as stand-ins for the arms race and spies aren't above a little blackmail over spicy sonnets. Our hero--a Canadian Mountie who reminds me of Dudley Do-Right--manages to save the day despite himself.

"The Botany Pattern" by Victor Canning: The Department of Patterns looks for patterns that others don't see. Viaur is new to the department but immediately spots a connection between a series of murders. Six men have died and four more are on the list--will Viaur and Papa Grand (head of the department) be in time to save the last four? [one shot; one stabbed; one blown up and others unnamed]

"H as in Homicide" by Lawrence Treat: Two women, who have just met, head west in a car. They stop for the night in a small town--where one of the women's ex-husband just happens to live. She winds up strangled. Did he do it? And, if not, who--and why? [one strangled]

"Nightshade" by Ed McBain: It's just a regular evening at the 87th Precinct. Steve Carella and the boys look into the killing of a young actress, the bombing of a black church, the stabbing of a family....and ghosts who steal jewelry. [five stabbed; one shot]

First line (1st story): Mrs. Veach, the motherly-looking chief operator on the switchboard at the Beaumont Hotel was the first one to detect something irregular about the telephone in Room 912.

Last line (last story): "You can't win 'em all," O'Brien said.

Friday, January 30, 2026

GAD Mystery Word of the Day

My bookish meme for 2026: the Golden Age of Detection (GAD) Mystery Word of the Day. Whenever I find a word that I'm unfamiliar with--or shall we say not absolutely confident I know the exact meaning of, I'm going to actually take time to look it up and share it with mystery-lovers everywhere. 😊

Today's GAD Mystery Word of the Day is curvetting (verb): 1. leaping in dressage with all four feet off the ground; 2. prancing or frisking about

[about a fatal car accident] "But he was curvetting about to such an extent that Andy knew something was wrong. He said he couldn't have taken the corner properly like that." (Shadows Before by Dorothy Bowers)

Wednesday, January 28, 2026

What's In a Name Challenge 2026

Andrea at Carolina Book Nook is back with another round of the What's in a Name Challenge. I always look forward to the new version. This has always been a favorite of mine, so of course I'm back for another round as well. The format is the same--six categories and one book required for each one. The prompt must appear in the title of the book. For full details and suggestions for interpreting prompts, see the link above. Tentative book choices below.

1. 6/Six: The Six Iron Spiders by Phoebe Atwood Taylor

2. Cold Weather: Who Killed Alfred Snowe? by J. S. Fletcher

3. Peace: No Peace for the Wicked by E. X. Ferrars

4. Pathways: Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives: Stories from the Trailblazers of Domestic Suspense by Sarah Weinman, ed.

5. Terrain: Skull Mountain by Dean Hawkins

6. Flower: White Orchids by Grace Livingston Hill

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

GAD Mystery Word of the Day

My bookish meme for 2026: the Golden Age of Detection (GAD) Mystery Word of the Day. Whenever I find a word that I'm unfamiliar with--or shall we say not absolutely confident I know the exact meaning of, I'm going to actually take time to look it up and share it with mystery-lovers everywhere. 😊

Today's GAD Mystery Word of the Day is galeenies (noun): archaic or dialectal term for a guinea fowl. Originating in the late 18th century, it is derived from the Spanish term gallina morisca, meaning a hen or guinea fowl.

They don't come nigh the place since I told Esther she was trying to sell us one of Comfort's own galeenies. (Shadow Before by Dorothy Bowers)

Monday, January 26, 2026

My Reader's Block All Challenges Drawing Winner!

I'm a week behind on this announcement--my apologies. I hope you haven't been waiting all this time with bated breath...But I finally remembered to pull out the Custom Random Number Generator to find us a winner in the Block's All Challenges prize drawing. After a lengthy warm-up (much needed here in the wintery midwest!), it has given me entry #10--Barbara H! Congratulations, Barbara. I'll be sending you an email telling you how to claim your prize in just a few moments.

Thank you to everyone who participated in my challenges in 2025! I hope you had fun and also hope that you are joining me again in 2026. Happy reading everyone!

Sunday, January 25, 2026

A Pocket Full of Rye

A Pocket Full of Rye (1953) by Agatha Christie

London businessman Rex Fortescue, a wily wheeler-dealer, has stepped on a lot of toes on his way up the financial ladder. But could any of the people he bamboozled have had access to his morning tea?

Not long after Fortescue's glamorous secretary brings him a cup of his special blend in his very special china tea cup, he gasps out, "What did you put in the tea?!" and falls unconscious. An ambulance (or two) is called in and so is Inspector Neele of the Yard (though Fortescue hasn't died...yet). Neele begins asking questions of the office staff while waiting to hear from the hospital about the man's condition. When the call comes, it's to tell Neele that Fortescue is dead--most certainly poisoned and the doctor is nearly certain that it's taxine poisoning. Taxine is slow-acting (so the tea is not the culprit) and comes from yew leaves. And the name of Fortescue's home is Yew Lodge, named so because of the yew trees all about.

So...it would seem that the poison was administered at home. When it's discovered that his widow had a lover and anticipated inheriting a tidy sum upon Fortescue's death, she becomes the prime suspect. At least until she winds up poisoned as well. Then Inspector Neele and Sergeant Hay find themselves needing to dig deeper. One of the clues found upon Fortescue was a handful of rye in his pocket. The connection is made that Rex (meaning "king") was in his counting house when he became ill and that his "queen" was in the parlor having bread (scones) and honey when she died. Is this merely a case of an unbalanced mind using the old nursery rhyme to select their victims. When the maid is strangled while in the garden and found with a clothes pin "nipping her nose," it would certainly seem so. And when Miss Jane Marple arrives (the maid Gladys had previously been in Miss Marple's service), she tells Neele to look for blackbirds--for their most certainly must be blackbirds.

And there are...dead blackbirds were left on Fortescue's desk at home. Dead blackbirds were stuffed into a pie. And at one point Fortescue had swindled a man over something called the Blackbird Mine and possibly left him to die in Africa. The man's widow had sworn vengeance and vowed to train their children to seek revenge if she couldn't get it. Has vengeance come from that quarter? Miss Marple manages to get into the house and ask the questions that the police can't and she helps Neele see that there is more to a nursery rhyme than meets the eye.

Rex Fortescue isn't the only wily one connected to this story. The author was pretty wily herself. I read all the Christie mysteries that the Wabash Carnegie Library had back when I first discovered her (nearly 40 years ago!) and I'm sure this was one of them. And she fooled me again. I thought for sure I remembered which red herring I fell for when I first read it and, by golly, she wasn't going to get me with that again. And she didn't. But I fell for another one. She's that good. And that's one of the reasons why I can reread her books with such enjoyment. If it's been long enough since the last reading, then there's a good chance I'll be mystified all over again. Great fun!

The one small quibble I have is that Miss Marple shows up so very late in the book. Of course, she's tied to the maid, so that makes sense and there really isn't any other way to make her presence plausible--but if it's going to be a Miss Marple mystery, I'd like to see more of her. Even with that small disappointment, it's still a great read and a great mystery. ★★★★

First line: It was Miss Summers turn to make the tea.

Last line: And then, displacing both of these emotions, there came a surge of triumph--the triumph some specialist might feel who has successfully reconstructed an extinct animal from a fragment of jawbone and a couple of teeth.
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Deaths = 5 (two poisoned; one strangled; one in war; one shot)

Saturday, January 24, 2026

High Marks for Murder

High Marks for Murder (2008) by Rebecca Kent (Kate Kingsbury)

Meredith Llewellyn is the headmistress at the Bellehaven Finishing School. A place that is known for transforming the "most incorrigible tomboy into a refined young lady." It's also a bit progressive for the beginning of the 20th Century--encouraging their refined young ladies to think for themselves and allowing exploration into other ways to find fulfillment beyond the role of wife and mother. The teachers may teach deportment and household management, but you just might find them chanting "votes for women" along with their students. You never know what you might see if you arrive unannounced. But I don't think anyone expected to see a ghost...

That's just what Meredith does see after her friend Kathleen Duncan, the home management teacher, was found bludgeoned to death with a tree limb. The local bobby doesn't want to waste precious time investigating too deeply into the demise of a woman out wandering in the garden at night alone (where no respectable lady should be...) and decides it's a death by tramp. A very convenient tramp who is long gone with no way to trace him. Meredith is upset that her friend's death is so easily dismissed and thinks about investigating on her own. But she has no idea how to go about it. Until she starts seeing Kathleen's ghost who seems to be trying to tell her something through various signs. If she can just figure out what Kathleen's motions in the garden mean, she just might have the clues to get an investigation started.

Pure cozy mystery. No blood to speak of. No traumatic or complicated goings-on in our amateur sleuth's life. And, honestly, not a whole heaping lot of detection. So--if you're looking for a standard mystery with clues to follow and deductions to make, then this might not be your thing. If you like a gentle mystery with a hint (just a hint, mind you) of the supernatural and likeable characters, then this might well be your thing.

I like the setting at a girls' school. I like our main characters--Meredith and her two, somewhat reluctant, Watsons, Felicity and Essie--though I'm not quite sold on Meredith as a Sherlock just yet. This was a pleasant read but the mystery wasn't too difficult. I knew exactly what Kathleen's ghost meant when she kept pointing at the garden and I'm not quite sure why Meredith was so baffled. Perhaps her grief got in the way? I have the second book in this series and hope that we will see more detecting than trying to communicate with spirits (though I already know there is a ghost involved in that one as well). ★★★

First line: Under normal circumstances Meredith Llewellyn enjoyed the Sunday services at St. Edmund's.

Last line: "Now what's your story?"
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Deaths = one hit on head

Friday, January 23, 2026

Old Bones

Old Bones (1943) Herman Petersen

Marian Wayne, wife of our narrator Ben Wayne, is on the hunt for local-sourced, vintage pine board for a redecoration project. She's hunted high and low in abandoned barns and farmhouses with no success. But then she remembers the grist mill on the property of the area's power family--the Wights. She finds what she's looking for there...and a bit more. While looking around she happens to look in the stand pipe, a well-like opening with water in the bottom, and sees a jumble of bones lying at the bottom. When her husband hears her story, he brings in Doc Miller, the county coroner, who in turn calls upon the D.A. Even before they try to retrieve the bones, Miller is convinced that they've an old murder to solve because someone dumped in old timbers as well in an effort to hide the remains.

Since it is after dark and there's no lights in the mill, they decide to return in the morning to drain the stand pipe and bring up the bones. But when they get there, they find that someone has beaten them to it and the bones are gone.

Bones, bones, who's got the bones?

by grandeduc on Getty images

Fortunately, the person who snatched them in the night wasn't so great at the "hiding" part of hide-and-seek and the bones are rediscovered fairly quickly. The Wights, however, immediately use their influence to try and railroad the D.A. into calling the death an "unfortunate accident to John Doe." But as soon as Doc Miller gets a good look at the bones, he isn't having any. He recognizes healed bones representing injuries that he treated himself and declares that the bones belong to Nate Wight, the black sheep of the family who supposedly slunk off to New York City a few years ago. All clues seem to point directly to the Wights--no wonder they wanted things hushed up. And one of them will go to any length to keep the secrets of the past unseen. Now Doc Miller with Ben acting as his leg man must race to identify Nate's murderer before more people are hurt...or killed.

Lots of action--from a chase through the swamps to a midnight rescue from the stand pipe to blazing (literally) grand finale. Ben Wayne endures some very pulpy private eye encounters--all in the dark, so we don't know who the villain is till the end. Doc Miller spends a fair amount of time tending to Ben's injuries and you have to sympathize with Marian who is afraid that her husband won't survive the next go-round with the culprit. There is also a good amount of good old fashioned deduction on Doc Miller's part, making for a good detective story on top of the pulp action. The characters are great from the interactions between the good doctor and Ben, the good doctor and all the Wights. I especially enjoyed the two younger Wights--Peg and Lightning. They made good sleuthing sidekicks for Ben.

There are a few drawbacks--like the overall motivation of the killer. The initial murder and cover-up I get. But the follow-ups are bit tenuous--especially if the Wights and their entourage stick together as they've always done. It might have helped if there had been a bit more attention to the background of the characters (delightful as most of them are, we don't learn a lot about them). And I don't see the point of the fire at the end--not even with the murderer explaining it. But the pluses outweigh the minuses and I thoroughly enjoyed Petersen's story. I'll definitely pick up the first two in the Doc Miller series if I come across them. ★★★★

First line: I had spent most of today in the city; a business demand had been satisfied, and I had managed to call on my tailor too.

Last line: What became of the cat?"
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Deaths = 5 (one natural; one hit on head; one shot; two burned to death)

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

GAD Mystery Word of the Day

My bookish meme for 2026: the Golden Age of Detection (GAD) Mystery Word of the Day. Whenever I find a word that I'm unfamiliar with--or shall we say not absolutely confident I know the exact meaning of, I'm going to actually take time to look it up and share it with mystery-lovers everywhere. 😊

Today's GAD Mystery Word of the Day is cuckoo-pint (noun). Arum maculatum, commonly known as cuckoopint, jack-in-the-pulpit and other names, is a woodland flowering plant species in the family Araceae. It is native across most of Europe, as well as Eastern Turkey and the Caucasus.

...he says there's no harm in it [picking wild plants for tea]. I don't feel at all sure myself, for she is hardly responsible for her actions and may easily pick something poisonous, cuckoo-pint, for instance, which I have seen growing in several places. (~Shadows Before by Dorothy Bowers)

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

GAD Mystery Word of the Day

My new bookish meme for 2026: the Golden Age of Detection (GAD) Mystery Word of the Day. Whenever I find a word that I'm unfamiliar with--or shall we say not absolutely confident I know the exact meaning of, I'm going to actually take time to look it up and share it with mystery-lovers everywhere. 😊

Today's GAD Mystery Word (phrase) of the Day is Mazeppa's horses. From a famous legend, popularized by Lord Byron's poem, where the historical Ukrainian figure Ivan Mazepa was punished for an affair by being tied naked to a wild horse and left to race across the steppe, often depicted in art with the horse surrounded by other horses or in dramatic flight. The horse eventually carried him to safety.

...Freddy asked me to lunch the other day. I wasn't keen , and if I'd known beforehand what Papa Borth was like, all Mazeppa's horses wouldn't have got me there. (~Shadows Before by Dorothy Bowers)