Mysteries Ahoy!

It is hard to believe that we are already several days into December. I am afraid I have fallen behind the schedule I set for myself this past week, missing out on the final review I promised (it should be up tomorrow, all being well) and being several days late on making my Book of the Month selection.

Hopefully I will make up for it this month which, if I stick to my plans, ought to be pretty packed. There are several newly published mysteries that I am hoping to get to this month as well as a big stack of festive mysteries I hope to read this year. And then I will also be writing a couple of posts nominating titles for Reprint of the Year awards being organized by Kate at CrossExaminingCrime. I am excited to share my thoughts with you all about that.

Anyway, enough looking forward – it’s time to look back at November. The titles I reviewed last month were:

A Moment in Crime by Amanda Allen
Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L Sayers
The Case of Sir Adam Braid by Molly Thynne
A Javelin for Jonah by Gladys Mitchell
The Inverted Crime by Leonard Gribble
The So Blue Marble by Dorothy B. Hughes
A Decline in Prophets by Sulari Gentill
The Religious Body by Catherine Aird
A Demon in My View by Ruth Rendell
Pop. 1280 by Jim Thompson
The Bungalow Mystery by Annie Haynes

Looking at that list I feel pretty satisfied with my month’s reading in terms of quality, if not quantity. Several authors in that group who were completely new to me – Gladys Mitchell, Dorothy B. Hughes, Catherine Aird, Jim Thompson and Annie Haynes – and several more were writers I hadn’t read recently. Given one of my goals for this year is to read a little more widely I think I am already off to a solid start.

The other reason that the list above pleases me is that I really enjoyed reading a lot of those titles. Take the pair of charming historical mysteries, Sulari Gentill’s A Decline in Prophets and Amanda Allen’s A Moment in Crime. Each of those titles deliver interesting settings and memorable murders and I would happily recommend both.

I can only select one title as the recipient of November’s Book of the Month award. While there was some stiff competition from several titles, it ended up coming down to the two inverted crime stories I read back-to-back toward the end of the month. Each of those books featured memorable criminals and moments of dark humor. To be honest, both are excellent reads and I would gladly recommend either.

Ruth Rendell’s A Demon in My View is based on the simple but interesting premise that a neurotic serial killer finds that a man with a very similar name to his own moves into his block of flats. The novel explores his psychology and the ways it is affected by being unsettled by this coincidence. It is an often quite dark and unsettling read, featuring some excellent characterization. What really sticks with me is how well constructed this novel is with the ending feeling like a powerful and logical culmination of everything that has come before.

It is a splendid read and my first really satisfying encounter with Rendell. Given I have a big stack of them now in my TBR pile, I will look forward to getting back to her soon.

Acquisitions

In addition to the Ruth Rendell titles, I also picked up a number festive mystery novels and vintage reprints. The book I am most excited to read though is Ellery Queen’s Japanese Golden Dozen – a vintage collection of short stories from Japanese crime writers including a blog favorite Masako Togawa. I am not sure I will be able to fit it in this month but if not expect to see thoughts on the collection early in the New Year.