Thanks Ruthiella at Booked for Life for alerting us to the March Mystery Madness Challenge hosted by Lizzie Faye Loves Books and Troi Towel. It's the 5th year they have hosted this challenge and their theme is the number five. Example: books with five in the title, books that are the fifth in the series etc. But I've decided to ignore the category prompts and just choose five mystery novels I really want to read:
Eight Million Ways to Die by Lawrence Block published 1982 - Actually this particular novel conforms to one of the categories in the Mystery Challenge. It's the fifth novel in Lawrence Block's acclaimed Matthew Scudder series. I just love Matthew Scudder. I have not tired of him yet and I have many more books in this series to look forward to.
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie published 1934 - Have wanted to read this for some time and it will be nice to check in with Hercule Poiot again to see if he is all I remembered him to be.
The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katharine Green published 1878 - She wrote detective novels in the 19th century and I found out about her through Ellery Queen Magazine. The Leavenworth Case is set in NYC and its the novel she is best known for.
The Ninth Daughter by Barbara Hamilton published 2009 - The first book in Barbara Hamilton's historical mystery series featuring Abigail Adams as the amateur detective who solves the crime. This book received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly and they don't give those out easily.
The Adventures of Aylmer Vance: Ghost-Seer by Alice and Claude Askew
published 1914 - They were a husband and wife writing team who wrote a series of short stories featuring best friends Aylmer Vance and Dexter who are modeled after Holmes and Watson except in the case of Vance and Dexter they investigate the supernatural.
It's a tall order to read five books in one month but I am excited by this challenge and most of these novels were already in my kindle to begin with and so it's a perfect opportunity to finally read them and post my thoughts.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis looks to be a great list. I have not read many mysteries but I would like to rectify that. I think that I might actually start with Murder on the Orient Express. My wife is an Agatha Christie fan and she keeps urging me to take the plunge.
ReplyDeleteHave fun with these books and happy reading!
Hi Brian, Agatha Christie is a very good place to start. She is a classic in the mystery novel genre and Murder on the Orient Express features Hercule Poirot as the detective and he is smart and intriguing. That's what really makes a great mystery series in my opinion, the lead detective that you can follow from one book to the next. If you read Murder on the Orient Express would love to hear your thoughts on the book.
DeleteI thought Murder on the Orient Express was a fun read. But then, I like Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot. Haven't read any of the other mysteries on your list. Hope they're all good! Happy reading. :D
ReplyDeleteHi Lark, i'm excited about these 5 books. Agatha Christie is always worth reading and Lawrence Block too.
DeleteYay! So glad you are participating. Five books in a month is a lot but I find mysteries move pretty fast when I read them…I am always so anxious to get to the end and find out the solution!
ReplyDeleteI just found out that Eight Million Ways to Die was also a movie with Jeff Bridges (came out in 1986). Have you seen it?
Thanks Ruthiella and I agree normally reading 5 books in a month is a tall order but as you say mysteries tend to go quicker because we want to find out who did it. Plus mysteries usually stay in rhe 200-300 page range and that helps. Right now I am reading The Leveanworth Case and boy is it good. It exceeded my expectations.
DeleteI haven't seen Eight Million Ways to Die. Jeff Bridges a tremendous actor but Matthew Scudder does alot of internal thinking throughout his books and so I wonder how does one film that.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete