November – not the most successful month for me in terms of reading. Busy times at work and starting to look for a new house has meant little time for reading. My apologies again if you’re waiting for a review from me – it’ll be appearing soon, I promise.

After a quick count, this month’s tally was seven books – OK, one of them wasn’t really reviewed, but mentioned as part of the Doctor Who-dunit strand that also distracted me a bit this month. I’m positive that seven books is actually pretty OK, but it felt like less. Anyway, let’s have a look to see what was the best one…

In order, the books were:

• The Fate Of Princes by Paul Doherty
• The Marriage Hearse by Kate Ellis
• A Traitor’s Tears by Fiona Buckley
• The Mysterium by Paul Doherty
• Doctor Who – Dreams of Empire by Justin Richards
• Third Girl by Agatha Christie
• The Sherlock Holmes Stories of Edward D Hoch

You can always tell when it’s been a tricky month for me when not only do I read two Paul Doherty books, but I dip into the last book in one of my favourite series. And while The Fate Of Princes was a little disappointing – it’s a great read but the companion piece, Dove Amongst The Hawks, was better – The Mysterium, the final (for now, hopefully) adventure for Sir Hugh Corbett didn’t disappoint. Seriously, that series never disappointed me since The Prince Of Darkness and every month has been a seriously contender for the Puzzly.

The Marriage Hearse is another serious contender – another strong entry into the Wesley Peterson series from Kate Ellis. Mention should also go to The Sherlock Holmes Stories of Edward D Hoch – and I’ll mention again the number of e-collections of the author’s work. I’d strongly recommend Leopold’s Way – twenty two fantastic short mysteries which, if I had my treasured hardback copy to hand (which goes for about £100 on Amazon these days) then a review would be imminent.

Hmmm, right, a special Puzzly award this month – to the entire Hugh Corbett series from Paul Doherty (and in particular The Mysterium). Hence the lovely wallpaper for the next month. And Paul, if you’re reading this – please write some more…

And if I remember to link it this month, do check out my fellow bloggers’ books of the month courtesy of the Mysteries In Paradise blog.