September and it seems that the summer of reading madness is well and truly over. Thirty eight books over the two summer months but then that slight distraction of heading back to work struck, coupled with my weird side-strain that caused a problem sitting still – thanks for all the good wishes by the way. And, to be fair, starting to play Skyrim again probably didn’t help. Wonderful game but horribly addictive…

So, only the seven books this month. It’s actually nine-ish – Playing With Fire is done and dusted but I haven’t had time to review it yet. It’s good, by the way. Also I’ve delved in Ann Cleeves’ back catalogue with A Day In The Death Of Dorothea Cassidy which I might finish before the clock strikes October. Oh, and there’s a third one – Chef Maurice And The Bunny-Boiler Bake Off – but the review will appear when the book comes out. I normally wait until the release date is close before reading books, but as you just might have noticed, I love this series to bits and, with my annoying side-strain – which is clearing up, by the way – it was exactly what I needed. No spoilers, but there’s going to have to be something pretty fantastic this month to beat it to next month’s Puzzly. Anyway, out of the possible seven, which one walks off with this month’s Puzzly?

The seven books in question were:

• The Starlings by The Murder Squad
• First Cut Is The Deepest by Martin Edwards
• Death Comes To Cambers by E R Punshon
• The Herald Of Hell by Paul Doherty
• Abracadaver by Peter Lovesey
• A Cruel Necessity by L C Tyler
• Time To Murder And Create by Lawrence Block

Didn’t have to think too hard about this one. The Starlings is a wonderful book, with some cracking short stories – it’s beautifully put together as well and a perfect Christmas present for any crime fans in your family. First Cut Is The Deepest is another fine mystery from Martin Edwards (new Lakes book out now and for more, I did create a page for Martin this month as well) and A Cruel Necessity is an enjoyably different direction from L C Tyler. But… let’s face it, Brother Athelstan is back in one of my absolutely favourite series from one of my absolutely favourite authors and it’s one of the finest books in the series. The fact that a character in the book just might have been subconsciously named after me – just possibly – is utterly irrelevant, it’s a fabulous book. The Herald Of Hell adds another Puzzly to Paul’s shelf – good thing that they don’t actually exist, or he might run out of shelf-space.

Anyway, sorry for the lack of reviews this month – hopefully a few more next time as I approach 800 posts – but in the meantime, you can find a multitude of books in My Blog Name In Books – two hours well spent, I’m sure you’ll agree. So next month, Kerry Wilkinson, Ann Cleeves and the latest from J A Lang and Christopher Fowler and it’s well past time I checked in on Baldwin & Simon on the way back from their trip to Galicia. Other than that… who knows… Any requests (of easy to obtain books, that is)?