It’s the end of July 2016 so let’s see what happened in the world. Well, if you look at the internet, Pokémon Go happened. Fascinating Fact: the word Pokémon is in the Microsoft Word dictionary to stop me from spelling it without the accent. Dearie dearie me… But it’s getting people out in the fresh air – if only they’d look up once in a while… Oh, and the UK got a new Prime Minister and the US have started the race between Hillary Clinton and He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named for respectively President or Bringer-Of-Armageddon…

Of course, I don’t care about that – it’s Puzzly time! Eighteen books this month (as I’ve been on holiday) – which one’s going to provide the wallpaper?

The books were:

• Watching The Ghosts by Kate Ellis
• The Mystery Of The Blue Train by Agatha Christie
• The Fire Child by S K Tremayne
• The Somnabulist and the Psychic Thief by Lisa Tuttle
• Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm by Gil North
• White Nights by Ann Cleeves
• The Telephone Call by John Rhode
• Mad About The Boy? by Dolores Gordon-Smith
• Dancing For The Hangman by Martin Edwards
• The Fatal Pool by John Rhode
• The Peacock’s Cry by Paul Doherty
• Case For Three Detectives by Leo Bruce
• Underground Airlines by Ben H Winters
• For The Love Of Old Bones by Michael Jecks
• Fields Of Glory by Michael Jecks
• Slippery Ann by H C Bailey
• The Council Of The Cursed by Peter Tremayne
• Vegetable Duck by John Rhode

Meh. A difficult one this month. I’m tempted to pick my interview with Martin Edwards, but that’s cheating! There not much that particularly stands out, to be honest. There are a couple of books that I admire a lot – Dancing For The Hangman, Underground Airlines for example – but I’m not convinced that I actively enjoyed reading them. On the other hand, I enjoyed Case For Three Detectives, but I can’t shake off a feeling of underlying bitchiness in the writing.

If they were novels, then The Peacock’s Cry or For The Love Of Old Bones would take it easily, and similarly that if it was a mystery, then Fields Of Glory would be in with a shout. But I think one book stands out as being both an enjoyable read and a complex absorbing narrative. So the Puzzly for this month goes to White Nights by Ann Cleeves. The second book in the Shetland series that I’ve neglected for too long. The next one should be along soon.

Next month, more from my 20 Books Of Summer, interviews with two of my favourite authors, some reviews of new releases and, of course, more John Rhode. See you in August!

Oh, and if anyone sees a Charmander in the West Midlands…