Going to have to be brief this month, which is a bonus as I didn’t manage to read much – just seven books. I blame these:

As I now need reading glasses, reading while multi-tasking is becoming a little more challenging. But hopefully I’m getting used to them now so things should get back up to speed in the future.

Most of the books in question were part of my Countdown to my 1000th review (and indeed my 1000th review itself) but which of these gets the Puzzly this month?

The books in question (with a short comment that usual) were:

• The Case Of The Baited Hook by Erle Stanley Gardner – good
• The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett – unpleasant
• Policeman In Armour by Rupert Penny – promising
• Death’s Bright Dart by V C Clinton-Baddsley – ditto
• The Greene Murder Case by S S Van Dine – double ditto
• The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr – excellent if flawed
• The Sentence Is Death by Anthony Horowitz – woo-hoo!

So the Puzzly this month goes (rather easily) to the latest from Anthony Horowitz, that rather wonderful The Sentence Is Death, a properly clued, hugely entertaining page-turner.

Next month, a bunch of new releases – hopefully more than seven – as I try and adjust my reading habits to compensate for my specs. First off is another classic detection homage from Dolores Gordon-Smith, Forgotten Murder.