It’s April and rather than fooling you, it’s time to summarise my reading for the month. What can I recommend, and what can I recommend avoiding? This is going to be briefer than most of these posts, as I’m down one finger when it comes to typing, due to an accident with a bean slicer.

Just re-read that, and in case you’re worried, I still have ten fingers – I just have a wound on the end of my left index finger that means I can’t put pressure on it by doing things like typing. It caused no end of woe in the household last night when it started oozing through the plaster during an especially tense race in Mario Kart…

So, the books in question are:

• Peril At End House by Agatha Christie – a classic, despite the misdirection seeming a bit unsubtle for the modern day reader.
• Poison At The Village Show by Catherine Coles – perfectly fine modern cosy but nothing in it that particularly grabbed me.
• In Spite Of Thunder by John Dickson Carr – I had fond memories of this one, a late Gideon Fell mystery, but, alas, the memory cheated.
• It Pays To Die by Cecil M Wills – probably the book that sealed my decision on Wills not being the next Brian Flynn
• The Bookseller’s Tale by Ann Swinfen – good historical detail with bonus points for having Merton College library involved in the shenanigans, but let down at the end of the day by the obvious villain.
• The Doll’s Done Dancing by Brian Flynn – my penultimate read of dear old Brian and really impressed by the quality of this one.
• The Gutenberg Murders by Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning – lacking the charm and nuttiness of The Invisible Host. Possibly the first book our book group agreed on, but unfortunately not in the right way.
• The Match by Harlan Coben – a good thriller from Coben, but suffers from being in the shadow of the magnificent Win.
• The Hanging Tree by Paul Doherty – a great central plot, with one of the most locked locked-rooms that I’ve seen.

Book of the month… now this is genuinely difficult, as they all have their flaws, even the good ones. I try and make a point of not giving the Puzzly to a re-read, so sorry Dame Agatha. It’s a toss-up – The Hanging Tree might have snuck it if it wasn’t for the B-plot of the book that never quite married up for me with the main story… oh, what the heck, you won’t be able to read it for a couple of years (presuming we get that far) but it’s the last but one time I can do this. Yes, the Puzzly goes to The Doll’s Done Dancing – it’s not his best, but it’s a very entertaining read showing off all of Brian’s strengths.

Next month, I need to read some great books. Not just good, but great. Not sure where I’m going to find them, but it feels like a while since I read a really great book. Cross your finger for me, will you?