It’s the end of January, so of course it’s time for the Puzzly – my Book of the Month award – to be selected. But as it’s January, I’m going to use the monthly round-up to set myself some reading challenges too.

You might be wondering why I’ve waited this long into the year before setting myself some reading challenges for 2024 – and that is a very good question. Well, in the past, I’ve not been desperately good at keeping to challenges. You might recall my “23 for 23” challenge for last year – who am I kidding, I forgot about it, why on earth would you remember?

So I thought for this year, I’d see how my reading was going before I decided on what to set myself, so here we go.

Challenge 1: Number Of Books

Well, 2023 was a little low for the total number of books read with “only” 116 books – I’ve cracked 135 in the past. So I’m going to say 120 books. Fingers crossed – ten books in January puts me on track…

Challenge 2: The Two Johns

Based on three things – I’ve got a lot of unread John Rhode titles, I’ve a fair few unreviewed John Dickson Carr and they’ve both got the same forename. So it seemed to make sense to set this as a not-particularly taxing challenge – twelve books from each of the authors (regardless of pseudonym). Which also means I can call it “24 for 24”…

Challenge 3: The Poirot Count-up

I’ve only managed four Poirot titles last year in my count-up, so let’s target seven. Why seven? Because the seventh is Hercule Poirot’s Christmas, so that’ll fit in nicely at the end of the year. And I did one this month…

Challenge 4: The Complete Holmes On The Range

I loved re-reading Dear Mr Holmes this month, and on discovering one set of short stories, one pair of novellas and two novels in the series that I wasn’t aware of, I’ve decided this year to read or re-read the whole lot. Because I want to.

So, enough of the challenges, on to the Puzzly. This month’s books were:

The Woman On The Ledge by Ruth Mancini – A clever idea, and an enjoyable read, although it could have done with a final twist.

Nine – And Death Makes Ten by Carter Dickson – a stone cold classic, overdue for a reprint.

The Dogs Do Bark by Jonathan Stagge – Captain Obvious plays far too big a part in this one.

Helle And Death by Oskar Jensen – a magnificent modern classic mystery

The Mystery Of The Kneeling Woman by Moray Dalton – takes a little while to kick in, but has a very effective final section.

Murder On Lake Garda by Tom Hindle – fun mystery, but the decision to keep the reader ahead of the sleuth is an odd one.

One Last Dance Before I Die by Michael Jecks – a master at world-building, this is a very strong start to a new series set in 1920s Shanghai. Exactly what an historical mystery should be, a gateway to another world.

Not A Leg To Stand On by Miles Burton – one of the best of the Burton’s that I’ve read, it certainly kept my guessing.

Dear Mr Holmes by Steve Hockensmith – a joyful collection of short stories concerning the Sherlock Holmes inspired Amlingmeyer brothers

Murder In Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie – nice setting, but with some major problems…

Right, dum-de-dum, which to choose? It’s one of three. Dear Mr Holmes is so much fun, but I prefer novels and there are plenty of more of those to come this year in the series. That leaves Helle And Death and One Last Dance Before I Die. Very different books, both excellent, immersive reads… Ah, Helle and Death is getting enough publicity – sorry, Oskar – but as One Last Dance Before I Die is, I think, independently published, I’m going to use that as the tie-breaker. Any fans of historical mysteries need to check it out, it’s an excellent read.

Next month I’ve got four new releases to take a look at, another Carr, another Rhode, another Hockensmith… and anything else that takes my fancy.