Happy Leap Day! It’s the end of the month, so apart from looking out for Leap Day William, it must be time for my round up of my month’s reading, and the awarding of the February Puzzly!

Let’s check in on my challenges, first of all, to keep me on track:

Challenge One: Number of Books – I’m trying to average 10 books a month, so I’m a little behind with only 9 this month, but not too bad.

Challenge Two: The Two Johns – only one John this month, with a John Rhode title. Going to have to read some more John Dickson Carr, such a chore.

Challenge Three & Four: No Poirot or Holmes On The Range this month. Oops.

So, a bit off track. Never mind, it’s only February…

Anyway, this month’s reading was:

• A Grave For A Thief by Douglas Skelton – a great historical thriller with a strong lead.
• Now You See Them by Elly Griffiths – perfectly fine mystery with good characters, but let down by the motive basically being “I’m mad, me…”
• Too Many Cooks by Rosemary Shrager – a very pleasant surprise, a clued mystery with fun central characters.
• They Watched By Night by John Rhode – a very hard-to-find wartime title, making full use of air-raids as part of the plot.
• No Mercy For Margaret by Belton Cobb – a poor show for Cheviot Burmann as he obsesses over one suspect.
• Bloodstone by Paul Doherty – Brother Athelstan sorts out a locked room theft and murder.
• Exit Lines by Reginald Hill – An interesting police procedural, but let down by too much Pascoe and not enough Dalziel.
• The Killer Everyone Knew by Edward D Hoch – A new collection of Captain Leopold stories from the master of the mystery short story.
• Banner Deadlines by Joseph Commings – Fourteen impossible crimes featuring Senator Banner, a less subtle version of Sir Henry Merrivale.

So, which one takes the Puzzly? Well, none of them were absolutely top drawer. A Grave For A Thief was a great read but was an out-and-out thriller rather than a mystery and Bloodstone was a re-read, so that doesn’t count. And I’m always a little reluctant for no real reason for give it to short story collections – the Leopold book has some really great stories in it – but I always want to give the Puzzly to a novel…

So the Puzzly goes to the surprise of the month. I wasn’t expecting to receive a review copy, I wasn’t expecting that much from it to be honest, but Too Many Cooks was a real treat. One clue is telegraphed too hard, but hey, it’s a clue (and there are others!) It’s got a diverse set of suspects, a great central sleuth (and her team) and it’s just…

… you may recall I mentioned that I met Elly Griffiths this month. Well, she described a cosy book as a book that makes you feel cosy when you read it. That’s a perfect way to describe this book – it was a pleasure to read and it made me relaxed and happy as I was reading it. And what else could you want from a book. So congratulations to Rosemary Shrager, you’re the winner of this month’s completely non-existent Puzzly. Looking forward to reading the first two books in the series.