Welcome, dear readers. Whether you’ve been around since the start of the blog (both of you) or have only just discovered my ramblings (probably via Blue Sky), or sometime in between, let me start by thanking each every one of you for each and every one of your visits. This has been a really good year for the blog. I’ve had more visits than ever. This blog is, as it has ever been, a labour of love. It doesn’t bring in any money, it’s just an extended version of books that I’ve read (in my mind at least) so any enjoyment that anyone gets out of it really makes me happy.

And a huge thank you to my visitor from Vanuatu – I mentioned last year the countries that have never visited my blog over the past (blimey) fourteen years, so it’s nice to tick off another one. Over to you, Niger, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Timor-Leste and North Korea.

As ever, thanks to those people who have kept me company on my regular drives down the M5 to see my lovely Mum – so thanks to Big Finish, Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook for The Rest Is History podcast and Andy Zaltzman for The Bugle podcast. They all make the drive seem a lot shorter.

So let’s have a look at my recommendations for this year. 25 new authors this year – that’s down a bit from last year, so I’ll try and work on that for next time, but let’s start the run down with:

Best New (To Me) Authors:

• Oskar Jensen – Helle and Death
• Akimitsu Takagi – The Noh Mask Murder
• Louisa Scarr – Gallows Wood
• D V Bishop – City Of Vengeance
• Jamie West – Murder At The Matinee
• Jo Jakeman – One Bad Apple
• James Sandys – The Silken Shroud

Nice to see two classic authors there (even if the Takagi is a new translation). There will be more from most of these next year.

Best Historical Mysteries:

And to re-iterate my thoughts from last year, books set in the Golden Age don’t count. Even if they are as good as Murder At The Matinee or Hemlock Bay.

• One Last Dance Before I Die by Michael Jecks
• A Grave For A Thief by Douglas Skelton
• Banners Of Hell and Murder’s Snare by Paul Doherty
• City Of Vengeance by D V Bishop
• The Three Deaths Of Justice Godfrey by L C Tyler

Hmm, bar D V Bishop, that’s the usual set of authors. Must find some more this year… There are plenty of historical authors that I’ve enjoyed in the past – must get back to them this year, as well as finding some new ones. Any suggestions?

The “Don’t Mention That Challenge” Award

I did manage the 120 books target, just, but I did forget somewhat about the challenges I set myself over the past year. First of all, there was a plan to read 12 John Dickson Carr and 12 John Rhode titles. Well, I managed Nine – And Death Makes Ten, The Man Would Could Not Shudder and The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey from Carr and They Watched By Night and Not A Leg To Stand On by Rhode. Five is almost twenty-four, yes?

The “Don’t Get Too Excited” Award

Well, I did get excited when I stumbled across a copy of Jonathan Stagge’s The Dogs Do Bark, the first Dr Westfield novel. The range is as rare as a Clacton sighting of Nigel Farage, but unfortunately this one was a bit on the rubbish side…

The “A Whole New World” Award

I had absolutely no idea about the multi-cultural nature of Shanghai in the twenties, so many thanks for Michael Jecks for enlightening me with the setting for this excellent slice of historical noir, One Last Dance Before I Die.

The “Don’t Mention This Challenge Either” Award

Oh, I also said I was going to read/re-read all the Holmes On The Range books this year. Well, I managed the Dear Mr Holmes short stories and the first book, Holmes On The Range… Sorry, Steve. It’s still in the Grand Plan.

The “Don’t Read The Blurb” Award

Too Many Cooks by Rosemary Shrager was a really pleasant surprise, a mystery by a celebrity author who knows how to clue mysteries. Just don’t read the blurb as it gives away a massive reveal in the plot…

The “Why Are You Still Reading Belton Cobb?” Award

Week, Next-door To Death was pretty decent. Food For Felony on the other hand… oh dear, oh dear…

The “Shorter Can Be Better” Award

I’m not the biggest fan of short stories, but Edward D Hoch was the master of them and The Killer Everyone Knew, a collection of previously uncollected Captain Leopold stories. Tom Mead’s The Indian Rope Trick is a decent runner up.

The “Murder On The Australian Express” Award

Yes, there is another good murder-on-a-train out there – a fantastic one in fact, in the form of Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect. The Christmas entry in the series, Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret is also well worth your time.

The “Have You Still Not Read This?” Award

How many times do I need to tell you to read Geek Tragedy by Nev Fountain? If you’ve any interest in mysteries and cult science fiction, this is a must-read…

The “Is There A YouTube Demonstration Video?” Award

Did anyone actually follow the mechanics of the impossible crime in The Noh Mask Murder? I loved the book, but I just had to accept that bit as “they did something and it happened.”

The “Murder In Your Ears” Award

I wasn’t expecting a clever locked room mystery in a Doctor Who CD box set, but The Merfolk Murders, part of the Fifth Doctor box set The Dream Team, is excellent. Apparently writer Tim Foley has more planned…

The “Better And Better” Award

Close To Death by Anthony Horowitz, as, for me, this series gets better and better with each book. And the first one was pretty darn good…

The “Now I Get It” Award

I’d been on the fence about Perry Mason but The Case Of The Foot-Loose Doll convinced me that it’s time to take a serious look at the chap.

The “Dark/Light Balance” Award

I don’t know how M W Craven can write books like The Mercy Chair that are this enjoyable and yet this grim but it’s a wonderful gift.

The “Gaveston, Oh Gaveston!” Award

I think Banners Of Hell is the second time that Paul Doherty has written a story set around the death of Edward II’s favourite, Piers Gaveston – and yet again, it doesn’t end well for the poor chap.

The “Last Tango In Blackpool” Award

Congrats to Mark Billingham for The Last Dance, with a fantastic lead character. I thought the second book wasn’t quite as good, but this one is amazing.

The “It’s Not Named After Me” Award

It was pure coincidence that just after I fractured my hip, I read Fat Man’s Agony. It’s named after a narrow chimney structure in a rock that, should you be on the rotund side, will cause a few problems…

The “I’m Not Crying, You Are” Award

Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan. Just read it (after reading the first one, In The Blink Of An Eye). One of the most effective, emotional books that I’ve read. And it’s got an AI hologram police officer.

The “Finally” Award

Finally read Crooked House. Yeah, it’s okay, although I wonder how hard the ending would have hit if it hadn’t been spoiled for me decades ago.

The “A Decent Legal Mystery” Award

For whatever reason, I’ve struggled to get engrossed in mysteries set in law firms. Smallbone Deceased is the exception. Actually, A Case Of Mice And Murder is pretty good too…

The “Not In My School – I Hope” Award

Always wary of school-set murders – glad to know that mine isn’t as murderous as the one in One Bad Apple.

The “Most Creative Use Of A Bone” Award

Nobody’s Hero by Mike Craven. Just brace yourself…

The “How Not To Behave In An Office” Award

Belton Cobb’s Food For Felony has a very creative way of annoying your office-mate. Not sure that wallpapering the wall behind your own desk with pornography so that they have to look at it wouldn’t get you fired though, even then…

The “Not In My School Mk 2” Award

More murderous school shenanigans in the outstanding A Quiet Teacher and Two Times Murder by Adam Oyebanji.

The “There Are Mountains In Majorca” Award

When “Filthy” Lewker’s wife demands there’s to be no mountaineering on their holiday, you know he’s going to find something resembling a mountain to stage the finale on in Holiday With Murder.

The “This Girl Is On Fire” Award

One of the highlights of The Indian Rope Trick, the collection of Joseph Spector short stories, is a tale of spontaneous human combustion in an isolated cable car. Really good.

The “Genealogist Of The Year” Award

Goes to KH Genealogy for tracking down background information on James Sandys despite not even being asked to do so. So KH Genealogy, for all your genealogical needs. Do get in touch with them. My wife would appreciate it…

The “Time To Give Someone Else A Go?” Award

It won’t happen, as they are selling too well, but why not ask someone else to do a Poirot continuation, someone who’s style is closer to that of Christie herself?

The “So Who Did Kill Edmund Godfrey?” Award

Well, I think I prefer L C Tyler’s solution over John Dickson Carr’s. The book was more fun too…

The “Maddest Staring Eyes On A TV Detective” Award

Well, if you don’t know the winner of this, you haven’t been watching Return To Paradise…

The Grand Puzzly

Right, time for my book of the year, namely the best book to win the Puzzly, my book of the month. The candidates are:

• One Last Dance Before I Die by Michael Jecks
• Too Many Cooks by Rosemary Shrager
• Sun, Sea & Murder by J S Savage
• Close To Death by Anthony Horowitz
• The Mercy Chair by M W Craven
• Holmes On The Range by Steve Hockensmith
• The Fan Who Knew Too Much by Nev Fountain
• Murder At The Matinee by Jamie West
• Hemlock Bay by Martin Edwards
• Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret by Benjamin Stevenson
• Two Times Murder by Adam Oyebanji
• The Yellow Taxi by Jonathan Stagge

The thing is, those aren’t the best twelve books that I’ve read this year, but the quality of the books each month has gone up and down a bit. There were four books in October, for example – The Riddle Of The Ravens, Nobody’s Hero, Holiday With Murder and A Quiet Murder – all of which are better than a couple of titles on this list. But rules are rules, so let’s narrow it down.

Um… No, that’s impossible. I’d be writing pages and pages if I tried to justify my decision. So the Grand Puzzly for this year goes to Martin Edwards for Hemlock Bay – this is a perfect updating of the Golden Age style, set in the era with the fair-play nature of the best of the genre, while including some genuine innovations in the plot. The Rachel Savernake series gets better and better.

Right, that’s 2024 done and dusted. Time for 2025…

A few targets:

1. 120 books again. 10 a month seems a reasonable number…
2. A Perry Mason a month. I’m starting to see the light here and I’ve got a pile on my shelf, so let’s see if we can make a regular dent in it.
3. Six historical mystery writers that I haven’t read this year – and historical means pre-1900 for these purposes.

That’ll do – let’s not get ambitious this time…

So thanks again for visiting, do keep coming back and if you’ve got any requests or questions, just stick them in the comments…