So, it’s June 1^st – my 23^rd wedding anniversary in fact, twenty-three years married to the best person in the world. Sorry to all of you reading this, but she is – sorry to disappoint you all who had aspirations to the title.

It’s been a busy month. Been trying to work out if I should do anything about F**dsp*t possibly making money out of my blog without making much effort. Sorry (saying that a lot today, aren’t I?) but any blogger who gets excited by being touted as a “Top 15 Mystery Blogger” – well, they aren’t that selective, as apparently my blog is something like their third best blog for Classical Literature. If anyone knows what they do and if they’re exploiting my content, do let me know.

The reading this month has been a bit disappointing all in all. Some fun reads, but the “fun” part was missing from quite a few of them…

The books in question were:

• A Very Lively Murder by Katy Watson – good lead characters, but it seemed a bit long for what it was.
• The Serial Killer’s Party by Amy Cunningham – now, this was fun, with a good surprise at the end. More of a thriller, but worth your time.
• The Mystery Of The Purple Pirate by William Arden – the Three Investigators ride again. What can I say, it’s got a Purple Pirate in it…
• Cat And Mouse by Christianna Brand – murder mystery meets Wuthering Heights gothic. Didn’t work for me, I’m afraid…
• The Suspect by Robert Rinder – lacking on investigation and when the killer is caught by something that should have been discovered before page one…
• Dead Water by Simon Toyne – decent enough but a twist so obvious that Captain Obvious has been promoted to Admiral Obvious
• Made For Murders by Peter Tremayne – interesting setting, but this set of short stories just didn’t grab me. And they’re not Shakespearean…
• A Mumbai Murder Mystery by Meeti Shroff-Shah – much more like it. Like an historical novel with its unknown (to me) setting. The killer is somewhat inevitable, storywise, but it’s a very satisfying read.
• The Mysterious Double Death Of Honey Black by Lisa Hall – a really fun read, a time-travel stop-a-murder mystery set in the Golden Age of Hollywood.

OK, book of the month… The last two reads really improved the quality of the month, but I think the Puzzly goes to Amy Cunningham for genuinely surprising me with The Serial Killer’s Party, not just in how much I enjoyed it, but by catching me out with some of the twists. Congratulations!

Do stick around as next month, I’m going to try and get through the shortlist for the CWA Whodunnit Dagger for 2025 including the sequels to A Mumbai Murder Mystery and The Mysterious Double Death Of Honey Black. See you soon!