It’s only a couple of month now before my blog turns fifteen. That’s the crystal anniversary, I think, although enterprising jewellers who’ve realised that they can’t wait forty years to sell them, have tried to rebrand it the ruby anniversary. And I’ve been wondering how to celebrate it. Lots of young whipper-snappers were celebrating their Tenniversary recently – bless – so I felt as one of the elder statesmen in my circle of bloggers, I’d better do something as well. And what better thing to do than to celebrate some jolly good books.

I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the reading for the first year of the blog to see how things have changed. To do this, let’s correct an omission – I never awarded Puzzly’s in my first year-and-a-month, so let’s do that. And see if I can remember anything about books that I read fifteen years ago.

December 2010

Only five to choose from – well, four, one of them was a Ngaio Marsh – and the first Puzzly, in retrospect, goes to one of the books that inspired the blog in the first place – Geek Tragedy by Nev Fountain, the first of the Mervyn Stone books, a series recently followed by the Kit Pelham series. Top notch classic mysteries, each with an original twist. Unmissable, in my humble opinion.

January 2011

Probably a controversial choice, this one, but it wasn’t a great bundle of books this month. I’m wavering between two by classic authors that generally get ignored in “best of” lists. I’m really tempted by The Case Of The Abominable Snowman by Nicholas Blake, but I’m plumping for There Was An Old Woman by Ellery Queen.

February 2011

Blimey, I only read five books that month, and most of them weren’t great. An easy choice, the Puzzly goes to the late Peter Lovesey for his locked room mystery Bloodhounds.

March 2011

And another set of books where nothing stands out. But I did write a review of John Dickson Carr’s The House In Goblin Wood (recently collected by the British Library in As If By Magic) so as it is the best crime story ever written, it can have the Puzzly despite being a short story.

April 2011

Another five book month – I always said that I blogged to get over my reader’s block but it clearly took a while to kick in. Weirdly, three of the five had the word “nine” in the title – the best taking the Puzzly for John Dickson Carr for the second month in a row, and being Nine – And Death Makes Ten. Reprint this one, please!

May 2011

Slim pickings again, and while it probably should be The Punch And Judy Murders by Carr (him again) reading my review, I didn’t really get on with it at the time, so the Amlingmeyer brothers are going to steal the Puzzly for Steve Hockensmith for The Crack In The Lens.

June 2011

Blimey, I was reading a lot of Queen and Carr in the early days – mostly re-reading in fact – so I’m going to give a Puzzly to the only “new” title this month, the so-dumb-it’s-fun Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child.

July 2011

And so it begins, two relationships that have persevered for fifteen – well, fourteen and a half – years. My first Kate Ellis review – An Unhallowed Grave – and my first Paul Doherty review, Nightshade. Nightshade takes the Puzzly this time, but next month…

August 2011

… The Jackal Man, my first “meet the author, get the book signed” of my blog. I’ve bumped into Kate a few times over the years and corresponded with her over social media as well, and she’s absolutely lovely, and a cracking author, obviously. Looking forward to seeing her again in a couple of weeks at Death In The Dales. Also the first appearance of Martin Edwards on the blog, with The Cipher Garden, the second in the Lakes series. Which does remind me, I’ve not yet reviewed the first in the series on the blog – will have to correct that soon…

September 2011

Finally got into the swing of things with a fourteen book month and I was in my phase of reading as much Paul Doherty as possible. An easy Puzzly, though, as one book that I read was the first Brother Athelstan title from Paul, The Nightingale Gallery, an historical mystery that everyone should read.

October 2011

Doherty, Carr, and a few new authors to me that really didn’t take. Oh, and the first episode of Death In Paradise, a recurring favourite of the blog (despite me forgetting to review the latest series, which I loved, btw). Can I give the Puzzly to an episode of the TV show retroactively? Probably not, but I’m going to anyway… Another one for Rob Thorogood’s mantelpiece…

November 2011

The first appearance of friend-of-the-blog Mike Jecks, and if you pop and read the review of this one, you might not think he’d be getting the Puzzly because I wasn’t a massive fan of The Tolls Of Death – for one plot-related reason, admittedly. Didn’t stop me reading almost all of the series and almost everything else Mike has written (especially the one he dedicated to me!) Lovely chap. One day I might take another look at this one, now I appreciate more what Mike does with his narrative. So another Puzzly for Mike!

December 2011

Tried a few new historical authors, but only one clicked – Peter Tremayne with the first Sister Fidelma mystery, Absolution By Murder. Another series that hooked me, but over the years, it’s tailed off a bit for me. Time to revisit it, methinks…

So what have I learned from looking over the first year of the blog? Well, I’d forgotten how much I was re-reading authors, primarily Carr and Queen. I’m surprised as well the number of times that I only read five or six books a month. Seems like amateur hour these days (although I’m on that pace at the moment, for reasons). Despite some very slow months, I still ploughed through 108 books, but from only 40 different authors – one reason for that was that a certain Dr Doherty wrote one quarter of those books, despite only discovering him in July (an obsession that lasts to this day). There are only a few authors who I never went back to, naming no names.

Anyway, that’s the gaps filled in with the Puzzlies… but not the Grand Puzzly for 2011. So, only fourteen years too late, it goes to… drumroll… someone who, believe it or not has won plenty of Puzzlies over the years, but never the Grand Puzzly. Two people in fact – so the Joint Grand Puzzly for 2011 goes to Paul Doherty for The Nightingale Gallery and Kate Ellis for The Jackal Man.

Don’t panic, I’m not going to take a look back at ever year – took me long enough to write this post – but stay tuned over the next couple of months for a few more bouts of nostalgia…