Well, that’s another year gone by. The fifteenth year of the blog, and I’ve hit my target of 120 reviews for the year – just. Admittedly, there are a couple of novellas in there, and a small number of children’s books, but I’ve read full novels faster than the time it to me to slog through Murder Under The Mistletoe or The Mystery Of The Trail Of Terror.

It’s been a funny old year for tracking the progress of the blog. The main way I monitor things is in the number of annual views, but as I mentioned early this year, I and my fellow bloggers have had numerous visits this year from China, a country that had barely registered before. And by numerous… well, in 2024, I had 325 000 visits in total. None of these were from China.

This year, at time of writing, I have had 280 000 visits. From China. Actually, they’ve all been in the last six months, with November being a particular high. I’ve really no idea what’s happening here and what @BeijingBot69 and friends are gaining from this, but to be honest, if they were to clear off, I wouldn’t be unhappy. Although maybe I should just write a twenty page post stating “And Then There Were None is not a locked room mystery” over and over again to at least train the bots what a locked room mystery is…

But it’s nice to see that the blog is actually growing, as if I just ignore the Chinese visitors, my actual visitors have grown nicely, so welcome to all new readers. Do make yourself at home…

All in all, there were 120 books this year, of which 8 were re-reads for various reasons. Ninety-four different authors, thirty-five of whom were new to me. And just the one that I have no recollection of reading at all…

Right, award time…

Best New (To Me) Authors

• Rob Parker – The Troubled Deep
• Ande Pliego – You Are Fatally Invited
• Amy Cunningham – The Serial Killer’s Party
• Ross Montgomery – The Murder At World’s End
• Antony Johnston – The Dog Sitter Detective
• Alasdair Beckett-King – Montgomery Bonbon

Best Historical (pre 1900) Mystery

• Ritual Of Fire – D V Bishop
• Ship Of Thieves – Douglas Skelton (not really a mystery, but it has got lots of pirates)
• The Seventh Trumpet = Peter Tremayne
• Immortal Murder/The Meadows Of Murder – Paul Doherty
• Ashes Of Rebellion – Michael Jecks (not really a mystery but see below)
• A Measure Of Justice – Mark Sherry

Best Golden Age Mysteries

• Invisible Green – John Sladek
• Into Thin Air – Winslow & Quirk
• Keeper Of The Keys – Earl Derr Biggers
• When The Devil Was Sick – Carol Carnac
• Fatal Venture – Freeman Wills Crofts
• Beware Your Neighbour – Miles Burton
• The Judas Window – Carter Dickson

Best Emergency Book Conference Panel Member

Well, me, obviously. Highlight of my year, being asked by Dolores Gordon-Smith to fill in on the Golden Age panel at Death In The Dales and, more importantly, not embarrassing myself. A really good conference that gave me the chance to catch up with some long-time friends of the blog and to finally meet the lovely Marsali Taylor.

Best Book Conference That Didn’t Ask Me To Fill In

Didn’t get the chance to go to Bodies From The Library this year and, from the provisional date that my sources have hinted at, it looks like I can’t go this year either – UNLESS SOMEONE WANTS ME TO BE ON A PANEL – but Stockport Noir, a one-day event was a cracker. I got to meet authors such as D V Bishop, Anthony Johnston, Jo Callaghan and M W Craven, and I’ve got a load of other new authors on my TBR pile because of it. Looking forward to Round Two next month.

The “Discovery Of The Year” Award

As in the author who I stumbled upon, not some prodigy who I discovered and unleashed onto the reading public. Thanks to the publishers asking me to review it, I loved The Dog Sitter Detective Plays Dead and have enjoyed the rest of the series too. And I’ve met Antony Johnston a couple of times, and he’s a lovely chap too.

The “Honestly, I’ve Not Read It Before” Award

Parker Pyne Investigates by Agatha something. There are actually quite a few non-series titles that I’ve not read but this was an interesting set of short stories. Having said that, the second half was a lot stronger than the first.

The “About Time” Award

The Judas Window is finally re-released. That’s all you need to know…

The “Yes, It’s Still Rubbish” Award

Book Club decided that we should do a Carr, and picked, deliberately I should say, The Blind Barber to see what good we could find in it. And the answer is, not a lot.

The “Four Out Of Four” Award

I do enjoy Tom Hindle’s books, but Death In The Arctic was the fourth time in a row that the murderer struck me early on as being pretty obvious. With some gentler cluing, these could be much stronger mysteries.

The “For Fans Of Agatha Christie” Award

Jamie West’s two novels, Death On The Pier and Murder At The Matinee, are two books that actually deserve the accolade that publishers fling around like monkey poo. And it’s not written on their blurb…

The “Glass Half-Full” Award

Death Of A Peeping Tom is, structurally, one of the best mysteries Belton Cobb has written. On the other hand, it is safe to say that writing about, shall we say, sexual issues is not his strong point…

The “Don’t Break The Bank” Award

People got quite excited when the British Library released Peter Shaffer’s The Woman In The Wardrobe that maybe the two that he co-wrote with his brother might get released too. Well a) they probably won’t be and b) don’t waste money on, at least, How Doth The Little Crocodile?, because it’s really not very good.

The “I Really Should Read Some More” Award

After enjoying a couple of Perry Mason books last year, I bought a load of paperbacks and, of course, read a grand total of one of them this year, The Case Of The Gilded Lily. It was really good, too, so I need to get back to Mr Mason…

The “Difficult Second Book” Award

Not going to name names here, but there were quite a few second books in a series that I read this year that didn’t live up to the promise of the first. Often it felt as if the first book was written as a standalone – no problem with that – but then, possible from publisher/agent pressure – the series was made to continue with the same protagonist when their story was over. Maybe not, maybe it was the author’s choice, but there were a few disappointments in this category this year.

The “What The Actual?” Award

I’ve sung the praises of the Glyn Carr Abercrombie Lewker mysteries but Lewker In Norway, where we abandon the usual tale of a murder up a mountain and replace it with Lewker trying to save the world from a sub-Bond Villain. To be fair, it’s quite similar in style to Lewker’s earliest appearances in a different series, but it’s quite a shock.

The “Just Call It The Cosy Dagger” Award

Some of the shortlisted books for the new Whodunnit Dagger were fine (although not as good as some that didn’t escape the longlist) but A Good Place To Hide A Body by Laura Marshall simply isn’t a whodunnit at all!

The “On The Other Hand” Award

I was expecting utter insanity from Matthew Sweet’s mystery debut, The New Forest Murders – just listen to his Big Finish audios – but instead it was a well-written classic-style murder mystery with strong characters. Who knew?

The “I Was Right The First Time” Award

Book Club strikes again and we took another look at Ellery Queen’s Cat Of Many Tails. Never liked this book as a mystery as the twist is so thunderingly obvious…

The “Holy Sh@t” Award

That bit in Douglas Skelton’s Ship Of Thieves that I never expected to happen. You know it if you’ve read it…

The “Three In A Row” Award

Doesn’t happen that often but in September I read three great books in a row – Nev Fountain’s Lies And Dolls, Martin Edwards’s Miss Winter In The Library With A Knife and Victoria Dowd’s Death In The Aviary.

The “Reprint It Now” Award

Oh, so many, but one obvious title is Invisible Green by John Sladek. Finally got round to reading it at the Bodleian and it’s a very impressive read.

The “Sneaky B@st@rd” Award

“Take a look at this book, mate, it isn’t a mystery but you might well enjoy it.” Well, yes I did enjoy Ashes of Rebellion, Mike Jecks, but you still sneaked a little fairly clued mystery into it that I didn’t notice until it was explained, you clever so-and-so…

The “Pay Attention” Award

How hard must it be to combine a police procedural/cosy mystery with an espionage thriller and stick James Bond into it (sort of)? Well, pretty easy, if you’re Vaseem Khan.

The “Well, That’s New” Award

It can’t be easy dreaming up a new setting for a locked room mystery, but having everyone in a house sealing themselves into their own rooms because Halley’s Comet it going to burn off the atmosphere – that’ll do the trick in The Murder At World’s End.

The “Best Festive Mystery” Award

Points to Murder At Mistletoe Manor and honourable mentions to Miss Winter… and The Dog Sitter Detective’s Christmas Tail, which, bar the snow, weren’t that Christmassy but Andreina Cordani is the Queen of the Christmas mystery and upped her game this year even further with the excellent A Scrooge Mystery.

The “You Know? For Kids!” Award

Finally got round to trying one of the Montgomery Bonbon mysteries from Alasdair Beckett-King and… well, put it this way, I’ve bought the rest and you’ll see those reviews very soon…

The “Best Epilogue Ever” Award

If you’ve read M W Craven’s The Final Vow, you’ll know what I mean. A real punch-the-air moment for fans of the series.

And now, it’s time for that most coveted of non-existent awards – the Grand Puzzly

Honourable Mentions

There were a few books that missed out on the Puzzly for technical reasons – I tend to lean towards authors who haven’t won it before – so despite not taking a Puzzly this year, the following were more than deserving of it in a quieter month…

• Death On The Pier – Jamie West
• Murder On The Marlow Belle – Robert Thorogood
• A Trial In Three Acts – Guy Morpuss
• A Mumbai Murder Mystery – Meeti Shroff-Shah
• The Mysterious Double Death Of Honey Black – Lisa Hall
• The New Forest Murders – Matthew Sweet
• Lies And Dolls – Nev Fountain
• Death In The Aviary – Victoria Dowd
• Quantum Of Menace – Vaseem Khan
• Murder At Mistletoe Manor – F L Everett
• Invisible Green – John Sladek
• Quiet Bones – Sarah Ward
• The House At Devil’s Neck – Tom Mead
• Human Remains – Jo Callaghan

To be eligible for the Grand Puzzly, however, you have to have won a Puzzly, so none of those titles are eligible. The following, however, were my Puzzlies for the year:

• The Dog Sitter Detective Plays Dead – Antony Johnston
• You Are Fatally Invited – Ande Pliego
• Playing Dead – The Detection Club
• The Dog Sitter Detective – Antony Johnston
• The Serial Killer’s Party – Amy Cunningham
• What The Night Brings – Mark Billingham
• A Case Of Life And Limb – Sally Smith
• The Final Vow – M W Craven
• Miss Winter In The Library With A Knife – Martin Edwards
• A Scrooge Mystery – Andreina Cordani
• The Murder At World’s End – Ross Montgomery
• The Mysterious Affair Of Judith Potts – Robert Thorogood

So, I sit here and wonder, which of those books has stayed with me? Which ones gripped me (all of them) and did a good job of fooling me? Well, this is difficult. Of the mystery novels, I could on different days choose any of them. Turning a blind eye to those who’ve won the GP before (MW, Martin, Robert, sorry)…

So it comes down to A Scrooge Mystery and The Murder At World’s End. Both fooled me, both had the killer in plain sight but I didn’t see them, and both had such endearing lead characters… Blimey, this is tough. Because it is somewhat more in the style of the classic mystery – you could argue that using Christmas Spirits to help solve a murder is a bit of a cheat – I’m going to give the Grand Puzzly to Ross Montgomery. But do make sure you read A Scrooge Mystery next Christmas…

Finally some thanks. Thanks to my supportive family and friends, thanks to all of you readers out there and thanks to all of you authors out there