Finally! A month where I went above the target ten-books-a-month. Still four books behind the target for the year (but I do have two weeks away in August in TV-free cabins so that should help catch up). But without further ado, here’s the twelve books.

The books in question were:

• Nobody’s Perfect by Douglas Clark – debut of a long-running series, and not a great start, to be honest.
• Scandal On The Stage by Alasdair Beckett-King – not just for kids. A fun read with a very clever central idea.
• Shadow Of Madness by D V Bishop – the return of Cesare Aldo, as he finds himself trapped in an isolated hospital with a vicious killer

• The Coffin Trail by Martin Edwards – the first in the Lake District Cold Case series. A strong start to an excellent series.
• Crime De Luxe by Elizabeth Gill – the third Benvenuto Brown, not as strong as the opening entry.
• Buyer Beware by Catherine Ryan Howard – a thriller with a strong lead characters that carries the reader along to the satisfying conclusion.

• Desperate Undertaking by Lindsey Davis – interesting –  wasn’t sure I’d be heading back to the series, but attending a talk by the author has inspired me to keep up with the series.
• The Killer’s Mark by M W Craven – it’s the latest Washington Poe & Tilly Bradshaw book, so there’s nothing more to say…
• The Woman Who Wasn’t There by William Hussey – biggest surprise of the month, with another fairly standard premise leading to a very clever mistake and surprising conclusion in more ways that one.

• The Magic-Lantern Murders by Carter Dickson – fun enough, but far from the author’s best work. Although even further from his worst though, because that’s pretty bad…
• The Goodbye Man by Jeffery Deaver – Colter Shaw heads into the heart of a cult to bring its leader to justice. A stronger book than the first title in the series – a good thriller.
• The Knapdale Murders by Daniel Sellers – an enjoyable police procedural in a beautiful setting.

Right, Puzzly time. Oh, this is a tricky one. There are five or six books that could take it in another month – ooh, this is going to be difficult. Right, Mike Craven has won more than enough Puzzlies (deservedly so), so, because we didn’t get the promised “Tilly visits a sex-shop” scene, he’s not getting it this month. The book is still utterly brilliant, so Mike, next time I see you, I owe you a sausage flat. I think it comes down to two books… either The Woman Who Wasn’t There, a surprising psychological mystery with a surprising number of clues to what is going on that I completely missed, or Scandal On The Stage a book, you know, for kids, but with a very clever central idea and lots of fun. And jokes about bodily functions…

Oh, it’s really tempting, but I think more of my readers are adults, so let’s give the Puzzly to William Hussey for The Woman Who Wasn’t There, a clever thriller that doesn’t go where you think it will, despite giving some hints that you really should have spotted…

Right, next month, hopefully lots of reading, with sneaky peaks at some upcoming books from later in the year…