Books - December 2022
Dec. 31st, 2022 12:35 pmMy total number of books read this year is 90, which is more than I'd expected.
Portrait of a Murderer by Anne Meredith
I wasn't originally sure whether I would like this, but it is a Christmas read, which I'd promised myself I would read this year. Also, I had previously read both first and second choice for the Shedunnit December read, so this was the one I'd voted for. I thought this was a reasonable story, although the murderer is known partway through the book, so it's more a case of seeing how he's brought to justice. There's some quite jarring anti-Semitism (it was written in 1933). I passed the book onto SM, who enjoyed it, as he liked the character studies, whereas I'm more involved with the plot. [E12]
Christmas at Thrush Green by Miss Read
The last of the Thrush Green stories and another festive read. I didn't find they worked as well as earlier ones, but this may well be because the book was written by the original Miss Read's (Dora Saint) editor, based on ideas and suggestions from her. [D12]
A Maigret Christmas and Other Stories by Georges Simenon
I had promised myself I would read a Christmas mystery from the library and this was a replacement as I failed to finish a different book (about a fifth of the way through I knew I wasn't interested, so took it back). I've been wanting to read Maigret for a while, so this was the perfect introduction. Only one of the three involved Maigret, but all are set in Paris of the period and I thoroughly enjoyed them. Once again SM is also reading and enjoying it. [A12]
The White Priory Murders by Carter Dickson
The latest British Library Crime Classics Christmas novel which I treated myself to. Carter Dickson is a pseudonym of John Dickson Carr, who writes a lot of impossible crimes. This one was going along quite nicely until the reveal at the end, which just seemed about as implausible as the murder had seemed to the detective. I thought one of the other characters should have been the murderer. [C12]
A Very Murderous Christmas/Murder at Christmas/Murder in Midwinter/Murder on a Winter's Night/Murder in the Falling Snow
all edited by Cecily Gayford
The reason why I made 90 books - I read one book a week starting on Advent Sunday. I'm a great fan of short mystery stories and so enjoyed these books very much. A few of the stories I'd read before - I think I've read all the Cyril Hare short stories, but am always happy to reread, and I skipped the Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories, because I know them very well. As with all anthologies some stories are better than others, but there were sufficient good ones to keep me very happily amused. [B12]
And I couldn't finish my last book review of the year without sharing the Book Bingo badge the lovely![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kingstoken created:
And look out for my 2023 book bingo post in the next few days!
Portrait of a Murderer by Anne Meredith
I wasn't originally sure whether I would like this, but it is a Christmas read, which I'd promised myself I would read this year. Also, I had previously read both first and second choice for the Shedunnit December read, so this was the one I'd voted for. I thought this was a reasonable story, although the murderer is known partway through the book, so it's more a case of seeing how he's brought to justice. There's some quite jarring anti-Semitism (it was written in 1933). I passed the book onto SM, who enjoyed it, as he liked the character studies, whereas I'm more involved with the plot. [E12]
Christmas at Thrush Green by Miss Read
The last of the Thrush Green stories and another festive read. I didn't find they worked as well as earlier ones, but this may well be because the book was written by the original Miss Read's (Dora Saint) editor, based on ideas and suggestions from her. [D12]
A Maigret Christmas and Other Stories by Georges Simenon
I had promised myself I would read a Christmas mystery from the library and this was a replacement as I failed to finish a different book (about a fifth of the way through I knew I wasn't interested, so took it back). I've been wanting to read Maigret for a while, so this was the perfect introduction. Only one of the three involved Maigret, but all are set in Paris of the period and I thoroughly enjoyed them. Once again SM is also reading and enjoying it. [A12]
The White Priory Murders by Carter Dickson
The latest British Library Crime Classics Christmas novel which I treated myself to. Carter Dickson is a pseudonym of John Dickson Carr, who writes a lot of impossible crimes. This one was going along quite nicely until the reveal at the end, which just seemed about as implausible as the murder had seemed to the detective. I thought one of the other characters should have been the murderer. [C12]
A Very Murderous Christmas/Murder at Christmas/Murder in Midwinter/Murder on a Winter's Night/Murder in the Falling Snow
all edited by Cecily Gayford
The reason why I made 90 books - I read one book a week starting on Advent Sunday. I'm a great fan of short mystery stories and so enjoyed these books very much. A few of the stories I'd read before - I think I've read all the Cyril Hare short stories, but am always happy to reread, and I skipped the Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories, because I know them very well. As with all anthologies some stories are better than others, but there were sufficient good ones to keep me very happily amused. [B12]
And I couldn't finish my last book review of the year without sharing the Book Bingo badge the lovely
kingstoken created:And look out for my 2023 book bingo post in the next few days!
