The State of Play
I’ve claimed 4 Read & Called squares so far, which is one more than I’d expect at this point. I’ve got two more books underway, one of which has already been called, and I’ve picked another 3 to move forward with.
My Halloween Bingo reads in the last week
‘Wolves And Daggers‘, a steampunk retelling of Red Ridinghood, had a great premise that was a perfect fit for the A Grimm Tale square. Unfortunately, the execution didn’t work for me. The writing was lazy, the characterisation was cartoonish and the plot fizzelled out into a cliff-hanger.
‘Dead Man’s Folly‘, my choice for the Vintage Mystery square, was a fun read. After two disappointing Christie’s in a row, I was glad that this month’s book was an above average Poirot mystery. The plot was clever and the people were interesting but what sold me on the book was that Poirot was not his old smug-to-the-point-of-insufferablity self. He spent much of the book either bemused or frustrated which made him seem much more human.
I’m 60% through the audiobook of ‘The Marsh King’s Daughter‘ and it is wonderful: tough, tense, original and totally compelling. I’m trying not to rush it although I desperately want to know what will happen next. It’s set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, so it’s a great fit for the Great Lakes Mystery square.
I’ve just started ‘A Dram Of Poison‘, an American Golden Age Mystery that I’m reading for the Arsenic And Old Lace square which has already been called. The opening surprised me. It felt more like the beginning of a ‘Great American Novel’ than a crime novella. In just a few pages, it evokes the life of a man with skill a a modicum of lyricism. We know who he is at 55 and who he would probably have continued to be had he not met a young woman at her father’s funeral. I think that promises a lot.
My next Halloween Bingo Reads
I read my first Shirely Jackson book, ‘Dark Tales‘ earlier this year and promised myself that I’d read her classic novel, ‘The Haunting Of Hill House‘ during Halloween Bingo. I’m using it for the Ghosts and Hauntings square. The audiobook version of Richard Osman’s new novel was published on 12th September so I scooped it up for Halloween Bingo. I’m using it for my Raven square. I picked up ‘Mosaic‘ after someone else reviewed it for Halloween Bingo. It sounds fresh and quite creepy. I’m reading it for my Gothic square.
Additions to my Halloween Bingo Wishlist.
Reading other players’ reviews has added yet more books to my wishlist:
‘The Stardust Grail‘ is a space opera novel described as “a thrilling anti-colonial space heist to save an alien civilization“. That and a positive review from someone I trust was enough to get this added to my Wishlist.
‘Mistress In The Art Of Death‘ won the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award (2007) and kicked off an historical crime fiction series set in medieval England that I haven’t read. I added it to my Wishlist after reading a review of a later book in the series read for Halloween Bingo.
I went looking for ‘ForNevermore Season 1’ after reading a review that intrigued me. Then I read the first sentence and decided to add the book to my TBR and read it for this year’s Halloween Bingo.. Here’s the first sentence of the story.
“On the short list of things worse than what had already happened to Noella Snow today, being murdered was definitely one of them.”
I was going to add ‘The Skittering‘ to my Wiishlist after it was given a good review by Char, who knows her horror, then I saw that it was included in my Audible membership so it went straight to my TBR.
Mike Finn's Fiction 