An interesting meme of sorts...

Maxine has just posted her thoughts on this matter in Mystery Reader Cafe via Eurocrime and Karen, at Eurocrime, did so on Friday 2 Jan 09.  What's it all about?  The Yahoo group Mystery Reader Cafe is running the following challenge for 2009:

1. Read a mystery with the word "murder" in the title.
2. Read a mystery set in your region.
3. Read a mystery that has been on your shelf for at least a year.
4. Read a mystery from a "new to you" author.

Please remember that each challenge above should be a different book.

Both Karen and Maxine have posted with their results for 2008 and so will I and here it is:

1. The hellbent majority of my lovely authors read avoided the word "murder" in their titles, apart from one: Julian Clary with Murder Most Fab.  But he had to use it, it was appropriate and a fab title.

2. A mystery set in my own region?  Well, that is Wales.  And er, I did not manage this at all, but I did read Welsh writers including Bernard Knight and loosely, Simon Lewis with Bad Traffic.

3. For one reason, I am pleased to say this didn't happen in 2008.  I kept up to speed with my proofs and purchases - just about and with a TBR pile making more motions than two pairs of feet in an Argentine Tango on Strictly Come Dancing.  But I am also sad to admit that I did not keep up with everything I hoped to read: present, past or future.

4. Oh, I had a lot of these and it was a joy.  Katherine Howell; Sebastian Fitzek; Tom Rob Smith; Johan Theorin;  Simon Lewis, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir; Helen Fitzgerald; K. O. Dahl; J. F. Englert; Andrew Wilson; K.T. McCaffrey; Pauline Rowson; Aliya Whiteley; S. J. Bolton; Andrew Nugent.  I've always maintained with the blog that newbies are most welcome and I think this extensive list proves it.  Some are better then others;  but it's a clean line.  Now I am looking forward to 2009's debuts as well as further consolidations from new authors.  It promises to be a big year as long as the publishers continue to find their steel.

For 2009, I need to improve on locality (the number 2).  And I will report back, eventually...

Comments

[Maxine]

Kitty Sewell has a new one coming out this year....unfortunately, Kingston upon Thames is not big on Crime Fic, though we can do Jacqueline Wilson, Mary Hooper and Elizabeth Kay (all children's authors, in the main). All three of them do many local events, which is how in the last two cases we came to know of them and like their books. However, so far as I know, they don't actually set their books in our rather boring and bland town.