Challenges

Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge

In a Murderous Mood Level: Read 4-6 mysteries published before 1960 by December 31, 2011
Maigret’s War of Nerves, Georges Simenon (1941)
Murder Must Advertise, Dorothy Sayers (1933)
Christianna Brand, Heads You Lose (1941)
The Red House Mystery, A.A. Milne (1922)

Mystery and Suspense Challenge
Read 12 by December 31, 2011

1. The Various Haunts of Men, Susan Hill
2. Absolution, Caro Ramsay
3. The Chemistry of Death, Simon Beckett
4. Last Known Victim, Erica Spindler
5. A Heartbeat Away, Michael Palmer
6. 61 Hours, Lee Child
7. The Cruelest Month, Louise Penny
8. The Library of Shadows, Mikkel Birkegaard
9. A Brutal Telling, Louise Penny
10. The Fourth Man, K.O. Dahl
11. Out of the Deep I Cry, Julia Spencer-Fleming
12. The Vows of Silence, Susan Hill

Edgar Awards Reading Challenge
Patrolman level: read 1-3 books by December 31, 2011

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, John le Carre (1965 winner, best novel)
The Laughing Policeman, Sjowall and Wahloo (1971 winner, best novel)

Audio Book Challenge
Addicted level: listen to 12 audiobooks by December 31, 2011

1. The Vintage Caper, Peter Mayle
2. What the Dead Know, Laura Lippman
3. The Monster in the Box, Ruth Rendell
4. Death of a Chimney Sweep, M.C. Beaton
5. The Mystery of Lilac Inn, Carolyn Keene
6. The Miracle at Speedy Motors, Alexander McCall Smith
7. Fear of the Dark, Walter Mosley
8. Among the Mad, Jacqueline Winspear
9. Folly, Laurie R. King
10. A Trick of the Light, Louise Penny
11. Where Are You Now?, Mary Higgins Clark
12. Thunderstruck, Eric Larson

Nordic Challenge
Odin Level: Read 11-20 books by December 31, 2011

1. When the Devil Holds the Candle, Karin Fossum
2. Echoes from the Dead, Johan Theorin
3. Man Who Went Up in Smoke, Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
4. My Soul to Take, Yrsa Sigurdardottir
5. The Princess of Burundi, Kjell Eriksson
6. Black Seconds, Karin Fossum
7. The Return, Hakan Nesser
8. The Man on the Balcony, Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
9. The Preacher, Camilla Lackberg
10. The Water’s Edge, Karin Fossum
11. The Keeper of Lost Causes, Jussi Adler-Olsen

Strong Heroine Reading Challenge
12 books featuring strong heroines by December 31, 2011

1. Coming Back, Marcia Muller
2. A Monstrous Regiment of Women, Laurie R. King
3. Murder on the Cliffs, Joanna Challis
4. A Night of Long Knives, Rebecca Cantrell
5. Behind the Curtain, Peter Abrahams
6. The Red Blazer Girls, Michael D. Beil
7. In the Bleak Midwinter, Julia Spencer-Fleming
8. Bless the Bride, Rhys Bowen
9. Blood and Groom, Jill Edmondson
10. A Bitter Truth, Charles Todd
11. Balancing Act, Anita Richmond Bunkley
12. The Body in the Gazebo, Katherine Hall Page

2011 Global Reading Challenge
Medium Level: two from each continent by December 31, 2011

• Africa: Wife of the Gods, Kwei Quartey (Ghana); Thirteen Hours, Deon Meyer (South Africa)
• Asia: The Coroner’s Lunch, Colin Coterrill (Laos); A Corpse in the Koryo, James Church (North Korea)
• Australasia: Gunshot Road, Adrian Hyland (Australia); Snapshot, Garry Disher (Australia)
• Europe: Snow Angels, James Thompson (Finland); The Tiger’s Wife, Tea Obreht
• North America: Still Life, Louise Penny (Canada); The Shadow of the Shadow, Paco Ignacio Taibo II (Mexico)
• South America: Buried Strangers, Leighton Gage (Brazil); Thursday Night Widows, Claudia Pineiro (Argentina)
• The Seventh Continent (“the blinding country of youth”–Dylan Thomas): A Red Herring Without Mustard; What Was Lost, Catherine O’Flynn

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Struggling with the Addiction Level: read 10 books by December 31, 2011

1. A Trace of Smoke, Rebecca Cantrell (Germany, 1931)
2. A Curtain Falls, Stephanie Pintoff (New York City, 1905)
3. An Impartial Witness, Charles Todd (England, 1917)
4. Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear (England, 1929)
5. Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Blood Stains, Catriona McPherson (Edinburgh, 1926)
6. Death and the Jubilee, David Dickinson (England, 1897)
7. A Death in Summer, Benjamin Black (Dublin, 1950s)
8. A Lesson in Secrets, Jacqueline Winspear
9. Acceptable Loss, Anne Perry
10. Peril at Sumner House, Joanna Challis

Unfinished Challenges:

• Criminal Plots Reading Challenge
  • A book by a new to you author who’s blurbed a book you enjoyed.
  • A book that has been made into a movie.
  • A book with a protagonist opposite your own gender: Fear Itself, Walter Mosley
  • A book set outside the country in which you live: Written in Bone, Simon Beckett (Scotland)
  • A book that’s the first in a new-to-you series: Down the Rabbit Hole, Peter Abrahams
  • A book by a 2011 debut author.

  Hometown Challenge Relocation level: read 3-4 including at least one nonfiction book about your hometown by August 31, 2011

  1. Murder at Broad River Bridge, Bill Shipp
  2. Outline of My Lover, Douglas A. Martin
  3. The Nash Chronicles, Dillard H. Hughes
  4. A Story Untold, Michael Thurmond

  2010 Completed Challenges

  What’s In a Name 4 Challenge
  Challenge wrap-up

  • A book with a number in the title: Three Seconds, Roslund & Hellström
  • A book with jewelry or a gem in the title: Diamonds for the Dead, Alan Orloff
  • A book with a size in the title: B-Very Flat, Margot Kinberg
  • A book with travel or movement in the title: The Crossing Places, Elly Griffiths

   

  • A book with evil in the title: The Killings at Badger’s Drift, Caroline Graham
  • A book with a life stage in the title: Silence of the Grave, Arnaldur Indriðason
    1. Hardball, Sara Paretsky
    2. The Information Officer, Mark Mills
    3. Fearless Jones, Walter Mosley
    4. Freeze Frame, Peter May
    5. Body Count, P.D. Martin
    6. The Last Child, John Hart
    7. The Darkest Room, Johan Theorin
    8. The Bomber, Liza Marklund
    9. He Who Fears the Wolf, Karin Fossum
    10. What Is Mine, Anne Holt
    11. The Amateur Historian, Julian Cole
    12. Missing, Karin Alvtegen
    1. Kiki Strike: The Empress’s Tomb, Kirsten Miller
    2. Holes, Louis Sacher
    3. When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead
    4. The Sisters Grimm, Michael Buckley
    5. Half-Moon Investigations, Eoin Colfer
    6. The Case of the Gypsy Goodbye, Nancy Springer
    7. PaperQuake, Kathryn Reiss
    8. Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone, Dene Low
    9. Chasing Vermeer, Blue Balliett
    10. The London Eye Mystery, Siobhan Dowd
    11. King of Murder, Betsy Byars
    12. Found, Margaret Peterson Haddix
    1. Roseanna, Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
    2. Jar City, Arnaldur Indribason
    3. Mind’s Eye, Håkan Nesser
    4. The Ice Princess, Camilla Lackberg
    5. Don’t Look Back, Karin Fossum
    6. Last Rituals, Yrsa Sigurdardottir
    1. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
    2. Fidelity, Thomas Perry
    3. Tears of the Giraffe, Alexander McCall Smith
    4. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, Laurie R. King
    5. Daddy’s Girl, Lisa Scottoline
    6. Hoot, Carl Hiassen
    7. The Winter Garden, Kristin Hannah
    8. Alice I Have Been, Melanie Benjamin
    9. A Metropolitan Murder, Joe Dunlop
    10. Kalahari Typing School for Men, Alexander McCall Smith
    11. Child 44, Tom Rob Smith
    12. I’ve Heard That Song Before
    1. , Mary Higgins Clark

  Thriller and Suspense Challenge 2010

  Read 12 by December 31, 2010

  YA Reading Challenge (The Mini YA level) Read 12 by December 31, 2010

  Scandinavian Book Challenge Read 6 by December 31, 2010

  Audio Book Challenge (Addicted level) Listen to 12 audio books by December 31, 2010