Another Vintage Mysteries Challenge!

For those of us who love traditional, vintage mysteries, here's some very good news: Bev Hankins, who writes about books at her MyReadersBlock book blog, will be hosting another Vintage Mysteries Reading Challenge in 2012.

The new challenge is a follow-up to the vintage mysteries challenge she is still running this year - a challenge I had the pleasure of taking earlier this year. The only requirement this year has been that the book was originally published prior to 1960. For those of you looking for some good ideas about vintage mysteries you might enjoy, I commend the comments you will find on her original challenge post.

In the new year, the challenge will be a little bit different. This year, those of us participating in the challenge will have to choose a particular theme for our mysteries and read eight books that fit in our chosen theme. There are ten themes to choose from - amateur sleuths, perilous policemen, lethal locations, and so forth. The one that caught my eye was Deadly Decades. That requires reading one book from each of 7 time periods (pre-1900s, and then each decade through 1959) plus an extra. Sounds good to me.

Barring a change of mind (which, I will grant you, happens to me with some regularity), I plan to read (or re-read) and review:

• A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle (1887);
• The Man in Lower Ten, by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1909);
• The Secret House, by Edgar Wallace (1917);
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Agatha Christie (1920);
• The Rubber Band, by Rex Stout (1936);
• Any Shape or Form, by Elizabeth Daly (1945);
• Dead Men Don't Ski, by Patricia Moyes (1959).

That's seven. The eighth book is a "bonus," and I can choose it from any of the above decades. For now, I'll leave it open. The fun will begin in mid-January.

Do you want to be part of this challenge? Take a look at the categories Bev has set up and agree to read eight books in that category - and you're in. Full instructions at the link!

Comments

[Bev@My Reader's Block]

So glad you're joining in again, Les! And, who knows, given the number of vintage mysteries you read, you may find yourself completing some of the other themes as well. Just looking at my TBR piles, I'm sure I could add the Deadly Decades theme to the three I've already chosen (without double-dipping!).

The Man in Lower Ten is on my Murder by the Numbers list...it'll be fun to compare notes.

[Patrick]

An idea I had was to come up with a theme known as "Devil Take the Hindmost", in which a list of books would be complied that would all refer to Satan or the Devil in the title (The Devil in Velvet, Whistle up the Devil, and Satan in St. Mary's are good examples of what I mean). But I ran into problems-- some books I don't think I can wait till the New Year to read, others don't sound particularly good, and when all's said and done, I didn't have enough books. If I come up with a good list for such a theme, though, I'll definitely use it. :)

[Joan Kyler]

For those with e-readers, I've just discovered that Project Gutenberg has several Mary Roberts Rinehart and Edgar Wallace books available as free downloads, including both on your list. (I just bought my Kindle and am still madly in love with it.)

[TomCat]

I want to participate in this Vintage Mystery Challenge with a Murderous Miscellany category entitled Dutch Delinquencies (need to work on a better title), but the problem is that a vintage Dutch mystery is defined by its style and not its publication date – which makes it kind of hard to compile a list without post-1960s books. With the amount of vintage mysteries I read on a yearly basis, the other categories hardly pose a real challenge to me.

[Les Blatt]

Patrick, that sounds like a really interesting and inventive theme. And let me add, for other readers here, that if you don't want to attack any of Bev's suggested topics, she's more than happy to let you come up with one of your own!

[Les Blatt]

Joan, you've uncovered my secret stash of older mysteries...I too am using my Kindle for the Rinehart and Wallace (and a couple of others, for that matter). The ability to get low- or no-cost older mysteries is one of the strong attractions of the Kindle.

[Les Blatt]

Bev, the chances are very good that I'll go beyond the one theme - but one at a time! ;-)

[Les Blatt]

TomCat, what you say comes as no surprise - speaking as a regular visitor to your site! (For newcomers, check out http://moonlight-detective.blogspot.com/ ) Let me know if you come up with another good original theme - I'll be curious to see what you do with it!

[TomCat]

I'm still snooping for pre-1960s Dutch Delinquencies, but the problem is that a lot of the detective stories published before the 1950s (especially the ones that managed to intrigue me) are hard to find – since we don't have publishers, like the Rue Morgue Press and Crippen & Landru, dedicated to saving books from biblioblivion. The result is that is nearly an entire era of crime fiction has dropped from our culture.

Willy Corsari, F.R. Eckmar and Tjalling Dix were lucky to receive paperback reprints during the 60s and 70s, which makes them easily available on the secondhand book market, but tracking down copies of Ben van Eysselsteijn (from the 1930s), Ine van Etten and Edw. Halliwell will proof to be a troublesome journey.

Oh, and glad you're among the regular visitors of my blog! :)

[Bev@My Reader's Block]

Les, I have no doubts that you'll add another theme or three....

Patrick, Your idea for the Devil/Satan theme is very intriguing! If you can't come up with enough, what about a Devil/Satan vs. God/the Angels? I'm wondering if there would be any titles that would make that work? (or Good vs. Evil to go more general?)

TomCat, I've left a response about the Dutch Delinquencies both at my Vintage site and on your most recent post on your own blog.