Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge 2013: It Begins

I should have known that Bev, over at the My Reader's Block blog wouldn't rest on her laurels after two years of running vintage mystery reading challenges. So it's my own fault that I haven't checked over there yet this year and find myself nearly two months behind. I should have checked earlier, for - sure enough - Bev is running a 2013 vintage mystery reading challenge that is designed for...well...just about anybody who enjoys reading the kind of classic mysteries written before 1960.

This year's challenge goes by the subtitle "Scattergories." Briefly, Bev is challenging everyone - book bloggers, to be sure, but everyone who enjoys reading these mysteries - to read a total of eight mysteries, one in each of eight different categories. Bev has defined 29 possible categories, and her readers have added  several more. Just a few examples:

• 1. Colorful Crime: a book with a color or reference to color in the title.
• 8. Dangerous Beasts: a book with an animal in the title.
• 12. Murderous Methods: a book with a means of death in the title.
• 13. Staging the Crime: a mystery set in the entertainment world.
• 17. Country House Criminals: a standard (or not-so-standard) Golden Age country house.

You get the idea - you'll find a full list of categories at the link. The challenge runs through the whole year. The only fixed requirement is that the book MUST have been written before 1960. And, of course, only mysteries are eligible.

If eight books are too much for you, there's a mini-challenge requiring you to read just four books.

Bev invites everyone to sign up here. When we finish reading a book, we can post a comment and/or review (for book bloggers, clearly, a link back to their own review) over here.

I've got some catching up to do. I hope a lot of my readers will choose to join the challenge - it should be a lot of fun.

Comments

[Margot Kinberg]

Thanks, Les, for giving that challenge some well-deserved 'air time.' I always learn a lot from the books people share as a part of this challenge.

[Les Blatt]

So do I, Margot, and I've found more than a few leads to intriguing books based on reviews by other participants in the challenge.

[Bev@My Reader's Block]

Les! I'm so glad to see you joining us for another round. Yay! Can't wait to see what all you read this year.

[Les Blatt]

Thanks, Bev. I'm looking forward to it - and to seeing what other participants are reading as well!