Mysteries in July and Pick of the Month

My goal this year is to read 52 books ... one book a week. I usually go over that goal, but I have had years where I read less. At this point, I am way ahead of my goal...so far. Last month my reading total was down (4 mysteries), the month before I had read 8 mysteries. So I am glad to report that my total has shot back up this month. I read 10 mysteries in all (and one non-fiction book). Some of these books were relatively short (200 pages or less).

1. Whiskey Sour by J. A. Konrath
2. With a Bare Bodkin by Cyril Hare 
3. An English Murder by Cyril Hare
4. The Sleeping-Car Murders by Sebastien Japrisot 
5. Flesh Wounds by John Lawton 
6. Spy Line by Len Deighton
7. Death of a Russian Priest by Stuart Kaminsky
8. The Suspect by L. R. Wright 
9. Under World by Reginald Hill 
10.  Bullet for a Star by Stuart Kaminsky

The Crime Fiction Pick of the Month meme is hosted at Mysteries in Paradise. Kerrie encourages bloggers to link summary posts for the month, and identify a crime fiction best read of the month. This month picking a favorite is easier.

Two of the books were re-reads. I read all the Cyril Hare books a long time ago. Several were parts of continuing series I would like to complete in the next year or so. It will take me a while to finish the Dalziel and Pascoe series by Reginald Hill and the Inspector Rostnikov series by Stuart Kaminsky. After Flesh Wounds, I have only one more book in the John Lawton series about Inspector Troy, set in the period before, during, and after World War II. I am smack in the middle of the Bernard Samson series by Len Deighton. I definitely want to finish both of those series before the end of this year.

Even though I read several books by favorite authors this month, my favorite mystery this month was a book by an author that was new to me. That book is The Suspect by L. R. Wright.

This book is unusual in that we know from the beginning who committed the murder. Since the reader knows whodunit, the reader is more concerned with how (or if?) the culprit is caught. And, in the case of this book, why did he do it? Coincidentally, I had been looking for an "inverted mystery" for several months (for a challenge I am participating in) and I did not even know I had one in my TBR stacks.

I had this book for a while but it came on my radar recently after reading several very positive reviews, including one at Mysteries in Paradise. It is set in Sechelt, which is on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada. I had just joined the Canadian Book Challenge, and this was the perfect book to read as my first book for the challenge. This review provides a map to show where the Sunshine Coast is located.