google-site-verification: googlef64103236b9f4855.html Philly Reader: December 2016

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Scavenger Hunt Wrap-up 2016

It is now time to sum up my reading for the year for Bev Hankins' 2016 Cover Scavenger Hunts. It has been quite an enjoyable year of reading. Many thanks to Bev for managing all of this.

First for the Golden Cover Scavenger Hunt. For this, I have read 15 books. I did seem to be quite attracted to the covers of books by John Dickson Carr. I have six covers of his books in my list.



1. Hag's Nook   by John Dickson Carr. 1933. Picture of any other animal (rat)

2. The Lost Gallows   by John Dickson Carr. 1931.  Picture of a hangman's noose.

3.   The Santa Klaus Murder  by Mavis Doriel Hay. 1936.  Picture of a Christmas tree.

4.   Speak No Evil  by Mignon G. Eberhart. 1940. Picture of a telephone.

5.    The Deadly Truth  by Helen McCloy. 1946.  Picture of a drinking glass.

6.    Artists in Crime  by Ngaio Marsh.  1938. Picture of Artist/Art Equipment.

7.   The Skeleton in the Clock  by John Dickson Carr. 1948.  Picture of a clock/timepiece.

8.   The Estate of the Beckoning Lady  by Marjorie Allingham. 1955.  Picture of a policeman.

9.   No Coffin for the Corpse  by Clayton Rawson.  1942. Picture of just one person.

10. And So to Murder   by Carter Dickson. 1940.  Picture of a typewriter.

11.  The Reader is Warned   by Carter Dickson. 1939. Picture of a mask.

12.   Watson's Choice  by Gladys Mitchell. 1955.  Picture of a skull.

13.   Love Lies Bleeding  by Edmund Crispin. 1948.  Picture of a revolver.

14.    The Emperor's Snuff Box   by John Dickson Carr.  1942. Picture of a broken object.

15.    The Fallen Sparrow  by Dorothy B. Hughes.  1943. Picture of a bird.

Then I attempted the Silver Cover Scavenger Hunt. For this I read ten books. I did rather get carried away by the books of Emma Lathen, and read five books by her (actually, by them). I do think that John Putnam Thatcher is a very likeable detective.


1.  Sweet Death, Kind Death  by Amanda Cross. 1984. Picture of a body of water.

2. No Case for the Police  by V. C. Clinton-Baddeley. 1970.  Picture of a clock.

3.  Death's Bright Dart  by V. C. Clinton-Baddeley.  1967. Picture of a blue object.

4.  A Stitch in Time  by Emma Lathen.  1968. Picture of a nurse.

5.  Murder Against the Grain  by Emma Lathen. 1967. Picture of two people.

6. Death of a Mystery Writer   by Robert Barnard. 1978.  Picture of a drinking glass.

7. The Bay Psalm Book Murder by Will Harriss.  1983. Picture of a skeletal hand.

8. Banking on Death  by Emma Lathen.  1961. Picture of a dead body.

9.  The Longer the Thread  by Emma Lathen. 1971. Picture of just one person.

10.   Green Grow the Dollars  by Emma Lathen.  1982. Picture of a green object.



Thursday, December 15, 2016

2017 Vintage Cover Scavenger Hunt



Once again for 2017, Bev Hankins has challenged mystery readers to locate books for her 2017 Vintage Cover Scavenger hunt. The object of this hunt to locate and read books with the objects on the covers which are given in one of the two grids given below. There is a Golden Cover Scavenger Hunt for mystery novels which were written before 1960. There is also a Silver Cover Scavenger Hunt for mystery novels written between 1960 and 1989. The challenge participant must locate six or more objects from their chosen period. The adventurous may locate six or more from both periods. A final post listed those titles which you have read must be submitted, and there are Prizes to be won. For more detailed information, see Bev's Rules for this challenge.

 I am entering in the Golden Cover Scavenger hunt, but I may get carried away and try the Silver Cover Scavenger hunt, too.




Books read for the Golden Vintage Cover Scavenger Hunt 2017.

1.  A Graveyard to Let   by Carter Dickson. 1949. Picture of a graveyard.

2.   Where There's Smoke  by Stewart Sterling. 1946. Picture of a red object.

3.    Dr. Priestly's Quest    by John Rhode. 1926.  Picture of a magnifying glass.

4.   The Book of the Lion  by Elizabeth Daly. 1948. Picture of a staircase.

5.    Antidote to Venom  by Freeman Wills Crofts. 1938. Picture of a building other than a house.

6.     Nothing Can Rescue Me   by Elizabeth Daly,  1943. Picture of a statue.

7.    Somewhere in the House    by Elizabeth Daly, 1946. Picture of a musical instrument.

8.   Crime Hound  by Mary Semple Scott. 1940. Picture of a hand holding a weapon.

9.   Do Not Murder Before Christmas   by Jack Iams. 1949. Picture of any holiday decoration.

10.  Blood Money  by Dashiell Hammett. 1927. Picture of a rope.

11.  Hamlet, Revenge!   by Michael Innes, 1937. Picture of a camera.

12. The Mad Hatter Mystery  by John Dickson Carr. 1933. Picture of a hat.

13.   Death on a Quiet Day  by Michael Innes. 1957. Picture of food of some sort.

14    Buried for Pleasure  by Edmund Crispin. 1949. Picture of a pipe.

15.   Minute for Murder    by Nicholas Blake, 1947. Picture of a clock.

16.   Cold Steal   by Alice Tilton, 1939. Picture of a mask.

17. Hanged for a Sheep   by Francis and Richard Lockridge. 1942. Picture of a skeletal hand.

18. The Plague Court Murders  by Carter Dickson, 1934. Picture of a dead body.

19. Mystery in the Channel by Freeman Wills Crofts. 1931, Picture of a boat.

20.  The Red Widow Murders   by Carter Dickson, 1935. Picture of a bird.

21. Death in Five Boxes   by Carter Dickson, 1938. Picture of a bottle of poison.

22.  The King is Dead  by Ellery Queen, 1952. Picture of a flower.

23.   The Man in the Brown Suit  by Agatha Christie, 1924. A map.