I am sure I am not the only one who has seen their TBR pile/shelves/bookcases/room/mountain range (Delete as applicable) gain considerable pounds over the past few weeks, whether the new arrivals were bought in boxing day sales or gifted by loved ones. I had three sources of new books this month: Christmas presents, Secret Santa and my Advent Calendar. All in all 24 books joined my pile, okay fine my shelf. I thought it might be fun to share what titles I received as they might give you a new book to hunt down or you might be able to tell me which books to try first. In the main they are crime fiction, but not all of them.
First up we have a title which made it into the final Reprint of the Year award poll, (stay tuned for the results later today!)…
I have heard good things about this title from John Norris and Tomcat, so I am looking forward to trying it. Next up we have two cat themed ones…


I thought the Pride and Prejudice spoof looked particularly fun! Then we have one from an author I have not read for quite a few years…
Two by Ellery Queen have also joined my shelf. The second one is of the most interest to me as I am always interested in classic crime titles which involve animals.


Quite a few titles by Patricia Moyes also joined the group. I have not read her work for a while, but I remember enjoying it, so it will be nice to return to it this coming year.




Following on from a Moyes a bus load of Rae Foley also turned up at my doorstep looking for a shelf to live on. I first heard about this author from John Norris’ blog, Pretty Sinister.







The covers on these have caused me some amusement as the woman on the covers at times don’t exactly fit the title e.g. the woman on the cover for Scared to Death, looks faintly perturbed! Next up I have a reprint from Harper Collins, which has the added bonus of an introduction by Mark Aldridge.
I also received this title from Margaret Millar…
In addition, I was pleased to get an Anthony Gilbert book. I have pondered buying this one on more than one occasion this year, so I was glad I had refrained from doing so!
This next one, whilst not classic crime, looks like it has an intriguing premise. Has anyone else read it?
These next two books are ones I received but have already managed to read or review. The book by Elias Greig was good, but not as good as the books written by Jen Campbell.


Finally, I also received this interesting short story collection.
Do let me know what books you received or bought this month. If nothing else it will make me feel better about how big my TBR shelf is!
You have so much good reading to look forward to, Kate! I hope you’ll enjoy the Moyes books; I’ve always liked that series! And I wonder what you’ll make of The Roman Hat Mystery. It’s always interesting to see ‘where it all starts’ with an author, especially one as prolific as the ‘Queen team’ were.
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Thanks, did you get any books this Christmas?
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One of my GAD acquisitions was Anthony Berkeley’s The Layton Court Mystery. 🙂
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ah the first Sheringham mystery. Hope you enjoy it.
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Fine looking lot of books. I’ve read most of the Moyes titles (and enjoyed them all) and The Black Stage was the second Gilbert I ever read. I found it a bit slow to start, but once Crook shows up, it really picked up. I’ll be interested to see what you make of it.
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Hopefully it will be one of my 2022 reads. Crook has turned up later in other Gilbert books I have enjoyed, so that does not overly worry me.
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