I recently completed the annual Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge at My Reader’s Block! The general goal is to read mysteries published before 1960, and this year’s twist was to fit them within certain pre-arranged categories, à la Scattergories.

Here’s what I read, along with a brief explanation of why each book fits within its specified category:

1. World Traveler: Patricia Moyes, Dead Men Don’t Ski — Set in the Italian Alps.
2. Repeat Offenders: Georgette Heyer, Death in the Stocks — Because I love me some Heyer!
3. Murderous Methods: Anthony Berkeley, The Poisoned Chocolates Case — Makes me think twice about eating food I get in the mail…
4. Staging the Crime: Michael Innes, Hamlet, Revenge! — An amateur performance of Hamlet turns deadly.
5. Country House Criminals: Georgette Heyer, Behold, Here’s Poison — I love a good English country house murder!
6. Murder Is Academic: Isaac Asimov, A Whiff of Death — Chemistry professors and their murderous impulses.
7. Yankee Doodle Dandy: Ellery Queen, The Roman Hat Mystery — New York, New York, it’s a hell of a town.
8. Malicious Men: Georgette Heyer, They Found Him Dead — Only male victims in this one!

I really enjoyed my reading for this challenge! The Roman Hat Mystery was probably my least favorite read, but I still liked it — and The Poisoned Chocolates Case in particular was absolutely wonderful! Can’t wait to sign up for the 2014 Vintage Mystery Challenge…you’ll probably be seeing that post in the next day or two! 🙂