Happy New Year! I used to participate in a ton of reading challenges over the years, but lately I’ve preferred to have more flexibility. I’m a mood reader at heart, and I want to feel free to read at whim rather than forcing myself to read something just because it fulfills a challenge. That said, the challenge I still look forward to every year is the Vintage Mystery Challenge hosted by Bev @ My Reader’s Block. After all, I’m always in the mood for a vintage mystery!

This year the challenge is a scavenger hunt, focused on finding various items on the covers of the books we read. Participants must read at least eight books, and I’m going to focus on the Golden Age card (i.e., books published before 1960). I haven’t planned what specific books I’ll read for this challenge, but I’ve already started one that will work: The Widening Stain by W. Bolingbroke Johnson. Looking forward to more murder and mayhem in 2023!

I’m a few days late to the party, but I definitely need to participate in the annual Vintage Mystery Challenge at My Reader’s Block! This year we’re playing Scattergories again, in which participants must read at least eight books in various categories. As usual, I’ll be focusing on the Golden Age, which is the pre-1960 period. I hope to read more than the required eight, but we’ll see how it goes! A detailed explanation of the rules and a list of the categories can be found here.

Every year for the past 10 (!) years, Bev at My Reader’s Block has hosted a vintage mystery challenge. I love a good Golden Age mystery, so I’m always happy to participate. But this year, Bev has brought back my personal favorite iteration of the challenge — Vintage Mystery Scattergories! Challenge participants are asked to read at least eight books to fulfill eight different categories, from books set in academia to books with a number in the title to locked room/impossible crime stories. I’m choosing to do the Golden Age version of the challenge, which means all books must have been published before 1960. For more info on challenge rules, plus a complete list of all the categories, click here!

Well, the entire month of January has gotten away from me, so I’m just now signing up for the annual Vintage Mystery Challenge hosted by Bev @ My Reader’s Block! As usual, the goal is to read Golden Age (or Silver Age, or both) mysteries within the bounds of a specific theme. And this year’s theme is delightful — it’s based on the so-called Rules of Murder concocted by Ronald Knox and S.S. Van Dine! Participants are asked to read at least five books that involve the Rules in some way. Check out the challenge post to learn more and to sign up for the challenge!

New year, new vintage mystery challenge at My Reader’s Block! This year there’s a new format: the books we read must answer the questions “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” “why,” and “how,” based on the detective notebooks provided. As you can see, I’ll be using the Golden Age notebook, which is for mysteries published before 1960.

I’m signing up for the minimum commitment of six books, one for each question. But if I read more, maybe I’ll level up! If you’re participating in this challenge, what book(s) are you most looking forward to? I’m most excited to read Lois Austen-Leigh’s The Incredible Crime — the author is a descendant of Jane Austen!

It’s that time of year again — time to sign up for next year’s challenges! I don’t want to overcommit myself, especially because 2016 was a pretty slow reading year for me, but of course I have to do Bev’s Vintage Mystery Challenge again! Just like last year, the challenge is a scavenger hunt: participants are asked to read at least six vintage mystery novels, and the cover of each book must contain an item on the scavenger hunt list.

As you can see, I’m signing up for the Golden Age challenge (books published before 1960). Click here to learn more about the challenge and to sign up!