New to me authors read October - December 2019

Here is the final list of new-to-me authors for 2019
In total I read 44 new-to-me authors in 2019, 1 in 3 of the books that I read.

1. 4.4, SHE LIES IN WAIT, Gytha Lodge 
2. 4.5, RUIN BEACH, Kate Rhodes 
3. 4.5, A MONTH OF SUNDAYS, Liz Byrski 
4. 4.7, LAPSE, Sarah Thornton
5. 4.5, THE MISSING PIECES OF SOPHIE McCARTHY, B.M. Carroll 
6. 4.5, WHAT YOU PAY FOR, Claire Askew
7. 4.5, GIRL WITHOUT SKIN, Mads Peder Nordbo  
8. 4.5, THE SILENT PATIENT, Alex Michaelides
9. 4.5, THE MOTHER-IN-LAW, Sally Hepworth 

Happy Blogiversary MiP

Review: BROKEN BONE CHINA, Laura Childs

• this edition (large print) published in 2019 by Gale
• ISBN-13 978-1-4328-5914-5
• 435 pages
• #20 in the Tea Shop Mystery series
• source: my local library

Synopsis (Amazon)

It is Sunday afternoon, and Theodosia and Drayton are catering a formal tea at a hot-air balloon rally. The view aloft is not only stunning, they are also surrounded by a dozen other colorful hot-air balloons. But as the sky turns gray and the clouds start to boil up, a strange object zooms out of nowhere. It is a drone, and it appears to be buzzing around the balloons, checking them out. As Theodosia and Drayton watch, the drone, hovering like some angry, mechanized insect, deliberately crashes into the balloon next to them.

An enormous, fiery explosion erupts, and everyone watches in horror as the balloon plummets to the earth, killing all three of its passengers. Sirens scream, first responders arrive, and Theodosia is interviewed by the police. During the interview she learns that one of the downed occupants was Don Kingsley, the CEO of a local software company, SyncSoft. Not only do the police suspect Kingsley as the primary target, they learn that he possessed a rare Revolutionary War Union Jack flag that several people were rabidly bidding on.

Intrigued, Theodosia begins her own investigation. Was it the CEO's soon-to-be ex-wife, who is restoring an enormous mansion at no expense? The CEO's personal assistant, who also functioned as curator of his prized collection of Americana? Two rival antiques' dealers known for dirty dealing? Or was the killer the fiancee of one of Theodosia's dear friends, who turns out to be an employee-and whistle-blower-at SyncSoft? INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS!

My take

An easy gentle read to start the new year with, but probably just a bit too cozy for my tastes, although there is plenty of action and plenty of mystery.

This is the most recent in a long series related to tea and mystery with a well established sleuth. I was fascinated by the linking to modern technologies: mobile phones and email are in frequent use, the "murder weapon" is a drone, and there are references to local terrorism.

My rating: 4.3

About the author

Author Laura Childs is a New York Times bestselling [prolific] author known for penning down the famous mystery series’ including the Cackleberry Club Mysteries, the Scrapbook Mysteries and the Tea Shop Mysteries. The name Laura Childs is actually a pseudonym used by author Gerry Schmitt for writing her novels.... The first series written by her, the “Tea Shop Mysteries” is set in the district of Charleston [Virginia], which has a historical background. The series is based on the life of the main character Theodosia Browning, who is the owner of a tea shop named Indigo Tea Shop.
....Laura has described Theodosia as a savvy businesswoman and the care taker of her dog Earl Gray. She is also an amateur sleuth and likes to solve several crimes based on her intelligence without relying on the insufficient police work or coincidences. The series goes on to show various historical and mysterious aspects of the district of Charleston in a highly atmospheric, rife and charming manner.

Best Reads in 2019

Here are my best reads for 2019

1. 5.0, THE TURN OF THE KEY, Ruth Ware
2. 5.0, THE PROMISED LAND, Barry Maitland
3. 5.0, IN A HOUSE OF LIES, Ian Rankin 
4. 5.0, THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR, Liz Byrski
5. 4.8, GOOD GIRL BAD GIRL, Michael Robotham
6. 4.8, THE CHAIN, Adrian McKinty  
7. 4.8, THE SCHOLAR, Dervla McTiernan
8. 4.8, THE MARRIAGE CLUB, Kate Legge 
9. 4.8, THE NIGHT STALKER, Robert Bryndza
10. 4.8, NINTH AND NOWHERE, Jeffery Deaver
11. 4.8, DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS, Jo Spain 
12. 4.8, SNAP, Belinda Bauer 
13. 4.8, THE NANNY, Gilly Macmillan
14. 4.8, LAST BREATH, Robert Bryndza

What I read in December 2019

Despite the social whirl of the final month of the year, I had a particularly good reading month.
My Pick of the month was shared between 4.8, THE NANNY, Gilly Macmillan and 4.8, DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS, Jo Spain

1. 4.5, WHAT YOU PAY FOR, Claire Askew
2. 4.4, A NOISE DOWNSTAIRS, Linwood Barclay
3. 4.6, THE RIDDLE OF THE THIRD MILE, Colin Dexter - audio book  
4. 4.7, THE LYING ROOM, Nicci French
5. 4.4, POIROT'S EARLY CASES, Agatha Christie
6. 4.4, I KNOW WHO YOU ARE, Alice Feeney
7. 4.5, GIRL WITHOUT SKIN, Mads Peder Nordbo 
8. 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS, Elly Griffiths
9. 4.5, THE SILENT PATIENT, Alex Michaelides 
10. 4.8, THE NANNY, Gilly Macmillan
11. 4.6, THE JEWEL THAT WAS OURS, Colin Dexter - audio book
12. 4.5, THE MOTHER-IN-LAW, Sally Hepworth 
13. 4.8, DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS, Jo Spain  

See what others have chosen for their Pick of the Month

Pick of the Month - December 2019

Crime Fiction Pick of the Month 2019

Many crime fiction bloggers write a summary post at the end of each month listing what they've read, and some, like me, even go as far as naming their pick of the month.

This meme is an attempt to aggregate those summary posts.
It is an invitation to you to write your own summary post for December 2019, identify your crime fiction best read of the month, and add your post's URL to the Mr Linky below.
If Mr Linky does not appear for you, leave the URL in a comment and I will add it myself.

You can list all the books you've read in the past month on your post, even if some of them are not crime fiction, but I'd like you to nominate your crime fiction pick of the month.

That will be what you will list in Mr Linky too -
e.g.
ROSEANNA, Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo - MiP (or Kerrie)

You are welcome to use the image on your post and it would be great if you could link your post back to this post on MYSTERIES in PARADISE.

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2019 Reading Challenges Goals - ACHIEVED

I was very excited yesterday when I completed reading my final book for 2019 and got to the goal of 120 books which I set myself last year.
The total compares pretty well with what I have managed in previous years
2018 - 123
2017 - 116
2016 - 118
So I expect to read about 10 books a month, but that includes audio books.

I haven't set my goals for 2020 yet, but here is what my reading for 2019 showed: ( you can find the full lists here)

• 2019 Good Reads Reading Challenge. I completed my goal of 120 books for the year by the narrowest of margins. They weren't all crime fiction, there were some audio books too, but I'm happy that do manage quite a range.
  
• Good Reads A-Z of titles: This was a challenge by Good Reads Australia to read 26 books, each title beginning with a different letter of the alphabet. I managed only 20 of the 26, with the letters E, J, V, X, Y, Z  not achieved
  
• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Completed in 2014, titles read in 2019: 2
  Since completing the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge in 2014, I have read very few of the titles again.
  
• USA Fiction Challenge So far 21/51, this year: 15The intent of this challenge is to read one title in each state. While I read 15 books set in a USA state, very few of them were from a "new state". Just 12.5% of the books that I read in 2019 were USA
  
• 2019 Aussie Author Reading Challenge: I aimed to read at least 20 novels by Australian authors, and read 28.  This means that nearly 25% of what I read was by an Australian author.
  
• 2019 Australian Women Writers Challenge: with 14 of those Australian books only by an Aussie female author, I was disappointed not to reach my target of 20. aiming for 20.
  
  
• British Books Challenge 2019. I read 69 books that I categorised as British. This is over 50% of my total reading and reflects one of my strong preferences.
  
  
• 2018 Ebook Reading Challenge I was surprised by the fact that I read only 21 books on my Kindle. I'm sure I bought more than that as I have a great many un-read . Even so 1 in every 6 books that I read was an e-book.
  
• New to me authors - a personal challenge where I read 44 titles, roughly 1 in every 3
  I publish the lists of these authors every 3 months.
  
• Not crime fiction - a personal challenge to try to read more widely. App0roximately one title a month meant that I read 11
  
• Nordic reading challenge - a personal challenge where I thought I would read more translated books of Nordic origin. I listed only 2 for the year. Once again a challenge where I have a number of unread titles,
  
• New Zealand reading challenge -again a personal challenge where I try to read a specific group of books. I read only 2, so this is a challenge I will try to improve on in 2020
  
• Translated crime fiction - a personal challenge that will overlap with many of the other reading challenges that I have undertaken. The fact that I have read so few Nordic titles is reflected in the fact that I have read only 3 titles in this category.
  
• Snagged at the Library 79. Nearly 2 in 3 of my books have come through my local library, which provides a wonderful service, giving access to any book held in a  public library in South Australia.
  The system uses an online catalogue where you can search for and reserve books.
  
• Audio books: 15 This works out to about one audio book a month, listened to on a regular  weekly journey. For the last 6 months we have been working out way through Colin Dexter's Morse novels and we still have a few to go.
  
• 2019 Historical Reading Challenge.  19. I don't plan to read historical novels but I am partial to historical crime fiction.

In coming days I will reveal my "best of" lists.