Tracking courtesy of Charlie and Sunny, as always, of course!

 SPACES AND DICE ROLLS

1. Author is a woman -- Patricia Wentworth: Pilgrim's Rest (finished April 1, 2020)

2. Genre: mystery

3. Set in the twentieth century

4. Published in 2019

5. Published in 2018

6. Title has a color word in it

7. Author's last name begins with the letters A, B, C, or D -- Margery Allingham: Sweet Danger (finished April 2, 2020)

8. Author's last name begins with the letters E, F, G, or H.

9. Author's last name begins with the letters H, I, J, or K

10. Author's last name begins with the letters L, M, N or O

11. Author's last name begins with the letters P, Q, R, or S

12. Author's last name begins with the letters T, U, V, W, X, Y, or Z

13. Author is a man

14. Author is dead

15. Genre: romance

16. Genre: fantasy -- Marie Brennan: A Natural History of Dragons (finished April 6, 2020)

17. Genre: horror

18. Set in a school

19. Set in the UK

20. Set in a country that is not your country of residence

21. Set in Europe -- Joy Ellis: The Patient Man (finished April 7, 2020)

22. Set in Asia

23. Set in Australia/Oceania

24. Set in Africa

25. Snake - go back to 5

26. Part of a series that is more than 5 books long

27. Set during WWI or WWII

28. Written between 1900 and 1999

29. Someone travels by plane

30. Someone travels by train

31. Road trip -- Ellis Peters: A Morbid Taste for Bones (finished April 8, 2020)

32. Genre: thriller

33. Set in North America

34. Snake - go back to 1

35. Has been adapted as a movie

36. Set in Central or South America

37. Has won an award

38. Newest release by a favorite author

39. A reread -- Ngaio Marsh: Enter a Murderer (finished April 9, 2020)

40. Characters involved in the entertainment industry

41. Characters involved in politics

42. Characters involved in sports/sports industry

43. Characters involved in the law

44. Characters involved in cooking/baking

43. Characters involved in medicine

44. Characters involved in science/technology

45. A book that has been on your tbr for more than one year

46. A book that has been on your tbr for more than two years

47. Snake - go back to 19

48. A book you acquired in February, 2019.

49. Recommended by a friend -- Ngaio Marsh: A Man Lay Dead, plus Death on the Air and Other Stories (both books finished April 10, 2020)

(Rereading the first Roderick Alleyn mystery in honor of the friend who introduced me to them many years ago. -- ETA: Tagged on Marsh's short stories when I noticed that the audio of A Man Lay Dead runs just short of 5 hours 30 minutes.)

50. Has a domestic animal on the cover

51. Has a wild animal on the cover

52. Has a tree or flower on the cover

53. Has something that can be used as a weapon on the cover -- Ngaio Marsh: Scales of Justice (finished April 11, 2020)

(I used the present weekend buddy read for this one, as my print edition has fishing tackle on its cover -- hook, line and all.)

54. Is more than 400 pages long

55. Is more than 500 pages long

56. Was published more than 100 years ago

57. Was published more than 50 years ago

58. Was published more than 25 years ago

59. Was published more than 10 years ago

60. Was published last year

61. Cover is more than 50% red -- Anne Perry: Defend and Betray (finished April 16, 2020)

(Go figure, I could have used the audio version of Scales of Justice fo rthis one as well ...)

62. Cover is more than 50% green

63. Cover is more than 50% blue

64. Cover is more than 50% yellow

65. Snake - go back to 52

66. Part of a series that is more than 10 books long -- Ngaio Marsh: When in Rome (finished April 17, 2020)

(Nothing like Alleyn in Italy as a palate cleanser after the train wreck that Perry's book turned out ot be.)

67. Set in a city with a population of greater than 5 million people (link)

68. Something related to weddings on the cover

69. Something related to travel on the cover

70. Something related to fall/autumn on the cover

71. Involves the beach/ocean/lake 

72. Involves the mountains/forests -- Charles Portis: True Grit (finished April 18, 2020)

(I checked -- their trip takes them through the mountains, at least part of the way.)

73. Categorized as YA

74. Categorized as Middle Grade

75. Set in a fantasy world

76. Set in a world with magic

77. Has a "food" word in the title

78. Set in a small town (fictional or real)

79. Main character is a woman -- Sara Paretsky: Indemnity Only (finished April 21, 2020)

(Somehow I never got around to the first V.I.  Warshawski novel.  Now just may be the moment to make up for that.)

80. Main character is a man

81. Ghost story

82. Genre: urban fantasy

83. Genre: cozy mystery

84. Genre: police procedural -- Lee Goldberg: Lost Hills (finished April 22, 2020)

85. Written by an author who has published more than 10 books

86. Author's debut book

87. Snake - go back to 57

88. Comic/graphic novel

89. Published between 2000 and 2017

90. A new-to-you author

91. Snake - go back to 61

92. Reread of a childhood favorite

93. Author's first/last initial same as yours (real or BL handle)

94. Non-fiction

95. Memoir -- Anne Fadiman: Confessions of a Common Reader (finished April 22, 2020)

and Rafik Schami: Murmeln meiner Kindheit (My Childhood's Marbles) (finished April 23, 2020) (since Fadiman's book falls just a bit short of the game's minimum requirements).

96. From your favorite genre

97. Title starts with any of the letters in SNAKE

98. Title starts with any of the letters in LADDERS

99. Snake - go back to 69

100. Let BL pick it for you: post 4 choices and read the one that gets the most votes!

Poll posted separately -- BL community pick:

Val McDermid: Broken Ground (finished April 27, 2020).

RULES OF THE GAME:

 Everyone starts on 1. There are two alternative ways to move forward.

1. Read a book that fits the description on the space number as listed below and you can roll two dice to move forward more quickly.

2. However, if you can't find a book to fit the square, don't worry about it. You can read any book, and roll one dice on random.org.  This is to ensure that if a reader cannot find a book to fill the square, no one gets bogged down and can't move on.

All books must be at least 200 pages long. Short stories count, so long as you read enough of them from a collection to equal 200 pages. 

You do not need to hit space 100 with an exact roll. In order to win, you must complete space 100 as written.

ADDITIONS TO THE RULES

When you start on square 1, you need to read a book before you can roll. If your book fills the square, you get to roll two dice. If your book doesn't not fit the square, roll one dice only.

With respect to the ladder squares: You must read a book in order to climb the ladder. Once you finish the book for the ladder square, climb the ladder to the ending square. If you read a book that fits the ending square, roll two dice to move on, otherwise, roll one dice.

For audiobook substitutions, either check the print book to determine if it is more than 200 pages long, or any audiobook that is a minimum of 5 hours & 30 minutes qualifies.

I have to say this was fantastic! The only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is that I guessed what happened with the mystery about who wrote the essay. I loved the callback to a past case of VI's and her annoying nemesis from that one popping up in this one (Marcena Love).

In "Death on the Edge" VI gets involved in introducing Marcena to her old school in order to talk to a teacher who is concerned about an essay that was submitted describing the death of the essay writer's uncle. When VI pops up though she finds the teacher dead and a whole lot of confusion about what is going on. VI being her, she quickly figures out what happened.

Marcena may have learned a bit after the events from Fire Sale, but she still sucks though. 

The writing was tight in this one. I love short stories done well and Paretsky kicks butt in this one. I could have read even more and wish that Paretsky would think about putting together another collection of short stories starring VI and the people who move around in her world. I also loved the writing focusing on murders occurring in Chicago and how it was impacting her old school which is now full of a lot of minorities not getting the help that they need. 

The flow was perfect throughout too.

The end came too quick, but it was very well done. 

I don't even know what to say about this one. It was so far fetched that two of VI's investigations would even link up. I still love this series though because it's great to read about a strong female character who chose to remain single and not have children. That's not to say that VI does not enjoy gentlemen companions, she's okay without them though.

"Shell Game" has her investigating a police matter involving Lottie's nephew. She also gets a call from a niece by her first and only marriage. She hasn't seen either nieces in more than a decade, but one of them is missing and the other one is asking for VI's help. We get some familiar characters, Mr. Contreras, Lottie, Lottie's long time boyfriend, and some of the women that VI has met over the years through her advocacy work. We also get the return of her ex Dick and you definitely get why it didn't work out between them. 

I liked VI in this one. She's tough and is still the same liberal feminist she has been throughout this series. Paretsky throws in some comments about Trump and how the news media has become fake news. VI is feeling her age a bit though. She still throws punches, but her ability to shake things off is long gone. She gets hurt and it's mentioned throughout the story how she's not at 100 percent. Though she's exhausted she does what she can for Lottie's nephew and her niece that is missing. 

Since these books are told in VI's POV, there's not much character development with other characters in this one. Lottie is still Lottie. Mr. Contreras still drives me up the wall with his scorned lover routine which I am shocked that VI has not addressed before now. We do get a new love interest in this one who seems more aligned with VI. It would be nice if she could date someone that just supports her. None of her other exes did IMHO. 

You see that through VI there is an underlying criticism of the rich and also ICE in this one. You don't see how those two things marry up, but Paretsky tries to carry it off. I think it would have worked better if this story had been split into two separate books. There are huge problems with ICE that can fill its own book. I don't like to imagine the filthy rich getting away with murder, but then I think about Ed Buck and swear a lot so that part is definitely realistic. The writing works, but got to say that the flow was all over the place until the two plots came together towards the end.

Chicago always reads as gritty and full of dark places in this book. 

I have to say that the ending was a bit much. It didn't even read as remotely realistic with what befalls everyone. 

Well "Shell Game" was a good peek in VI's world again. I had no idea how much I missed her until this book. VI is definitely older and wiser about pushing in on things.

I do have to say that this book had the mother of all coincidences that did not work at all for me (why I am only giving it 4 stars) and think that Paretsky would have been better served with creating two stand alone novels. I loved the backstory about her and Dick's nieces' and wow he and his current wife are terrible. The other plot about Lotty's nephew made zero sense at all and Paretsky trying to tie it into immigration and ICE felt like a big leap. I know that she likes to talk about cultural events as they happen in her books which I love, but I was still scratching my head about some of the things depicted in the book. 

What a great short story by Paretsky. An old nemesis returns from one of her prior books (Fire Sale) and though the story veers off in a way I wasn't expecting, I loved the ending. I wouldn't mind another collection by her or if they can consolidate all of her shorty stories from the past few years. I am not really in the mood to pay $1.99 a story.