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.

So what happened at the end there, Val?  Why that infernal rush?  Did you suddenly become aware that you were on your way towards producing a minor brick, or did your publisher tell you to cut it short?  There we were, sailing nicely along in the usual 4-stars-or-higher bracket into which this series typically falls for me, and then you first give us an arrest that couldn't be a greater possible anticlimax, taking into account all that's at stake there, and, literally as an aside, almost everything else that had been threatening to come crashing down on Karen's head is tied up super-squeaky-clean in no more than a few puny words as well??  Fie.

Also -- and I do realize this one is down to me, but nevertheless it does add to my aggravation -- can we please be done with Karen's new superior officer sooner rather than later?  I've had my own share of run-ins with this type of person way beyond anything I'm willing to take anymore (it also doesn't help that I've recently seen -- and am currently seeing again -- shenanigans of a different, but equally infuriating kind); so the prospect that of all Karen's problems that were still unresolved in the next-to-last chapter, this of all things is the one issue remaining unresolved, makes me not particularly rush to get the next book, whenever it's going to be published.  I seriously do NOT want to meet this person again.  And unlike poor Karen, I have the freedom to opt out here; which I may very well end up doing, unless someone tells me that the supervisor in question is getting her long-overdue comeuppance and Karen is rid of her by the end of the next book at the very latest.

Finally, just curious: What's your fascination with dead bodies surfacing from the depth of a peat bog?  This has to be at least the second, if not third book where that sort of thing is happening ...

Looks like we have a winner!  So, Val McDermid's fifth Karen Pirie book it is ...

I am really glad that every book I listed collected votes, though (and it was a close race between the two top contenders for quite a while) -- needless to say, I intend to get to all of them, sooner rather than later.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOTE: Clicking on the image will take you to the actual poll.  To avoid double counting, please use only the polling site to vote (i.e., don't also tell me in your comments which books you're voting for).  Thank you!

To see the results, click HERE.

Six favorite Scottish writers:

Arthur Conan Doyle: Elementary.

Robert Louis Stevenson: For Kidnapped alone -- though his Edinburgh Picturesque Notes, even 150 years after their first publication, remain one of the best portraits of Edinburgh you'll ever read, and his short stories are right up there with the best of them.

Ian Rankin: The man who made Edinburgh a character in his novels unlike any other, to the point of making you feel you'd know your way around even if you never actually get to visit.

Josephine Tey: In the space of a mere 200 pages or so, she revolutionized modernity's perception of Richard III.  Alas, she only wrote a handful of novels and plays and I've yet to explore even all of those, but what I've read of her, I like enormously.

Val McDermid: Tough, no-nonsense crime fiction featuring strong, independent women investigators; including and in particular the Karen Pirie series (also (chiefly) set in Edinburgh).

Peter May: Nobody captures the Western Highlands and the Hebrides like him -- particularly the stark, windswept beauty of Harris and Lewis.

(Task: Tell us: Who is your favorite Scottish (or Scots-born / -descendant) writer?)

This is a hugely popular series & like most of its kind, you probably enjoy some instalments more than others. I’ve read them all & this was not one of my favourites but that may be down to the format of the story more than content which I’ll try to explain.

If you read the last one, no doubt you remember the ending. It was a corker. The old cast of regulars was broken up & here we get to see where everyone landed.

First, the elite police unit known as ReMIT has been reformed with some changes. “Oldtimers” like DI Paula McIntyre, DC Stacey Chen & a few others are back. They’re joined by a couple of green recruits & Carol Jordan’s replacement, DCI Ian Rutherford ( a pompous, preening ass who is all hat & no cattle but I digress…).

Their inaugural case is disturbing to say the least. A defunct Catholic convent that also served as a home for disadvantaged girls was purchased by developers & construction was going just fine until they dug up the front yard. Bones…lots & lots of bones. By the time Paula & her team get their bearings, the remains of 30-40 young girls have been unearthed.  Hmmm…probably won’t be solved by tea time then. That alone would challenge the new team but the site has a few more surprises to throw at them.

Meanwhile ex-cop Carol Jordan is filling her days with DIY projects, long walks & staying sober. Then a couple of job opportunities pop up. One involves Vanessa, Tony’s witch of a mother. The other is an offer from an old adversary who’s started a version of the Innocence Project. They want her to reinvestigate a murder case to see if the wrong man was convicted.

As for Dr. Tony Hill, he’s just trying to survive. Life in prison is a daily struggle & he needs something to distract from his current reality. He was in the middle of writing a book when arrested & decides to pick up where he left off. Not like he doesn’t have the time.

Initially, the plot lines play out separately in short chapters. They alternate & are told in turn through the eyes of Carol, Tony, Paula, Stacey, a couple other ReMIT members plus a serial killer we meet along the way. Interspersed with these are passages from Tony’s book which signals a change of narrator & story line. And I have to admit I found this frustrating at times.

The constant switching of multiple POV’s (often at a critical moment) made it a challenge to become fully engaged in any of the story lines & I was probably at the 60% mark before I got an inkling of that need-to-know feeling. It took that long for each to develop enough to get me hooked. Also, I’m not sure I understood the point of Carol & Vanessa’s little adventure. There are plenty of other threads running & I felt it could have been left out entirely without affecting the overall story. I can’t help but feel I missed something there.

By far, my favourite parts were those involving Paula & Stacey. They’re struggling to adapt to ReMIT’s new direction & suffering under Rutherford’s rule (did I mention he’s a pompous, preening….oh ya, I did). They band together to get the job done in spite of him & deliver some of the best dialogue. The story surrounding the convent provides some suspense in what is otherwise a more personal instalment that serves as a transitional book in the series.

Eventually the plot lines intersect but as with real life, not everything is neatly tied up by the end. If you are a new reader, this is not a good place to start. There is so much history between these characters that I recommend beginning with an earlier book. So while this didn’t fully work for me, perhaps it was necessary to alert long time fans the series is heading off in a new direction with fresh starts for some of the characters. It will be interesting to see where the author takes them next.