Challenge Wrap-Up: 2016 Vintage Mystery Cover Scavenger Hunt

Vintage Mystery Cover Scavenger Hunt

Host: Bev @ My Reader's Block

I read five books for the scavenger hunt, and the minimum requirement was six. So I didn't totally wipe out, but definitely could have done better. Still, this is one of my favorite challenges and I've already signed up for the 2017 edition.

I read Silver Age mysteries (1960-1989), so I was working with this list of objects:

And the books I read:

1. Lovely in Her Bones. Sharyn McCrumb (first published 1985)
....For the scavenger hunt: Skull on cover (cover photo is the actual paperback edition I read)

2. Picture Miss Seeton (Miss Seeton #1). Heron Carvic (first published 1968; read but not reviewed)
....For the scavenger hunt: Just One Person on cover (I have several editions of this book and this cover is one of them; I actually read an electronic edition which didn't have a cover picture)

3. Knots and Crosses (Inspector Rebus #1). Ian Rankin (first published 1987; read but not reviewed)
....For the scavenger hunt: Rope/Hangman's Noose on cover (above cover is from the mass market paperback edition; I actually read the Kindle edition, cover shown below)

4. The Clocks (Hercule Poirot #34). Agatha Christie (first published 1963; read but not reviewed)
....For the scavenger hunt: Clock/Timepiece on cover (cover below is from the Kindle edition I read)

5. Curtain: Poirot's Last Case (Hercule Poirot #39). Agatha Christie (first published 1975; read but not reviewed)
....For the scavenger hunt: Bottle of Poison on cover (cover below is from the Kindle edition I read)

I think I got all of that right. One of the things I like about this challenge is that keeping track of all the details is very.... well, challenging. Keeps the little grey cells churning, right Poirot? Anyway, it was fun and I'm looking forward to next year's hunt.

Vintage Mystery Cover Scavenger Hunt 2017

Hosted by: Bev @ My Reader's Block

Dates: January 1 - December 31, 2017

Click here for rules and sign-ups

Over at her My Reader's Block blog, Bev is once again hosting the Vintage Mystery Cover Scavenger Hunt in 2017. For this challenge, participants read vintage mysteries — either Golden Age (pre-1960) or Silver Age (1960-1989), or both — and hunt for a variety of objects on the book covers.

The 2016 Scavenger Hunt was one of my favorite challenges this year, even though I didn't do very well with it (actually, I'm still trying to finish one more book for it). I've dithered around a bit, but decided to give it another try in 2017. Since I seemed to have a hard time with the Silver Age, I think I'll try Golden Age mysteries this time around.

During the year, I'll be tracking my progress and keeping all my lists over on my challenge blog (HERE).

Lovely In Her Bones

Sharyn McCrumb
Ballantine Books, 221 pages
Originally published 1985

Publisher's Description:

The amateur sleuth and inquisitive student of life, Elizabeth MacPherson has signed on to an archaeological dig to help determine if an obscure Indian tribe in the North Carolina hills can lay legal claim to the land they live on. Not everyone in the small town is happy about the college project. And some of the residents are downright hostile. 

Elizabeth is anxious to prove herself, but the dig nearly stops when their leader, Professor Lerche, is found murdered in his tent. Even mild-mannered Milo, the professor's right-hand man and Elizabeth's secret sweetheart, can't believe the evidence. It takes a second mysterious death to start a cauldron of ideas bubbling in Elizabeth’s head. And when she mixes a little modern know-how with some old-fashioned suspicions, Elizabeth comes up with a batch of answers that surprises even the experts…

My Thoughts:

Sharyn McCrumb is another one of those authors I've always meant to read, but never managed to get to -- until now. I think Lovely In Her Bones might not have been the best intro to her work, but it jumped out at me at Half Price Books one day. Unfortunately, it didn't inspire me to go on with the series. The central (supposedly, at least) character, Elizabeth MacPherson, just wasn't interesting enough to build a whole series around. And she really only figures in part of the action. Maybe her role gets built up in later books?

But it's a fast read and I did enjoy it. I liked the humor (most whodunnits don't have many laughs), and the fact that it's about archaeologists and set in a dig in the Appalachians. The guilty party was pretty easy to predict, if you were paying attention. And the technology was, of course, very outdated. But I believe I could have overlooked all that if I had just been able to connect a little more with Elizabeth.

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● Qualifies for the following reading challenges: Vintage Mystery Cover Scavenger Hunt (Silver Age Card - Skull on Cover), Women Challenge.

2016 Vintage Mystery Cover Scavenger Hunt

OK. One more....

Vintage Mystery Cover Scavenger Hunt 2016

Hosted by: Bev @ My Reader's Block

Dates: January 1 - December 31, 2016

This one is going to be much, much fun. And I really can't wait to get started. (Even though I'm still sort of working on the 2015 Vintage Mystery Bingo Challenge.)

Here's how Bev explains the idea of this challenge:

" Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to find as many objects on the scavenger hunt list as possible on the covers of the mystery books you read."

I LOVE that kind of stuff! And it's going to allow me to read books already on my TBR list, which is definitely a plus.

For this challenge, I'm going to be reading Silver Age vintage mysteries since I have more of those on my shelves.

And during the year, I'll be tracking my progress and keeping all my lists over on my challenge blog (HERE).