2018 MysteryCAT General thread

Welcome to the MysteryCAT general thread.

After the planning stage, this thread will be used to announce each month's challenge and to deal with any general comments or questions.

This challenge is open to anyone who wants to participate. Take part in as many or as few months as you wish, no obligation. Just have fun reading.

These are the hosts for each month:

January: Nordic Mysteries hosted by sushicat
February: Female Cop/Sleuth/Detective hosted by LittleTaiko
March: Global Mysteries hosted by VivienneR
April: Classic and Golden Age Mysteries hosted by mathgirl40
May: Mysteries involving Transit hosted by rabbitprincess
June: True Crime hosted by LibraryCin
July: Police Procedurals hosted by DeltaQueen50
August: Historical Mysteries hosted by majkia
September: Noir and Hard-Boiled Mysteries hosted by RidgewayGirl
October: Espionage hosted by MissWatson
November: Cozy Mysteries hosted by virginiahomeschooler
December: Futuristic/Fantastical Mysteries hosted by LisaMorr

The format, audio, graphic novel, etc., is up to the reader.

The new secure MysteryCAT Wiki is here: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2018_MysteryCAT

"The game is afoot!"

I have a few more suggestions for monthly themes.

- Female cop/sleuth/detective
- Locked-room mysteries/impossible crimes
- Mysteries involving transit (trains, boats, planes, etc.)
- Crimes other than murder

I assume the idea is to compile a list of suggestions and then hold a vote to decide what the official 12 monthly themes will be, correct?

Thank you for the ideas, Christina. Yes, we will collect ideas and then choose which ones we'll have.

I will definitely volunteer to host a month once the various genres/themes are decided upon, but perhaps instead of voting, Vivienne could list all the various suggestions and when someone volunteers for a month, they can pick their genre/theme from that list.

Good idea, Judy! That's what I had in mind, you said it better.

Should real life/true crime mysteries be on the list?

I also wonder--assuming we don't vote, would it be possible to pair graphic novels with something else also... maybe art themed mysteries? But maybe there's a larger group of graphic novel readers who'd be doing the challenge than I realize...? That one just feels so specific to me, but maybe it's because they hurt my eyes, so I don't read many!

Even though I read Graphic Novels I know that many people do not, so I think >6 whitewavedarling: has a good idea. Another way would be not to have a specific month for GNs but ensure that anyone could choose to read a GN for any of the themes throughout the year.

I would also like to have true crime added to the list as suggested in >6 whitewavedarling:.

>7 DeltaQueen50: and company, I was thinking about that for YA/Children's also, I admit. I think more of us read those and would have those easily at hand, but with so many different categories to choose from, I was thinking that might make sense. Just in my 'soon to be read' pile on my desk, I have three MG/YA mysteries that would fit into three of the separate categories... But that said, I wouldn't even mention it if we didn't have so many other great categories so that some things will surely get left out.

>6 whitewavedarling: and company, I agree about the Graphic Novels. I dread seeing that category on any list because I know I won't try another GN.

So the option is to tie it with another category or include it as an option in any category/month. I favour the latter, that way anyone can read GNs the whole year if they wish.

ETA: I think the same idea would work for YA & Children's Mysteries. They can be chosen for any category.

If this sounds ok to you, I'll reword the header post.

On reading over the categories so far, it seems some are sub-categories, such as "female cop/sleuth/detective", which could be used in more general categories like Detective novels, Series, Golden Age, Police procedurals, etc.

I need suggestions on what can be considered general categories to keep, and which categories to delete because they can be covered in a general category.

You could remove British and series, which can be covered in most of the other categories.

In a bit of a hurry at this very moment, but posting here so I remember to come back later.

I would like to host a month. But, I suspect we aren't at that discussion yet!

>7 DeltaQueen50: Trying to get through comments quickly, anyway!

I like the idea of not having graphic novel as one month, but it can just be read for any topic, anyway.

>12 majkia: Thanks, majkia. And thank you for the Wiki help too!

>12 majkia: & >14 LibraryCin: Glad to see you here, and you're right, we are not at the volunteer hosting yet. But we are zipping along so quickly that I suspect it won't be long.

I’m definitely interested in hosting a month when we get to that stage.

I'd be happy to host a thread in any month other than December to avoid double-dipping with my annual Christmas murder mystery thread (assuming there is still demand for it).

The bare-bones wiki is here: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2018_MysteryCAT

>17 rabbitprincess: of course there is always the demand of one! Lol

>16 LittleTaiko: Thank you, it's great to see so many volunteers so soon.

>17 rabbitprincess: & >19 luvamystery65: It's one of the highlights of the year!

>18 majkia: Thank you. I'll have to check it out to see what I need to learn.

>14 LibraryCin: Me too. Same for YA/Children.

>14 LibraryCin: >21 sushicat: Me too, both for graphic novels and YA/children.

How about a month for an "alternative format" or "not a traditional novel" category? This could include graphic novels, comics, short stories, plays and maybe non-fiction (other than true crime, which might have its own category) like biographies of mystery writers?

>23 mathgirl40: I like that idea!

>23 mathgirl40: I would rather keep that option open every month. Like audiobooks...

>23 mathgirl40: and >25 sushicat:, I'd definitely prefer an alternative format month to a graphic novel month, but at the same time, I'm not sure I'd personally be able to participate there either based on my TBR and reading patterns, so my vote would be for people to just read graphic novels when they want to read them in line with other category headings...

>25 sushicat: >26 whitewavedarling: It's fine with me either way. I enjoy graphic novels and will happily read them throughout the year or concentrated in one month. I just thought I'd throw the suggestion out there for consideration.

I have removed "Supernatural Mysteries" and "Thrillers" because they are the same or similar to topics chosen by ScaredyKIT.

If the list is acceptable - that is, no more to be added, no more cuts - we can open up to volunteers to choose a month and topic from the list.

>28 VivienneR:, The only last thing I'd add is that, considering the track of the discussions/decisions, we might think about taking off the short stories/novellas, and just let folks read those within the other categories as they come to them, like they will for graphic novels and audiobooks. I wouldn't suggest it if there weren't so many other choices, but figured I'd throw it out there since some things are guaranteed to get left out no matter what as things stand now.

>29 whitewavedarling: Sounds reasonable. I'll remove it.

I would LOVE to host Mysteries Involving Transit in May. It sounds like a fantastic idea and I have several suggestions ;)

I’d like to host February with the theme of Female Cop/Sleuth/Detective.

I'd like to volunteer for Classic and Golden Age mysteries in April.

>23 mathgirl40: I'm good with that, too!

Yay! We're picking! I'd like to host True Crime. I'm trying not to be picky about which month, so I'll take any month except October or December.

This is the fun part! Thank you everyone.

>35 LibraryCin: I'll put you down for June.

I'm volunteering for March but if anyone else wants that, I'll do a different month.

I like the idea of a non-traditional format month, but I don't think having it bars people from reading graphic novels or short story anthologies or whatever in other months if they fit the theme.

I'd like to host Police Procedurals in July.

>38 Robertgreaves: I would have trouble with a non-traditional month so I'm glad it is more flexible.

>39 DeltaQueen50: You got it!

>36 VivienneR: Thank you! If anyone really wants June, I should be able to switch to a different month.

>41 LibraryCin: Noted. Thank you, Cindy.

I’ll start the year with Nordic Mysteries.

>43 sushicat: Thank you. A good category for January!

I would like to host cozies. Maybe November?

I'll host historical - any month but November

Thank you both for November and August.

I'll bite. May I take Noir and Hardboiled for September, please?

You have it! I was hoping that genre would be chosen.

I know you love it, too, Vivienne. If you were hoping to host that theme yourself, I'll gladly let you have it.

That's very generous of you, but I am not as well-read as you are in that area!

I am so happy to see Noir and Hard Boiled are going to be one of the categories!

> me too! I thought about taking it, but historical was still waiting too

There are so many good categories available - and still several left to choose from for the two more hosts we need!

Maybe I could do Espionage in October?

Third-world mysteries in December?

>55 MissWatson: Done! Thank you, Birgit.

>56 LisaMorr: You got it! Thank you.

Woo Hoo! That fills all spots.

Would it be possible to change the name Third World? Might be seen as insulting. Sorry to sound so PC, but maybe Developing Countries?

Yes, I agree. I've been thinking of making the same suggestion.

>58 pamelad:, >59 VivienneR: I agree and when I was looking into the subject (after I picked it!) third-world doesn't even mean what we think it means...

I guess developing countries would work - however, I see that Vivienne has global mysteries, and would that be too much of an overlap?

Non-US/western Europe seems too bulky of a title (and I hate negative titles!).

It could be mysteries in translation also.

Or - to be completely different, what about Futuristic/Fantastical mysteries?

I'd vote for the last one! But will go with whatever. :)

>60 LisaMorr: I love the idea of futuristic/fantastical mysteries, but I'd also be happy with any of the other ideas.

>60 LisaMorr: I'm with majkia and mathgirl40. I like the idea of futuristic / fantastical, but I'd be happy with whatever you decide.

Let's go for Futuristic/Fantastical - global mysteries covers any and all countries and I don't think we need another category that overlaps. And this category is sufficiently different from the rest.

>61 majkia:, >62 mathgirl40:, >63 virginiahomeschooler: Thanks for your input.

It worried me too that we had three geographical months, which is good in a way because there is so much to choose from, but it limits our range of reading.

Futuristic/Fantastical is an excellent choice! I'm looking forward to it.

Yay!

>64 LisaMorr: Great idea!

Futuristic fantastical sounds like the perfect way to end the year!

I also love the sound of futuristic/fantastical mysteries for bring the year to a close.

Hi all!

Ellen (EBT1002) pointed me in this direction. I've been a lover of mysteries since my ten-year-old self discovered Nancy Drew, 54 years ago. I'm very excited to start participating in January.

Ellen pointed me here as well, and I will be participating when I can during this next year. I spent a great three years reading with the Hillerman/Johnson mystery group and since we are now reading the last Hillerman mystery this month, I will be happy to join this group.

Welcome Karen and Benita! It's shaping up to be a great year.

Karen, your experience sounds just like mine except I grew up in the UK so my first mysteries were Enid Blyton's, shortly before progressing to Agatha Christie.

Very glad to see some new folks here. Welcome!

Having led Karen and Benita to this thread, I suppose I should chime in and say that I'm planning to play along, as well! Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys were my first mystery loves with Travis McGee and the men of the 87th Precinct following closely behind. And the rest is, as they say, mystery history.

Thanks to everyone who is hosting!

> 74 Oh you Nancy Drew fans! She was way too girly for me. I was a Trixie Belden fan myself!

>70 karenmarie: >74 EBT1002: >75 majkia: I loved all those series, but my favourite was The Three Investigators.

>75 majkia: Hi Jean! I loved Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Dana Girls, even a few Trixie Beldons. I graduated to Perry Mason when I was 11.

Trixie Beldon was my favorite. I didn't know about Nancy Drew until after I discovered Trixie and her crew.

I was a huge Trixie Belden fan, loved her and all the "Bobwhites". Of course, I also read my share of Nancy Drew and Enid Blyton as well. I also remember sneaking a few Perry Mason's from my mom - because of the lurid covers I always expected the Perry Masons to be "sexier" than they actually were!



Does that look like Marilyn Monroe or what??

What???? Is there no love for Cherry Ames, the mystery solving WWII nurse? Or blonde Vicki Barr, Flight Stewardess?

I read huge numbers of the Nancy Drew books, but I was always bothered that she didn't have a career. Of course, I grew up in a very feminist household.....

I loved Cherry Ames!

>80 Dejah_Thoris: I liked Cherry Ames too! Did any of you watch the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys TV series from the late 70's?

>80 Dejah_Thoris: Loved Cherry Ames! Thanks for the memory!

>80 Dejah_Thoris: Cherry Ames inspired me to use the name "Cherry" for a character in a school essay. My teacher responded with "Rubbish, no one is called Cherry". No rebuttal was allowed. It still bugs me :)

>81 cmbohn: >82 mathgirl40: >83 beebeereads: I'm happy to see I'm not the only Cherry fan! I'm particularly fond of the first 5 set during WWII when they were so clearly intended to recruit girls to nursing. I'm also very fond of Cherry Ames, Visiting Nurse and Cherry Ames, Mountaineer Nurse. I actually have about 20 of them, and reread them occasionally.

>82 mathgirl40: I have only the vaguest of memories of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys TV series - I suspect I like the books better! Were you a fan?

>84 VivienneR: How terrible! And how narrow minded! Especially when you could have produced a 20+ book series to refute her.

>86 Dejah_Thoris: I suppose I could put the issue to rest with a re-read of some Cherry Ames stories!

>84 VivienneR: I've met someone named Cherry in real life!

See! I knew it was a name! Thank you for that.

>88 LibraryCin: as have I, and we're in the UK and she's in her 70s. Must have been a really unusual choice of name then.

Terrible admission, I've never read any Nancy Drew or any of the other names you're banding about. but I do NOT need any more series to get into back catalogues of...

>90 Helenliz: Oh, I can so relate...

>85 Dejah_Thoris: Yes, as a 10-year-old, I was indeed a fan of the TV series. :)

>90 Helenliz: I loved these books as a child and I'll occasionally reread one for sentimental reasons, but to be honest, I wouldn't recommend them to adults unless you just want to sample them to see what they're all about.

I have to admit, I never liked Nancy Drew, but I loved the Trixie Belden books, and I ended up reading a lot of the Hardy Boys books, too. I think this thread has inspired me to at least revisit the Trixie Belden ones in the coming year :)

>90 Helenliz: I grew up in the UK (and the location of the schoolteacher). Yes, I'm sure it was an unusual name at the time.

When my son was starting to read, I introduced him to my favourites by Enid Blyton that he enjoyed as much as I had done. Then he progressed to the Hardy Boys that I enjoyed too. Now if he spots an Enid Blyton in the used book store he will buy it for me just for old times' sake.

I was a Cherry Ames fan also. Not Nancy Drew as much. And I also read a series called "The Happy Hollisters".

>90 Helenliz: I'm in Canada, but my friend (really, acquaintance) has an Asian (Chinese) background. I'm sure she was born here, but I don't know about her parents. She's probably only in her mid-30s or so, though. Hmmm, maybe late-30s by now, but she looks younger. :-)

And back to the topic at hand... I read a bunch of Nancy Drew and a few of Mom's Trixie Belden books growing up. I can't recall who I preferred, but I'm sure I read more Nancy Drew, if for no other reason than there were newer ND books in the library!

I've never read Hardy Boys or Cherry Ames.

And how about Encyclopedia Brown? I liked those. But honestly, my Nancy Drew window was pretty brief. I got into Agatha Christie pretty young.

I loved Encyclopedia Brown! At least the couple that I read. I was definitely a Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden fan, but like LibraryCin said, I probably read more of Nancy Drew because there were more of her books at the library. I am not familiar with Cherry Ames - sounds like I missed out on something good.

>95 dudes22:, My mom loved The Happy Hollisters, and we read those also :) I enjoyed them, and the Boxcar Children too, but found the Trixie Belden and Hardy Boys books just a little bit more exciting...

>100 whitewavedarling: - I loved the Boxcar Children too! As a matter of fact, I still give the first one to each of my great-nieces and nephews when they reach 2nd or 3rd grade. And I gave it to their mothers and father too. That was probably my favorite book when I was young.

>98 cmbohn: I also really liked Encyclopedia Brown!

Ellen has a lot to answer for. She also directed me to this thread.

>103 Familyhistorian: LOL -- Meg, I think you are the third person I've directed to this thread and I'm a newby myself!

I also liked Trixie Belden. It's so funny that I found Cherry Ames to be too "girly" (because she was a nurse?) while I could tolerate Nancy Drew's non-career conservative character. I think I loved the Hardy Boys because it seemed they got to have greater adventures than any of the girl sleuths got to have.

I liked The Three Investigators series too. Remember those? The boys did have better adventures, but they all needed a sidekick. Nancy did it all by herself. Her friends weren't the ones who saved her, she saved herself.

Maybe we'll see some of these series being read for MysteryCAT 2018.

I'm sure I'll be participating most months in this challenge.

NEW MysteryCAT wiki is at: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2018_MysteryCAT

>108 majkia: Thank you, Jean.

January thread is up:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/277832

February thread is up:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/283605#

March thread is up:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/286810

The April thread is here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/288472#6414543

May's thread is here! https://www.librarything.com/topic/290086

I'm a little early, but weekends are always easier for me to have time to work on and post these things!

The June MysteryCAT is now posted:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/291277

July MysteryCat is here - http://www.librarything.com/topic/292451#

August MysteryCAT is up: http://www.librarything.com/topic/293613#

September MysteryCAT is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/295451#

The October thread is up: http://www.librarything.com/topic/296231#6578899

November's MysteryCAT is up:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/297624

Hi everyone, I'm on deck for futuristic/fantastical mysteries for December - I may not get the thread up before the weekend, hope that doesn't mess anyone up too much!

Futuristic and fantastical mysteries for December is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/298882

Is there going to be a MysteryKIT this year? I noticed that MysteryCAT didn't get enough votes to be continued in 2019. :(