I've got (as usual!) four books going at present, and for a change, they are actually all mysteries.

1) Bedside book: The Rose Rent by Ellis Peters (comfy old shoe challenge category)

2) Main 'home' book: Sleepless by Charlie Huston

3) Tote to work book: Wilful Behaviour by Donna Leon

4) Audio book: Before the Frost by Henning Mankell (which reminds me, I need to post my in print version to my bookshelf)

Enjoying all of them, although they are all very different books!

What about you--how are you kicking this brand spanking new month off?

Cheryl

Today I will be starting a challenge book, The Chocolate Snowman Murders by Joanna Carl. 

ETA, challenge #12

I just finished the second Rev. Clare and Russ Van Alstyne book and really enjoyed it.  I find the detailed descriptions of some of the situations to remind me a lot of Nevada Barr, in a good way.  She's one of my favorites!

Right now I am reading a non-mystery, Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford and it is an enjoyable addition to the Jane Austen genre.  And I just picked up Steamed by Jessica Conant-Park and Susan Conant for the mystery challenge (read something geographically close to you).  In audio, I am listening to Slipknot by Linda Greenlaw.  Not quite sure of what I think of this one yet, but I think I like the Jacobia Tiptree series by Sarah Graves a little better (both series are set in small Maine towns).

I am halfway through No Mercy by Lori G. Armstrong and I am going to hold final judgement until I finish it. There are a lot of really good things going for this book but a couple of things that are buggin' me!

After that I have four or five library books to finish including Death at the Crossroads which is a challenge book.  I have the fourth Mark Schweizer "Liturgical Mystery" sitting here that will be finished in just a few hours and I also picked up the next Grabenstein book at the library yesterday because I'm impatient! 

LOTS to read!

I am reading Toasting Tina by Evan Marshall.  This is a Jane Stuart and Winky mystery.  I am not a bit fan of books with pets that help the main character solve the mystery but will give this one a chance. 

I accomplished reading 15 books in January so would like to read that many or more this month...only time will tell if I do or not.

I will be starting (and probably finishing) my second challenge book today: A Man Lay Dead, by Ngaio Marsh. Guess which category that's for! ;)

I was really excited to see that title when I signed up for the challenge, because I've been meaning to give Marsh a try and it's the first of her Roderick Alleyn books! (I try to read books in a series in order, even when it's a mystery series and the order is less important. . .)

But other than that I don't have a ton of mysteries planned for this month, unless I finish my classics challenge book, my four fantasy challenge books, and my four SF challenge books ahead of schedule!

Let's see, I finished Feint of Art by Hailey Lind, and found it enjoyable.  I see the beginning of a Stephanie Plumish love triangle going on, but the two men are so totally, totally different that i find myself interested in seeing where it goes. The next book is on my shelf.

I also read a non-mystery, 92 Pacific Boulevard by Debbie Macomber. Last night I started Antiques Maul by Barbara Allen. This is the second book in the series. It's set in the Midwest, along the Mississippi River where I live, which is rather fun.  However, the main character's incompetence and her mother's craziness are grating on my nerves already. I have the third book already, so will read it before I decide to abandon the series.

I brought Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (first of series) to work today because I knew I'd have some down time.  It's odd, because she's not a nice person, but something about her interests me--at least at this point.

Next on my list will be the next Deborah Knott book, the title of which eludes me. Winter Something or the Other!

Just started Doom With a View by Victoria Laurie.  I am listening to H is for Homicide by Sue Grafton in my car.

Well, I can't say I'm reading mysteries but yesterday I finished Real Vampires Have Curves by Gerry Bartlett.  It does have a bit of mystery to it.  I had a bit of trouble getting into it and suddenly I was flipping pages and finished it.  I immediately picked up Because Your Vampite Said So by MIchelle Bardsley and finished it in about four hours.  Speedy read.  A bit of fun here and there.  Definately light reading not gory, vampire things.  They're vampires, they've been turned by mistake and they're living in their town and being protected by the old vampires.  I immediately picked up Wait Til Your Vampire Gets Home and darn it fell asleep with it in my hand!

I've promised them to someone and I have this week to get through a couple more books.

I also have Dana Stabenow's Prepared for Rage going.  I've just started it but so far so good.

Cheryl and I share a habit - a book in this spot and another in that one.  I have my car book which is read while waiting in a line or a doctor's office.  Then the book to read in bed and the book to read at breakfast (a meal I eat alone).  So, I always have a minium of thre books going.

Just finished " Brazen Virtue" by Nora Roberts, starting "Hot Ice" tonight.

I'm reading The Dead Cat Bounce by Sarah Graves for challenge #1 and still working on The Women in White by Wilkie Collins on my e-reader.  This is pretty slow going since I mainly only read it during lunch at work.  Waiting on an audio book from the library.

I'm reading Murder in the Bastille by Cara Black.  It's the 4th book in this series I've read, and I'm finding it a little slower going than the others.

I finished "No Mercy".  Overall, I liked it and I would recommend it to people who like action-packed, moderately violent mysteries. I'm not sure I like this main character, Mercy Gunderson, as well as Julie Collins, the main character in Armstrong's other series.  Mercy is fraught with tragedy, almost to the point of absurdity but...the book holds together well and the Native American culture stuff is interesting.

I am now reading "The Soprano Wore Falsettos" and I'm making headway on the Dale Furutani book.  I'm not sure that I will read others in this series but I'll knock another book off my challenge list when I finish it.  Waiting in the wings are several library books including the first Cody McFayden book, a William Kent Krueger and the second in the silver rush series by Ann Parker.

Picked up Alter of Eden by James Rollins from the library on Sunday and started it immediately.  I had put down Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane so I could get the library book back since there is a wait list.  I'll then finish Shutter Island,  and then not so sure.  I have been getting so many great suggestions from this forum that my TBR list is HUGE!

PhoenixFalls, I do hope you like Ngaio Marsh.  I absolutely love her books!  While not absolutely necessary, if you can read them in order that would be good, helps as the characters develop. 

I am reading Bookplate Special by Lorna Barnett.  This is the 3rd book in the series. I have to say that while the mystery is okay, I just want to slap the MC, Trisha.  She annoys me in this one. Specifically in her relationships and in dealing with the police.

I finished A Man Lay Dead and I must admit I wasn't terribly impressed. . . but seeing as it was a first novel I'm game to give Marsh a couple more tries whenever I have some down time from challenge books!

I finished "Death at the Crossroads" last evening.  It was actually, not too bad.  The author got tied up a bit in descriptions of everyday life in 17th century Japan but the mystery was pretty good.

I'm thirty pages from the end of "The Soprano Wore Falsettos" by Mark Schweizer.  These books are just plain funny.  I've read four of them in just over a month so I'm glad that my library actually has to BUY the remaining three in the series before I can get my paws on them. It will slow my consumption of them!

I'm also fighting a cold (I do believe I'm winning the battle) so I'm going to grab a couple of books and head for the comfort of my bed.

I'm reading The Book Stops Here by Ian Sansom and I had a minor tragedy - the binding broke!  It's a new looking hard-cover, for pete's sake!  I was being gentle with it, too.  Oh well.  The story is light hearted, Israel Armstrong, the MC, is a sort of Charlie Brown kind of guy.  Nothing ever goes right for him and it all makes for some funny reading, which I needed because I just finished Tale of Two Cities for the classics challenge. Sigh.  I hate it when books make me cry.

I seem to need to have mutiple books going at the same time, too, so I'm also reading Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell which is wickedly funny!

Just finished The Blood Dimmed Tide by Rennie Airth and even though it had a little different flavor from River of Darkness, I loved it. This author's style of writing just "clicks" with me.

Started What Remains of Heaven by C. S. Harris which I've decided to use as the recently published book for the challenge. I really like these Sebastian St. Cyr novels. History and a great mystery!!

Finished reading Toasting Tina by Evan Marshall last night.  It turned out to be a lot better then I thought it would.  The cat had very little to do with solving the mystery in this book.  

I am now reading Fleece Navidad by Maggie Sefton.  This is one of the Knitting Mystery series.  The other books in this series that I have read have been very good so hope that this one will be as well.

LeeAnne, I am FINALLY reading the first Julia Spencer-Fleming.  I'm enjoying it, but it's taking me awhile to get through because it's such small print.  (and I'm sure it's not my again eyes that are the problem, right?)

Melani, I think you'll really like this series!  I'm glad to hear you're reading it.  Good luck with the eyes.  **coughcoughIwearprogressivebifocalscoughcough**

Melani, looking forward to hearing what you think of the Julia Spencer-Flemming book.  I am really enjoying that series. 

I just finished a non-mystery, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, which I enjoyed.  Not sure what I will pick up next.  My older daugher is starting a unit on the Iditerod dogsled race, so I am considering reading Murder on the Iditerod Trail. Has anyone read this series?  It isn't anything I know much about so it will make for some interesting dinnertable conversations, I hope!

I am also finishing up Jane Bites Back, another non-mystery.  I am on a bit of Austen genre fiction kick.  It is pretty funny and I am enjoying it but I want to be able to get it back to the library so the next person on the list can read it.

I've not read that book, Ana, but your thread brought to mind the fact that my husband, who tends to be a bit punny, calls huskies "Iditerdogs". Heee! :D

I've started The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver.  It's been on my shelf since March 08 so I will be using it as a bonus book in the challenge.