2021 Calendar of Crime Challenge

Host: Bev @ My Reader's Block
Dates: 1 January - 31 December 2021

Guidelines (from announcement page):

• Challenge runs from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021. All books should be read during this time period. Sign up any time. 
• All books must be mysteries. Humor, romance, supernatural elements (etc.) are welcome, but the books must be mysteries/crime/detective novels first.
• Twelve books, one representing each month, are required for a completed challenge and to be eligible for the end-of-year prize drawing. Each month comes with several categories that may be selected to fulfill the month's reading. 
• To claim a book, it must fit one of the categories for the month you wish to fulfill. Unless otherwise specified, the category is fulfilled within the actual story. For instance, if you are claiming a book for December and you want to use "Christmas" as the category, then Christmas must figure in some way in the plot. Did someone poison the plum pudding? Did Great-Uncle Whozit invite all the family home for Christmas so he could tell them he plans to change his will? 
• The "wild card" book is exactly that. If July is your birth month, then for category #9, you may read any mystery book you want. It does not have to connect with July in any way — other than a July baby chose it. The other eleven months, you must do the alternate category #9 if you want to fulfill that slot. 
• For the category that says "Book title contains a word that starts with the letter A," the following do not count: "A" and "An."  
• Books may only count for one month and one category, but they may count for other challenges. If it could fulfill more than one category or month, then you are welcome to change the category/month at any time prior to the final wrap-up.
• Books do not have to be read during the month for which they qualify. So if you're feeling like a little "Christmas in July" (or May or...), then feel free to read your book for December whenever the mood strikes.
• A wrap-up post/comment/email will be requested that should include a calendar of books read and what category they fulfilled. [Example: January: The House of Sudden Sleep by John Hawk (original pub date January 1930)].

Monthly Categories:

 
● See my original post about the challenge HERE.
● See the challenge announcement/sign-up page HERE.
● See the challenge Headquarters page HERE.
● See the list of challenge participants HERE.
● See my challenge wrap-up post HERE.


MY  READING  LIST:

JANUARY:
• Jerusalem Inn (Richard Jury #5). Martha Grimes (Category #7: Book title has word starting with "J")

FEBRUARY:
• Faithful unto Death (Chief Inspector Barnaby #5). Caroline Graham (Category #7: Book title has word starting with "F") 
• A Guilty Thing Surprised (Inspector Wexford #5). Ruth Rendell (Category #2: Author's birth month)

MARCH:
• Oranges and Lemons (Bryant & May: Peculiar Crimes Unit #17). Christopher Fowler (Category #2: Author's birth month)

APRIL:
• The Religious Body (Inspector Sloan #1). Catherine Aird (Category #9: Church / Minister / Religion has major role) 

MAY:
• A Body at the Tea Rooms (Kate Palmer Mysteries #3). Dee MacDonald (Category #6: Original publication month)

JUNE:
• Dead Dead Girls (Harlem Renaissance Mystery #1). Nekesa Afia (Category #6: Original publication month) 

JULY:
• The Clue of the Tapping Heels (Nancy Drew #16), by "Carolyn Keene" (Category #2: Author's birth month - Mildred Wirt Benson, the pseudonymous author who wrote this book in the series, was born July 10, 1905)

AUGUST:
• The Postscript Murders (Harbinder Kaur #2), by Elly Griffiths (Category #2: Author's birth month - Elly Griffiths was born August 17, 1963, according to Google) 

SEPTEMBER:
•

OCTOBER:
•  Bloodless (Pendergast #20), by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (Category #2: Author's birth month - Lincoln Child was born October 13, 1957, according to Wikipedia)

NOVEMBER:
• Nemesis (Miss Marple #12). Agatha Christie (Category #7: Book title has word starting with "N") 

DECEMBER:
• Suspicious Death (Inspector Thanet #8). Dorothy Simpson (Category #7: Book title has word starting with "D")