I ran out of books I was willing to read this month in other genres, so I picked up several mystery novels at the library book sale.

I read a “Sister Mary Martha Mystery” by Sister Carol Anne O’Marie. I enjoyed it immensely. There were lots of quotes from plays and poetry. I did wonder at that though. Would a 70+ year old nun really have so many things memorized that she still remembered that wasn’t Bible? I would like to read more of this series and will be looking for it at the used book store this weekend.

In the same venue, probably purged from the same collection, were the “Father Dowling Mysteries” by Ralph McInery. I liked Father Dowling well enough, but I didn’t enjoy the books. In fact, I dropped them right back at the library in order for them to be re-sold in the sale.

Then I read Death at Bishop’s Keep: A Victorian Mystery by Robin Paige. And I read two others in the series as well. I liked these a lot. A “modern” woman keeps running into mysteries and attempting to solve them. Some of them she succeeds in solving on her own. In the series, she falls in love and gets married. The two of them are actually the detectives, but I like that it focuses on her more than on him.

Another cool thing about the Victorian Mystery books is that Robin Paige is actually the psuedonym of a couple. I like the idea of a married couple writing books together.

Another mystery, set in the same era as the Robin Paige books, is Death at Buckingham Palace: Her Majesty Investigates by C.C. Benison. I did not like it as well, though it was interesting. It certainly kept my attention, but not in a way that makes me want to read it again or go out and buy another book in the series.

One new author for me that I did want to go read another book, though I didn’t find that he/she had one is Terrie Curran. I read All Booked Up and enjoyed it. It was about books and the theft of books and murder, but the murders were really just about the books too, so… I enjoyed the discussions of the books. An additional interesting tidbit is that the “detectives” in this book are a husband-wife professor couple.

Then, at the same booksale, I picked up An Experiment in Treason: A Sir John Fielding Mystery by Bruce Alexander. I thought it looked interesting because it was in hardback, always a good thing with a book that is enjoyable, and it had Benjamin Franklin on the cover. I note that the paperback version I linked to does not, but my hardback cover does. This particular book is a discard from a public library. I don’t like that because that means there are marks on the cover and the inside covers, but I can deal with it. The book was quite good. I would like to read more of these as well.

The final mystery I’ve read, though not the last I’ve purchased was I’d Rather Be In Philadelphia: An Amanda Pepper Mystery by Gillian Roberts. I didn’t like this one as much as most of the others, though the main character is intriguing. Why didn’t I like it? There’s wife abuse investigated in the book, by the main character Amanda. But the police officer she is dating won’t touch it. I didn’t like that at all. Eventually all comes right and I did keep reading till the end when said p.o. redeems himself somewhat. But I don’t know that I’ll read another one. Not till I run out of others anyway.

I’m not one of those people who reads mysteries and can figure out immediately who did it. But I enjoy them. And I prefer having all the evidence the main character has being known.

I could use other author recommendations in this genre if you have any.