Reviewing Posts for the Alphabet in Crime Fiction Meme

For the past 19 weeks I have participated in the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at Mysteries in Paradise putting up 21 posts.

For almost 5 months it became a part of my weekend to reflect on what post I would make with regard to the letter of the week. I looked forward to making my alphabet post on Sunday or Monday.

When I started I concentrated on books I had read. Out of the 21 posts 14 were reviews of specific books. Of the remaining 7 posts there were 6 posts of author profiles. The other post was an entry on “Who is Inger Wolfe?” delving into the mystery on the actual identity of the Canadian writer.

I had not realized how North American dominant my reading is until I examined the posts. Fully 2/3 of my posts related to North American books and authors. The U.S. led the way with 9 posts. (If I had counted Qui Xiaolong as American, instead of Chinese, because he moved to the U.S. and wrote his books there it would have almost been 2/3 for the U.S. alone.) I did have 5 posts concerning Canadian books and writers.

I had 2 posts from Saskatchewan which is at the core of my blog. They were “H” is for TheJoining of Dingo Radish by Rob Harasymchuk and “M” is for SilenceInvites the Dead by Scott Gregory Miller.

I had hoped to highlight a trio of Saskatchewan mystery authors but their names all began with “B” and I joined the meme at “H”! Even their titles did not usually fit the last 19 letters of the alphabet. They are Anthony Bidulka, Gail Bowen and Nelson Brunanski. I am well prepared for “B” in a future alphabet meme.

I never exactly knew which posts were most likely to draw comments. I did quickly realize that if I posted a profile of an author it would usually draw more attention than a book review. The post which drew the most comments was “J” is for White Sky, Black Ice by Stan Jones. It was read during the course of the alphabet by Kerrie.

The only time I posted more than once for a week was for “X”. After posting a profile of Qui Xiaolong, at the invitation of Kerrie, I posted a pair of book reviews from his series on Inspector Chen. They were Death of a Red Heroine and ACase of Two Cities.

I enjoyed my trip through most of the alphabet and will discuss tomorrow my favourite posts from the 21 I put up on the blog.