The Puzzly – The ISOTCMN Book Of The Month – September 2026

So September draws to a close. Luckily, this is always an easy month for me to do the Puzzly round-up as September, being the first month of term for me, is so busy, I tend not to read that many books. So let’s see. One, two, three…

NINETEEN? How did that happen? Oh yes, we went on holiday for the last week of August so I read quite a few books then that I ended up reviewing this month. Ten, in fact. I’m quite pleased with the eight that I actually read, but eighteen? I better get started then…

The books in question were:

• The Devil’s Flute Murder by Seishi Yokomizo – disappointing honkaku title, to be honest, with a lot of potential, such as the playing of the flute before the murders happen, just being wasted.
• The Labyrinth House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji – this, on the other hand, is a bonkers twist-filled mystery that felt like John Dickson Carr on acid. Wonderful.
• Crusader’s War by Michael Jecks – the sequel to Pilgrim’s War – not a mystery but an evocative tale of the march towards Jerusalem.
• Death In The Dark Walk by Deryn Lake – disappointing historical. Nice idea at the end, but takes an age to get to it.

• Murder In The Place Of Anubis by Lynda S Robinson – a much more engrossing historical, let down by the obvious villain.
• Falconer And The Great Beast by Ian Morson – Thirteenth century Oxford and Falconer finds himself dealing with the murder of a visiting Tartar. Very good, but lacking the depth of the previous Falconer book.
• The Pie & Mash Detective Agency by J D Brinkworth – a great example of what happens when you read comic crime where the author has a different sense of humour to you.
• Threefold Death by Victoria Dowd – the second Charlotte Blood mystery, with tons of atmosphere, two impossible crimes and a wonderful clue that you just won’t spot…

• Light Thickens by Ngaio Marsh – a fascinating tale of a production of Macbeth, rudely interrupted late on by a murder and Inspector Alleyn.
• The Water Clock by Jim Kelly – after enjoying The American Suspect, I was directed to this book by Richard Reynolds, an interesting start to a series.
• The Isle Of Mull Murders by Daniel Sellers – a strong second entry to Seller’s “Highland Killings” series, a good mix of classic and procedural mysteries.
• The English Village Murder by Peter Jay Black – see the above Pie & Mash comment.

• Murder In The Title by Simon Brett – I struggle with Charles Paris and I struggled with this one.
• Death On Heron’s Mere by Mary Fitt – struggled with this one, but I can see why I should have liked this mystery more.
• Holy Island by L J Ross – can’t imagine the Lindisfarne Tourist Board enjoyed this imagining of their island as something between Hot Fuzz and The Wicker Man, but I enjoyed it.

• Murder At The Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley – Miss Marple’s back and this time… well, it’s a very well-constructed – dare I say Christiesque – plot, admittedly in a modern dressing. I loved it.
• The Rush by Beth Lewis – the epic tale of three women against the Yukon during the Gold Rush. There is a whodunnit, but it’s the women’s stories that sell this.
• The Silent World Of Nicholas Quinn by Colin Dexter – you might think I read this to contrast the feminist themes in the previous book. I didn’t, but you might think it…
• Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz – really surprised by some of the comments on this review. The page count might be daunting, but I thought it was excellent.

It’s been an odd month with persisting with more books that I didn’t get on with, and hence a few more negative reviews than usual and others having aspects that didn’t work either. But there were some absolute bangers too. The Water Clock and Holy Island were promising starts to series that I’ll be going back to, and Falconer And The Great Beast and The Isle Of Mull Murders were strong entries in ongoing series. The Rush was an epic novel that should be read (although perhaps not if you want a surprise in the whodunnit).

The Puzzly comes down to four excellent books, all of which are playing The Grandest Game In The World. Marble Hall Murders, which I criminally put off reading due to the page count, is well worth the effort – and according to someone who’s watched the dramatisation, the book is better. Threefold Death, the second Charlotte Blood mystery, was even stronger than the first with its stunning atmosphere, vibrant characters and puzzling murder. Murder At The Grand Alpine Hotel, a real delight, showing that you can do a modern style structure and still feel as if the DNA of Agatha Christie is being used. And finally a book that absolutely blew me away with its Carr-esque game playing, namely Yukito Ayatsuji’s The Labyrinth House Murders.

Oh, I should say that they all fooled me. I think I solved/guessed about a third of one of them… Can I award a four-way tie? No, that’s silly… What could possibly be used as a tie-break? Well, Victoria did help me out with the inaugural “Five Books” interview, so that just pushes Threefold Death into first place. But all four books are excellent mysteries and I’d strongly recommend you read all four! Congratulations, Victoria (and sorry Anthony, Lucy and Yukito). Maybe next time…

Next month, a number of new titles, including one from friend-of-the-blog L C Tyler – and I’ve read it already and it’s brilliant. I’m also off to Death In The Dales, so expect some from the authors who’ll be there, along with some other new releases and hopefully an old classic or two…