The year is pulling to a close, which seems utterly ridiculous to me, yet there it is.

I read a LOT this month, for a variety of reasons, some of which were spending an inordinate amount of time in hospital waiting rooms. Let’s just say the past two months have not been the best.

But, I read a lot of GOOD books, some of which were in published in this millennia!

I read two Paul Cornell books, The Severed Streets (2014) and The Lost Child of Lychford (2016), both of which were very good. In fact, Paul Cornell gets kudos for his second Shadow Police book, as it took me COMPLETELY by surprise. Also good was Faith Hunter’s latest Soulwood book, Curse on the Land (2016). If you are a Jane Yellowrock fan, then you’ll like Soulwood, but if you haven’t read any of the Jane books, you’ll be OK jumping into this series. All three of these are supernatural fantasy, but without much boinking.

I also stumbled upon C.E. Murphy’s historical fantasy, Magic and Manners (2016), which was utterly delightful. It’s a Pride & Prejudice with Magic retelling, and there was much to love here–especially the fact it was boink-free. There was also a new Inspector Montalbano, A Voice in the Night (2012/2016) by Andrea Camilleri. This book isn’t a good starting point, but as a series it is well-worth starting if you like police mysteries or loving descriptions of fabulous meals. (No, seriously, Montalbano’s meals are a character all their own in these books.)

So here’s what I read this month.

Mystery
Inspector Montalbano
A Voice in the Night (2012/2016) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli (8/10)

Historical Mystery
Sister Fidelma
Absolution By Murder(1994) Peter Tremayne (8/10)
Shroud for the Archbishop (1995) Peter Tremayne (8/10)
Brother Cadfael
The Confession of Brother Haluin (1988) Ellis Peters (8/10)
The Heretic’s Apprentice (1989) Ellis Peters (9/10)
The Potter’s Field (1989) Ellis Peters (9/10)
The Summer of the Danes (1991) Ellis Peters (9/10)
The Holy Thief(1992) Ellis Peters (9/10)

Supernatural Fantasy
Shadow Police
The Severed Streets (2014) Paul Cornell (9/10)
Soulwood
Curse on the Land (2016) Faith Hunter (8/10)
The Witches of Lychford
The Lost Child of Lychford (2016) Paul Cornell (9/10)

Historical Fantasy
Magic and Manners (2016) C.E. Murphy (9/10)
Tremontaine: Season One Volume One (2016) by Patty Bryant, Joel Derfner, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Ellen Kushner, Malinda Lo, Racheline Maltese and Paul Witcover (7.5/10)
Glamourist Histories
Shades of Milk and Honey (2010) Mary Robinette Kowal (7.5/10)
Glamour in Glass (2012) Mary Robinette Kowal (8/10)
Without a Summer (2013) Mary Robinette Kowal (8/10)
Valour and Vanity (2014) Mary Robinette Kowal (5/10)
The Escapement of Blackledge (2016) Mary Robinette Kowal (7.5/10)

Anthology
Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy (2013) Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Audio
Midnight Taxi Tango, Audible Version (2016) Daniel Jose Older, read by the author (8/10)
The Dragon Conspiracy, Audible Version (2015) Lisa Shearin, narrated by Johanna Parker (8/10)
Broken Soul, Audible Version (2014) Faith Hunter, read by Khristine Hvam (8/10)
Salsa Nocturna, Audible Version (2012/2014) Daniel Jose Older, read by the author (8/10)

That’d be 23 books for the month, the most so far this year, bringing this years total to 170; I’ll probably break my previous record for books read in a single year (2013 and 174 books).

Format-wise, no paper books this month, but I did get around to finally reviewing a bunch of audio books I’d finished and forgotten to write up.
eBook: 19
Audio: 4

This month was NOT all historical mystery! Not that the historical mysteries weren’t good–I just ran out of ones I wanted to read, and none of the new-to-me series I started caught my interest.
Fantasy: 15
Mystery: 8
Romance: 2
Anthology: 1

As far as authors, I actually read some male authors this month, but female authors (including those using pseudonyms) were still ahead.
Male: 7
Female: 9
Male Pseudonym: 5
Anthology: 1
Joint: 1

And those are the books of November. If you haven’t read Paul Cornell, I really enjoy his writing and both of these books. However, the Witches of Lychford and the Shadow Police are quite different, and I wouldn’t recommend the latter for people who don’t like monsters (including human monsters who do terrible things).