Mystery Blogger Award!

I was nominated for this award by the lovely Laura over at Snazzy Books– thanks so much for the nomination, and go check out her blog if you haven’t already!

What is the Mystery Blogger Award?

“Mystery Blogger Award” is an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging; and they do it with so much love and passion. – Okoto Enigma

The rules by Okoto Enigma are:
1. Put the award logo/image in your post.
2. List all the rules.
3. Thank whoever nominated you and leave a link to their blog.
4. Tell your readers three things about yourself.
5. Nominate 10-20 people and notify them
6. Link back to the creator of the award.
7. Ask nominees any 5 questions of your choice, with a weird or funny question.
8. Share the link to your best/favourite post of yours.

Three things about me

1. My favourite time of the day is the morning. I wake up before the rest of the household and relish some time with coffee and to browse all the new blog posts and social media in peace and quiet

2. I love crime fiction and this year I am seeking out all those stories inspired by true crimes – three recent favourites in this genre look at the lives and crimes of Peter Manuel, Lizzie Borden and Alice Crimmins.

The Long Drop by Denise Mina
See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt
Little Deaths by Emma Flint

3. I have a cameo role in A Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys (aka Tammy Cohen) and my personal copy has a bookmark at the place where I appear so that I can show absolutely everyone who comes to my house!

My Answers to Laura’s Questions

What’s your favourite genre to read from?

I love it when we start with an easy question – crime fiction, of course!

If you had to pick only one favourite publisher to read from for the rest of your life, which would it be? (This is tricky, I know!)

I never noticed publishers before I started blogging but there are a number who seem to produce just the sort of books I love but the one with the most sure-fire hit rate is Bonnier Zaffre

Is there anything about a book that instantly puts you off?

Ooh, I’m quite a nice reader in that I tend to keep an open mind but pedestrian openers full of description does put me off. I

How do you decide what to read next? Do you go by publication dates or just what you fancy – or a bit of both?

Ah – you clearly haven’t heard of my spreadsheet (or to be more accurate, entire excel workbook) which I put all my upcoming reads into by month of publication. This year to make sure I read more of my own books, each month has three entries not to be moved rows for books bought prior to 2017 and these I choose on a whim from the lengthy list when I get to them.

What do you do if you’ve accepted a book for review and you really don’t like it? Would you still publish the review?

Absolutely!! Although it has got harder since I’ve got to know authors and publishers through social media, I set my blog up for other readers to find recommendations. I therefore review all books I finish even if that means a low rating. Fortunately I don’t have too many that fall into that category. I do think it’s important to remember that it doesn’t really matter if I like a book or not, as what I dislike may be another person’s passion.
The one caveat to that is if I’ve agreed to do a book tour, I let the organiser know and will publish the review later, outside the official tour banner.

My five questions:

Which book would you recommend to me and why?

Which author would you most like to go for a drink with?

Do you write notes for your reviews or are you like me and wing it?

If you were to write a book, what title would you give it?

What is your favourite book quote?

I’m now going to break the rules by not nominating specific blogs as many of you have already participated but if you haven’t and you’d like to – I’d be thrilled to read your post!!

The Link to My Favourite Blog Post

My most successful post ever was on 1 January 2017 which was about my first book of the year – if you missed it, it’s here.

I’m delighted this post reached so far as it was a far more personal post to those which I normally write and the comments both on the post and via email really warmed my heart.

Thank you again to Laura for my nomination and her wonderful questions.