CHALLENGE: Reader's Imbibing Peril 14th Annual

I'm going into this challenge a little backward - I never officially joined, but it is a challenge I've participated in nearly every year. Instead, since I was already reading books themed with 

Mystery.

Suspense.

Thriller.

Dark Fantasy.

Gothic.

Horror.

Supernatural.

I'm going to give a little September update of some of my reading.

These are my favourite types of books so it is no challenge at all to read them. 

The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan, 10h 19min

read by Aoife McMahon

My new favourite police series! So well written, so well plotted, McTiernan is the perfect author to tide you over between waiting for Tana French Dublin Murder Squad books and the next Robert Galbraith Cormoran Strike book. I would include this series along with those other two. 

Set in Galway, Ireland Corman Reilly has been relegated to investigating cold cases when his girlfriend Emma, comes across a dead body hit by a car and he takes charge of the case. When the dead girl is found to have the ID of the heir to a successful research company, the investigation gets trickier. Office politics are also interfering with the investigation as Reilly is relatively new to the squad and isn't sure who is working with or against him. 

I walked longer when I was listening to this book as I didn't want to stop listening. This is my new standard of what makes a great read.

A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena, 8h 52min

read by Tavia Gilbert

After two great books by Lapena earlier this year, I decided to finish off her backlist with A Stranger in the House, another suspense filled thriller type book. Unfortunately, this one did not work as well for me. There was too much thinking about what someone might think, and not enough just reacting. This would be her follow up book to her successful debut, The Couple Next Door and I'm glad this was the last book of hers that I got around to reading. Her later books were better and I would still read Lapena again.

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, 

read by Nicola Barber

I'm not finished with this audiobook yet, but it fits perfectly with the RIP theme. Set in a boarding school in east end London, an American student starts the year at the same time that a Jack the Ripper copy cat is recreating the famous murders from 1888. Rory comes from the Louisiana, with all its gothic-ness, and begins to experience some supernatural events, like the guy who is always in the library that no one else has ever noticed. I'm liking this so far, although I'm not sure I'm pleased to see there are three more books in the series. I guess I'll see how much I like it if I want to read more.

(note to self: stop listening to murder mysteries when walking in the evening now that it is dark so much earlier. I've spooked myself a few times now while walking and listening!)

Options for October:

Woman in Black by Susan Hill (already started)
The Suspect by Fiona Barton
The Crossing Place by Elly Griffiths
A Better Man by Louise Penny
Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier