I love a round-up post, a chance to reflect on what’s gone in the year before and to look ahead to what the future holds. So, following on from last year’s, here’s my review of bookish things for 2023.

The Books

In simple numbers, the books I read in 2023 break down thus:

The month-by-month and format breakdown, including the ten books I borrowed from my local library — man, I love my local library, and urge you to support yours as fully as possible — would then be:

Only three of those books, incidentally, were read without the intention of featuring them on this blog. Which is not to say that the other 117 all made it on here, more that The Invisible Event is an ever-ravening undertaking where my own reading is concerned and, well, that’s going to change next year…about which more below.

The decade-by-decade breakdown — excluding multi-author anthologies, whose publication date isn’t always a reflection of their contents — would then be:

Perhaps the most surprising thing here is just how many books from the 2020s I read, but it’s pushed quite high mainly on account of my interest in juvenile detective fiction — plus a few attempts at reading modern crime novels about which I could find little positive to say and so opted not to review.

My favourite five GAD reads of the year? Well, they’d probably be…

5. The Wheel Spins (1936) by Ethel Lina White

4. The Case of the Late Pig (1937) by Margery Allingham

3. Death of an Author (1935) by E.C.R. Lorac

2. The End of Andrew Harrison (1938) by Freeman Wills Crofts

1. The Dr. Britling Stories [ss] (2023) by James Ronald

The Blog

Prior to this post, The Invisible Event this year logged 148 posts at a total of 175,710 words. These posts spawned about 1,260 comments — roughly half of which are by me — which shows that very few people are terribly interested in talking about what I write about, but it’s a genuine pleasure to engage to whatever extent with such considerate and polite people. In increasingly partisan times, the GAD online community remains a delight, and I love that things are conducted here in the mature and respectful way we all manage. My thanks for your thoughtfulness and mutual regard.

Most popular posts this year? Well, they seem to be…

5. My Ten Favourite Literary Detectives [posted 1st April 2023]

Does what it says on the tin — a list I stand by, and an example of the sort of flame which draws me, moth-like, ever back to this genre. These characters resonate down the years, and their cases continue to delight.

4. My Ten Favourite Impossible Crimes [posted 23rd December 2023]

Potentially the toughest thing I’ve ever had to write, and a list that will bear reviewing every so often, but it’s great to look around my chosen sandbox and pull down a few favourite toys to bring to the attention of others.

3. My Ten Favourite ‘New to Me’ British Library Crime Classics [posted 24th June 2023]

Okay, clearly my readers — and the bots that shadow their online activity — enjoy a list, and this celebration of the range which, it feels, really kickstarted the recent fetish for GAD reprints is well-deserved. Will, again, likely be updated as the series no doubt goes from strength to strength.

2. The Knox Decalogue: No Chinamen [posted 10th November 2020]

An examination of the entirely uncontroversial edict laid down by Ronald Knox, around which — due simply to ignorance and laziness — much controversy has sprung up in recent years. Might this add to the understanding around Knox’s widely-misunderstood intentions? No, of course not, it’s easier to be ignorant and lazy, but at least someone is glancing over my thoughts, and that gives me a glimmer of hope.

1. 100 Books for a Locked Room Library [posted 10th December 2022]

Another list, and another celebration of the strength in depth of the detective story, especially where my favourite subgenre, the impossible crime, is concerned. Yes, people still call closed circle mysteries ‘locked rooms’ but, once again, I’m not going to change any prevailing habits and trends, I’m just here doing what I can to ensure a corner of sanity exists somewhere in GAD fandom. And, again, maybe the popularity of this post — over 17 views! — a full year after it first went up will help open a few eyes, hein?

Anything else to reflect upon? Probably, but it’s the end of the year and I’m tired, so let’s move on.

Plans for 2024

Put simply, I am going to blog less in 2024. 

This is not the blog closing down — far from it — but more a desire to diversify my own reading in a way that isn’t possible if I’m writing three posts a week. I’ve had, for example, Dune (1965) by Frank Herbert staring at me accusingly from my shelves for about two years, as well as a bunch of non-fiction that’s of massive interest to me will leave the average GAD fan scratching their head. I want to read these books. I want to blog. Something has to give.

The blog will keep going, and almost anything criminous I read will appear on here in some shape or form, but I won’t be posting regularly, and certainly not three times a week. There will still be the occasional In GAD We Trust episode, and when I do post things will appear on Tuesdays, Thursday, and Saturdays as is usual…but expect less of it, and know that I’m having a lovely time.

How long-term this will be, not even I know. Thankfully, there are plenty of other fabulous GAD blogs to keep you going in my (occasional, unpredictable) absence.

Aaaaand, that’s it; thanks for your attention in 2023, and here’s looking forward to lots of good reading, exciting reprints, and engaging conversations in 2024.