Hello my bookish beauties.  You may be asking yourself exactly what you have stumbled upon, what the heck is #CaseClosed…?  Well, let me tell you.  Back at the start of the year I had this terrific idea where I would summarise the goings on of damppebbles in a monthly post.  It was a great idea, so great I only managed to post three times before collapsing in a bedraggled book strewn heap!  Okay, so I suffered a little blogger burn-out earlier this year but that was then and this is now…

My big news is that I have decided to drastically reduce the number of blog tours and new books I accept for review.  It’s not a total ban as my FOMO would end up kicking my butt.  It’s more of a (severe) cut-back on what I currently do.  I have found that I am only reading for blog tours at the moment and I have lost all choice.  My next read is already planned for me according to what is next in my diary.  Isn’t one of the many joys of reading finishing one book and deciding which to pick up next?  I think so, and I really miss having that choice.  I absolutely love blog tours and that’s 90% of the problem; I hate to say no to publishers and blog tour organisers, but that’s where my list of 20 authors comes in.  I have a list of 20 authors whose work I cannot live without.  If one of the authors on the list publishes a new book then I can purchase a copy.  If I am lucky enough to be asked to join their tour, then I can say yes without fretting.  It will also keep the dastardly FOMO at bay (I hope).

Oh yeah, and I’m aiming to do this for one whole year – until 1st October 2018.  You may think I’m crazy (you could be proven right) but this feels the only way to make sure I get some of the older books on my TBR read.  After all, some very lovely patient authors have been waiting a year and a half for a review from me….EEK!

Anyway, what’s been happening in September you may ask.  Quite a lot, actually.  I think I’ve been accepting more tours knowing that from 1st October I won’t be to do as many.  Desperately squeezing in as many as possible before my October deadline!

In September I took part in 12 blog tours:

Ten review posts:

Hide and Seek by Richard Parker | Maria in the Moon by Louise Beech | The House by Simon Lelic | A Patient Fury by Sarah Ward | Lost in the Lake by A.J. Waines | The Kindred Killers by Graham Smith | Race to the Kill by Helen Cadbury | House of Spines by Michael J. Malone | Hope to Die by David Jackson | The Surrogate by Louise Jensen |

Two content posts:

Scorn by Paul Hoffman (extract) | Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke (giveaway) |

Two cover reveals:

Her Last Secret by Barbara Copperthwaite | Shadows by Jackie McLean |

I’m over the moon that I managed to squeeze in two publication day (or near as dammit!) reviews:

The Doll House by Phoebe Morgan | The Fourteenth Letter by Claire Evans |

And I also reblogged two of my older reviews in celebration of First Monday Crime returning on Monday 2nd October (click either of these links to reserve your FREE place):

The Lucky Ones by Mark Edwards | Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear |

Now I know I’m not the most frenetic of bloggers but I’m really impressed with how much I’ve managed to squeeze in this month.  I still have a few reviews to type up so look out for reviews of Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart, Sleep No More by P.D. James and The Visitors by Catherine Burns coming your way soon!

It’s all very exciting, it’s now time for my book of the month.  I’ve seen many of my fellow bloggers select a book of the month and I ALWAYS look forward to seeing what they have chosen.  Which made me think, why don’t I include a Book of the Month post in #CaseClosed.  I’d be silly not to!

There have been several standout books this month and some of you may have an inkling about what I’m going to choose.  There were two sublime reads which were fighting for the top spot.  However, my book of the month for September is….

My other choice (which shall remain a secret 😉) will have lots of other bloggers voting it their book of the month which is why I wanted to support Sarah Ward’s wonderful DC Connie Childs series.  If you haven’t had the chance to meet DC Childs and DI Sadler then you MUST!

“Honestly, my favourite crime series out there at the moment and I urge you to get yourself a copy of A Patient Fury.  You won’t regret it.  Sheer brilliance.”

HERE is a link to Sarah Ward’s amazon.co.uk author page should you wish to purchase a copy or three (you won’t regret).

So that’s it for another month. I’m looking forward to those Autumnal evenings, cosied up at home with a great book and a glass of wine (obviously, I meant tea there, not wine 😶).  I have a couple of blog tours coming up in October (only a few, mind).  Otherwise, I hope to dazzle you all with considered and thoughtful reviews of some cracking crime thrillers.

Come back and visit damppebbles.com soon!