2025 READING CHALLENGES

 CHALLENGES:


REPORTER CHALLENGE 2025

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Who? What? Where? When? How?

Why? – Because it's fun!

 Cub reporter: 5 books (1 from each category)

Columnist: 10 books (2 from each category)

News Anchor: 15 books (3 from each category)

Editor: 20 books (4 from each category)

Newspaper Mogul: 25 books (5 from each category)

 

BONUS CATEGORY:

Pulitzer Prize Winner (Newspaper Mogul plus Bonus Category) = 30 books

 

EXTRA BONUS CATEGORY:

Nobel Prize for Literature (Newspaper Mogul plus Pulitzer Prize + Extra Bonus) = 31 books

TOTAL=31/31

5/5

WHO

Protagonist is established in their business or career The Little Lost Library by Ellery Adams (bookshop)

Any Character who is a dead person (ghost, skeleton, vampire, zombie…anybody who is dead) A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke (ghost)

A Main Character who works with animals (K9, trainer, vet, etc.) You Have Gone Too Far by Carlene O'Connor (vet)

A Side Character who is fun/kooky (you'd want to be this person's BFF) Miss Morton and the Spirits of the Underworld by Catherine Lloyd (Mrs. Frogerton)

A Character who works with books or writes A Killer Clue by Victoria Gilbert (Cataloger)

5/5

WHAT

A number in the title Two weddings and a Murder by Alyssa Maxwell

A food in the title Mint Cookie Murder by Leslie Langtry

Title starts with any letter in your first name Everyone on this Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

Holiday in the title A Halloween to Die For by M.P. Black 

Title is a play on words A Murder for the Sages by Amy Lillard


5/5

WHERE

Set in a city that starts with a C, an M or a T I'll Be Home for Mischief by Jacqueline Frost (Mistletoe, Maine)

Set in a hotel/B&B/ Airbnb (doesn't have to be whole story) No One Was Supposed to Die at this Wedding by Catherine Mack

Set in a Midwest state Merit Badge Murder by Leslie Langtry (Iowa)

Set in a popular vacation spot (Hawaii, cruise, island, etc) The Girl With the Dragonfruit Tattoo by Carrie Doyle (island)

Set on foreign soil (NOT America or England) Death At An Irish Wedding by Ellie Brannigan (Ireland)


 5/5

WHEN

Set during a celebration (not a holiday- birthday, business opening, wedding, etc) Bridal Shower Murder by Leslie Meier

Set in the 1900s We Three Queens by Rhys Bowen

Set during winter Murder Between the Tides by Michael Campling

Set during fall The Rose Arbor by Rhys Bowen

Set during a storm (doesn't have to be whole story) The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

 5/5

HOW

Strangled The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime by Vicki Delany

Stabbed Cremains of the Day by Misty Simon

Shot The Case of the Christie Conspiracy by Kelly Oliver

Poisoned Murder in Season by Mary Winters

Blunt Instrument Hide and Sneak by G.A. McKevett

5/5 

BONUS CATEGORY – PULITZER PRIZE

WHO – A book where you figured out who did it before the protagonist figured it out A Merry Little Murder Plot by Jenn McKinlay

WHAT – Title is at least six words Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder by Catherine Lloyd

WHERE – Set in a fictional  place you would love to live Mrs. Claus and the Nightmare Before New Year's by Liz Ireland (Santaland)

WHEN – During a Holiday (NOT Halloween or Christmas) Valentine's Villian by Jennifer Oberth

HOW – Not premeditated Gingerbread Danger by Amanda Flower

 1/1

EXTRA BONUS CATEGORY – NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE

Horoscope (from on-line or a newspaper or wherever)

Pick a horoscope from the 15th of any month. Then read a book that relates to that horoscope.

October 15-- Strengthening emotional connections through positive change.

A Novel Murder by E. C. Nevin (Jane-our protagonist-is a true loner who makes a group of friends as they work together to solve a murder.



A - Z Challenge


18/26


A

Bitter Brew by G.A. McKevett

Coming In Hot by Deany Ray

Deceased and Desist by Misty Simon

E

Fudge and Jury by Ellie Alexander

Gingerbread Danger by Amanda Flower

Haunting Homicide by Ava Burke

I Only Read Murder by Ian Ferguson & Will Ferguson

Just Another Dead Author by Katarina Bivald

Knitmare on Beech Street by Peggy Ehrhart

Lost Coast Literary by Ellie Alexander

Miss Morton and the Deadly Inheritance by Catherine Lloyd

Now or Never by Janet Evanovich

O

Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder by Bellamy Rose

Q

R

Strong Spirits by Alice Duncan

Trail of the Firewriter by R. J. Haig

U

Valentine's Villian by Jennifer Oberth

When Bunnies Go Bad by Clea Simon

X

You Shouldn't Be Here by Lauren Thoman

Z




Cruising Through the Cozies Challenge


Going for Investigator!


20/20 COMPLETED

2 from culinary (anything dealing with food: restaurants, baked goods, etc.)

Tastes Like Murder by Catherine Bruns (cookie bakery)

Flat White Fatality by Emmeline Duncan (food truck)

from animal related (cats, dogs, birds, etc.)

 Summit's Edge by Sara Driscoll (K9)

Monkey Shenanigans and a Midnight Murder by Peyton Stone (Parrot)


2 from craft related (any kind of hobbies - knitting, crocheting, scrapbooking, etc.)
A Pattern for Murder by Ann Yost (knitting)
Irish Soda Bread Murder by Peggy Ehrhart (craft magazine editor)

2 from paranormal (witches, vampires, etc.)
 The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner
Gone With the Witch by Angela M. Sanders

2 from cozy mysteries based outside the US
Murder in an Irish Garden by Carlene O'Connor (Ireland)
Murder Takes the Stage by Colleen Cambridge (England)

2 career-based cozy mystery (housekeeping, wedding planner, etc.) 
Schooled In Murder by Victoria Gilbert (school)
Grounds for Remorse by Misty Simon  (cleaning lady/funeral home)

2 holiday based (set during any holiday - Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentines, etc.)
A Cotswold Christmas by Rebecca Tope
The Poison in the Pudding by Shea Macleod (Christmas)

2 travel mystery (character could be on a cruise, touring another area, etc.)
Murder Buys A One-Way Ticket by Laura Levine
Marshmallow S'More Murder by Leslie Langtry

2 historical mystery (any mystery not set in the present)
Murder inn Postscript by Mary Winters (1860 London)
Murder in Masquerade by Mary Winters (1860 London)

2 Freebies
Dumpster Dying by Michelle Bennington
Frosted With Revenge by Catherine Bruns


It’s All in the Title Challenge 2025

 

 22/25 COMPLETED

1)      Animal in title When Bunnies Go Bad by Clea Simon

2)      Color in title 

3)      Number in title  We Three Queens by Rhys Bowen

4)      Job (or career) in title Schooled in Murder by Victoria Gilbert

5)      Food in title Mint Cookie Murder by Leslie Langtry

6)      Flavor in title (chocolate, caramel, etc.) Gingerbread Danger by Amanda Flower

7)      Holiday in title Mrs. Claus and the Nightmare Before New Year's by Liz Ireland

8)      Fire in title (flame, candle, light, etc.) Trail of the Firewriter by R. J. Haig

9)    Name in title (any proper name) Miss Morton and the Deadly Inheritance by Catherine Lloyd

10)  Place in title  A Cotswold Christmas by Rebecca Tope

11)  Relationship in title (aunt, uncle, grandmother, parent, niece, etc.) My Father Always Finds Corpses by Lee Hollis

12)  Supernatural element in title (witch, vampire, skeleton, etc.) Miss Morton and the Spirits of the Underworld by Catherine Lloyd

13)  Weather in title (snow, cold, sunny, rain, ice, etc.) Bridal Shower Murder by Leslie Meier

14)  Death in title  A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke

15)  Alliteration in title Strong Spirits by Alice Duncan

16)  Craft word in title (knit, needle, etc.) 

17)  Title is a play on words I'll Be Home for Mischief by Jacqueline Frost

18)  Seven word title (or more) Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder by Catherine Lloyd

19)  Two word title Bitter Brew by G.A. McKevett

20)  Weapon in title The Venom in the Valentine by Shea Macleod

21) Action verb in title Dead Gingerbread Man Walking by London Lovett

22) Adjective in title  The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

23)  Piece of clothing in title 

24)  Library reference in title (checked out, etc.) The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner

25) Unusual word in title Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookshop by Emmeline Duncan


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