Following in the blog steps of Susan, Danielle and Orpheus who recently posted their Theme Reading lists, I thought I’d give it a go as well. So I took a look around my bookshelves and here are some stacks that could keep me occupied for a long while.

Living La Dolce Vita – I love books set in Italy
A Kiss from Maddalena by Christopher Castellani
Delicious by Nicky Pellegrino
Secrets of Sant’Angelo by Jeff Shapiro
Last Voyage of the Valentina by Santa Montefiore
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

Gaslights, Corsets & Mayhem – Victorian mysteries are my weakness
Still Life With Murder by P.B. Ryan
The Spice Box by Lou Jane Temple
The Strange Files of Fremont Jones by Dianne Day
Death at Rottingdean by Robin Page
Under the Dragon’s Tail by Maureen Jennings

Carry A Cross – I like tales of Vampires too
The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason
Bloodlist by P.N. Elrod
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Mina by Marie Kiraly
Sabine by A.P.

Passport Required – I wish I could see the world
Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald
Duende by Jason Webster
A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
Down Under by Bill Bryson
Looking for Lovedu by Ann Jones

Mi Gente – Stories from Latin America remind me of my family
The Law of Love by Laura Esquivel
Women with Big Eyes by Angeles Mastretta
The Burning Plain by Juan Rulfo
¡Yo! by Julia Alvarez
The House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre

This was too much fun. What would some of your theme reading lists look like?

I’ve finished two mysteries recently, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie and Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin. In the case of Mortal Causes I think this is the best Inspector Rebus novel I’ve read yet although that opening scene was quite gruesome. Murder on the Orient Express was fun and makes me want to read more Agatha Christie novels.

One thing I did notice this time as I was reading was that I wasn’t particularly looking for the clues to solve the mysteries on my own. I just let each writer take me into the story and I enjoyed being a bit surprised in both cases.

For those of you who read mysteries do you try to solve the mystery or do you want to be surprised?

I’ll tell you more of my thoughts on Murder on the Orient Express later and don’t forget it’s the March selection for Our Coffee Rings.

Also, for those of you who love mysteries and foreign locales, check out Detectives Beyond Borders. Oh, I can see this won’t be good for my TBR list.