Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to share a Halloween-themed list.

I’m not a fan of horror or thrillers, but I do like cozy mysteries and detective stories, so I thought today I’d share ten series I’ve enjoyed to date:

1. Phryne Fisher by Kerry Greenwood — Set in 1920s Australia, a wealthy single woman has grand adventures in between solving mysteries for those with nowhere else to turn.
2. Lady Sherlock by Sherry Thomas — A Sherlock Holmes adaptation featuring genius Charlotte Holmes and Mrs. Watson.
3. Hamish MacBeth by M.C. Beaton — Hamish is a constable in the Scottish highlands, charged with keeping the peace, except when it comes to poaching or other minor crimes.
4. Commissario Brunetti by Donna Leon — A Venetian detective with a loving wife, beautiful penthouse, and happy home life deals with crime on an off the canals.
5. The Discreet Retrieval Agency by Maia Chance — Set in Prohibition Era New York, a once-wealthy widow and her Swedish cook are supposed to be in the business of retrieving items that could be embarrassing, but instead keep getting sucked into solving murders.
6. Veronica Speedwell by Deanna Raybourn — A Sherlockian series in Victorian London featuring a female lepidopterist and a male taxidermist with tons of chemistry.
7. Fox and O’Hare by Janet Evanovich and (mostly) Lee Goldberg — Technically a heist series, this pairs a by-the-books FBI agent with one of the world’s best thieves to take down bad guys.
8. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache by Louise Penny — A Quebeçois detective ends up in a small village solving a number of well-plotted murders while befriending the townspeople.
9. Mary Russell by Laurie R. King — If you don’t mind May-December romances, this one has the great Sherlock Holmes, retired and raising his bees in the country, mentoring a young orphaned woman with a keen mind.
10. Constable Evans by Rhys Bowen — A Welsh village constable solves crimes during the day and sings in a choir by night.

How about you? What mystery series do you enjoy?

I was perhaps not as dedicated to the Readathon as I should have been. I finished one book, started a second, and made progress on a third. But I also went to a (socially distanced) concert, played too much on my phone, cooked supper, watched SNL, and knit.

But I still think that’s okay. I mean it’s 2020. Any forward progress that doesn’t come with a slap across the face has to be considered a win, right?

And I had fun reading, which is its own reward.

This Saturday, I’ll be taking part in Dewey’s Readathon. I have no plans to do the full 24 hours, but will be spending some of my waking hours reading.

And to prep, here are my answers to the opening survey:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

The U.S. Washington, D.C., in particular.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

I left the final third of How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse to finish as part of the event, and I’m very invested in the outcome.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

I probably did not prep adequately for snacking at home, so I’ll be taking a coffeeneuring break at some point. There will be a baked good of some ilk.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

My reading tastes in 2020 run toward romances, because I desperately need some happy endings. I’m a big fiction fan, but sometimes branch out into memoir. I am a big proponent of my local library, which kicks ass and which lends me way more books than they should.

I like to bake, knit, garden, and hang out with friends when there’s not a stupid pandemic going on. I have a demanding cat named Corey, who does not particularly care for reading. And I am a big fan of holidays, particularly Halloween and Christmas. (I run a Virtual Advent Tour in December for bloggers. Drop me a note in the comments if you’re new to the blog and interested in more details.)

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

I think the last time I participated was last fall or maybe spring 2019. I will be interspersing my reading with some outdoor time — and probably some politicking.

Intellectually, I understand that if my knitting stays in my purse and I do not work on it, it will not progress. Yet, somehow, when I pulled it out tonight, I was surprised that it was still just the handful of rounds I’d knit last week. If only elves were knitters, rather than cobblers! (Or if I could knit in my sleep…)

I am making progress with my book. I’m pretty much at the halfway point, and I’d be surprised if I weren’t done by Saturday, since I really like the characters.

Anyway, see what the other Unravelers are up to at As Kat Knits.

Olivia Macaron
3270 M St., N.W.
Saturday, Oct. 17, evening
Conditions: Clear and cool

Again, a later start than I’d hoped for meant I had to improvise a stop.

First stop was the garden, where I picked tomatoes and herbs and mourned the loss of the big pepper I’d been hoping would turn red. Possibly a four-legged marauder, but my bet would be on the two-legged variety.

Second stop was Bridge Street Books, D.C.’s oldest indie bookshop. I was looking for two books of poetry by local authors, and their selection tends to be the deepest. They had neither, so I ordered one and bought a book in translation (another of their specialties) that The New York Times described as “an oddball fairy tale.”

I took a jaunt up the Capital Crescent for a short way, but it was getting toward sundown and I didn’t want to be on the trail alone past dusk. So I turned around at the first connection to the C&O Canal Towpath and headed back to Georgetown.

I decided to finally visit Olivia Macaron, a specialty shop tucked into the side of the Georgetown mall next to what used to be Dean & Deluca. It’s been there seven years, but I’d never bothered to visit, because a) there are other macaron shops in D.C. I like and b) if I’m on M, there are usually baked good shops I’d rather visit. Welcome to pandemic times when everything good is closed and everything open has crazy lines.

I am pleased to report that should you be hankering for a macaron, Olivia’s is perfectly nice. I’d long assumed it was an outpost of a New York shop/chain, but it turns out that it’s an independent shop. (Check out their blog for adorable Halloween macaron hacks.) Because it was late, they had a limited supply of cookies left, so I took the recommendation of the clerk.

I had a cup of Earl Grey tea and a honey lavender macaron, which I consumed on a bench in front of a closed bike shop on a nearby street because there is no bike parking by the mall or on that busiest stretch of M Street. The cookie and tea were good, but there were too many passersby with poor mask skills, so I don’t think I’ll be back to Georgetown on a Saturday evening anytime soon.

My final stop of the night was an impromptu one. As I was biking home, I realized that the Kings of Rock Creek, a local band was performing an outdoor show in Rose Park. I’d heard their music wafting over to the garden sometimes in the summer and passed by some of their corner store concerts en route to other places, but this was the first time I really had nowhere else to be. So I needed to be there. It felt so … normal to be outside listening to a show (albeit in the chilly October air), and the two bands played a fun mix of their own songs and covers. They shared they have two more shows this month, so I now know where I’ll be the next two Saturday nights.

Mileage: 4.65 miles

Here’s today’s library haul and half a pair of Halloween socks. (Ends are woven in but not trimmed on sock #1 and the stitch marker is still hanging out there for safe keeping.)

I believe The Resisters is about dystopian feminist baseball, and How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse is described as Princess Leia meets The Princess Bride. Who wouldn’t want to read that?!

Head over to As Kat Knits to see what else is going on with crafters who read and readers who craft!