The Murder Game by Carrie Doyle

The Murder Game by Carrie Doyle was published by Sourcebooks Fire on April 6, 2021.  The book was previously published by Dunemere Books in 2018 as Sneaking Out under the pseudonym of Chuck Vance.

Publisher's summary:

Boarding school has never been more dangerous.

What if your roommate is a murderer? Or what if he's being framed and only you can save him?

Luke Chase made history as a child when he escaped a kidnapping. Now, all he wants is to be a normal teenager. So when he sneaks out to the woods one night to drink with friends and flirt with the new British girl at school, he's excited to feel some freedom.

Except the next morning, one of their teachers is found murdered—in the exact same spot where they had been partying. Soon, Luke's roommate and best friend Oscar is the #1 suspect.

As the evidence and list of suspects builds, Luke attempts to use his famous survival skills to find the killer and clear Oscar's name. But as Luke gets closer to the truth, the killer is getting closer to Luke.

The book is set up for a sequel, but since it was published over six years ago, I have my doubts as to whether a sequel will ever be released.  I wish that another book would be released, since I'd love to discover the solutions to the other two mysteries mentioned in this book.

I read through some of the reviews after I finished reading the book.  As usual, the one-star ratings were people complaining that they didn't know it was a young adult book and that they don't like the tropes of the genre.  If people would just avoid books with teenage protagonists, they'd avoid accidentally reading young adult books.  I am not sure how it can be an accident, since the teenage protagonist is a huge red flag.

This is a very good to excellent story.  I really enjoyed reading it.  The book has some flaws, but the story flows well and held my interest throughout.  I enjoyed Luke's investigation.  Several parts of the story were very suspenseful.  This is just a solidly good young adult murder mystery.

Nancy Drew #5 Secret at Shadow Ranch with 1st Printing DJ eBay Auction

I wrote a post in 2019 about the first printing of Shadow Ranch.

Nancy Drew Early First Printing Values and Avoiding Buyer Regret

In that post, I detailed how I purchased this first printing book and jacket of Shadow Ranch for $750.00.

Most people apparently weren't interested, since the jacket isn't perfect.  It was a significant upgrade for me, and I was happy with it.  

In the above linked post, I made this observation:

These days, few people are seeking the early first printing Nancy Drew books with dust jackets.  Actually, everyone would love to own them, but only a handful of collectors are willing to spend the serious cash necessary in order to acquire the jackets.  I have recently concluded that the handful of collectors who currently seek the early first printing jackets only want examples in very good or better condition.  This means that the dust jackets in great shape are still very expensive when they show up for sale.  The dust jackets in rough shape do not sell except at lower prices.  That's an interesting turn of events.  

The good news is that those collectors who are willing to settle for less-than-perfect first printing jackets can luck into copies at reasonable prices.  I also commented in my previous post that I have been criticized for being willing to purchase examples in rough shape.  That's nobody's business.  My collection is mine alone, and I decide what I want to put in it.

A first printing copy of Shadow Ranch in dust jacket sold recently on eBay.  The seller provided photographs, but did not photograph as thoroughly as they should have.  Not all of the dust jacket was shown.  The suboptimal photos likely held back the final bid price.

The seller did not provide enough information for us to know which printing the book is, but the jacket is definitely the first printing jacket.  Since the first few printings of Shadow Ranch have the same book, the book is most likely the first printing.  The auction closed at $1,375.08.

Click on the images in order to see them at a higher resolution.

This book and jacket might be in better shape than the one that I purchased for $750.00.  The front panel chipping is less, but the seller didn't show what the back panel looks like from the front side.  If it's fine, then the jacket that just sold is probably in better shape. 

I saw the listing soon after it was listed and decided that I wasn't interested.  After it sold for $1,375.08, I wondered if I should have at least considered trying to win the auction.  I then decided no, it wasn't worth it to me.  The jacket might be nicer than mine, but I would have to have outbid the person who won the auction.  That might have only taken only a bid increment or so.  I might also have had to pay a lot more than the winning bid.  

Based on the feedback number of the winning bidder, 23931, the winning bidder is a prolific eBay user.  Most people above 20,000 feedback tend to be high-volume buyers and sellers.  Not all, of course, but there's a pretty good chance.  I've been very active on eBay continually since 1997, and I'm still at under 8,300 feedback.

I'm fortunate because I've been so active on eBay.  When I'm curious, I use my own feedback to search for the feedback numbers of winning bidders so that I can figure out who won the auction.  This doesn't always work; but if I've had a transaction with the winning bidder, then I'll be able to figure it out. 

I set my feedback to 200 results per page and searched for 23931.  About halfway through my feedback, I found a hit.  Shadow Ranch was almost certainly purchased to resell, and it will likely show back up on eBay soon.  A prolific buyer and seller of first printing Nancy Drew books and Gibraltar hardcover Three Investigators books was the winner of the auction under a secondary ID.  This is a hint if you're familiar with eBay sellers. 

I didn't find a hit for the Lilac Inn second printing auction, so I believe that book was sold to someone who wanted it for their collection.  If so, they made a good purchase.

Book Reading Milestone for This Year

I feel like my book reading pace has been rather poor.  The problem is that my reading progress is very inconsistent.  I'll do great for a week or so, then I'll quit reading for weeks.  That said, I'm pleased that as of today I've matched the number of books that I read last year:  51 books.

These are my yearly reading totals since I began tracking the number of books that I've read.

2014:  262 books
2015:  231 books
2016:  355 books
2017:  403 books
2018:  315 books
2019:  185 books
2020:  106 books
2021:    60 books
2022:    47 books
2023:    51 books
2024:    51 books+

Since the pandemic, my reading has been sporadic and not what it was in previous years.  I don't know if that will ever change, since I'm under a lot of stress from different fronts.

I find that I cannot read old books at this time.  By "old" books, I mean anything written before 1940.  Those books have a different style, and I don't seem able to tolerate it currently.  This is due to stress, etc. 

Even books from the 1940s up through the 1990s are not to my liking at present.  I just want to read very modern books published since 2000.  I've read quite a few modern young adult books this year.

In fact, checking my list of 51 books, 45 of them have been published since 2000.  Early this year, I published a post that mentioned that each year's reading tells a story.  In 2024, I am focused on modern books, mainly young adult with a few middle grade fantasy books mixed in.

I'm guaranteed to match my total from 2021.  I still have to complete my fourth reading of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, which I plan to do sometime between now and the release of book 9.5 in early December.  I've already reread books 1 and 2 this year, but I got sidetracked like what always happens when I read these days.  Once I read books 3 through 8, 8.5, 9, and 9.5, I will have read nine more books, equaling my 2021 total of 60 books.

While last year's total was 51 different books, the real total was 71 books.  I didn't count my second and third readings of the Keeper of the Lost Cities books in the total since they were duplicate readings of the same books.  It's possible that I might end up reading as many as 71 books this year, but it's unlikely.  My reading is too sporadic, and I'm likely to have some big gaps in reading in the next 3 1/2 months. 

I'm pleased that I will end up reading at least 60 books by the end of the year, at a minimum. 

Nancy Drew #4 Mystery at Lilac Inn with 2nd Printing DJ eBay Auction

Two auctions of very early Nancy Drew books in dust jacket closed recently.  The seller provided photographs, but did not photograph as thoroughly as they should have.  Parts of each dust jacket were never shown.  The suboptimal photos likely held back the final bid prices.

This post covers the auction for The Mystery at Lilac Inn.  The seller did not provide enough information for us to know which printing the book is, but the jacket is definitely the second printing jacket.  The auction closed at $999.00.

Click on images in order to see them at a higher resolution.

To most people, this jacket would appear to be the first printing since the front flap lists just to Lilac Inn.  However, the first two dust jacket printings of Lilac Inn list to Lilac Inn on the front flap.  The first printing has Grosset & Dunlap general fiction on the reverse side.  The second printing has series book lists on the reverse side.  This jacket has the series book lists, so it is the second printing.

Both the first and second printing dust jackets of Lilac Inn are about impossible to find.  And if you can't find the first printing, then the second printing is a mighty fine one to have.  

I personally believe that the 1930A-1 dust jacket for Lilac Inn is harder to find than the 1930A-1 dust jacket of Old Clock.  Yes, I'm serious.  The 1930A-1 Old Clock dust jacket is the most sought-after dust jacket because of its status as the first printing dust jacket of the very first book in the Nancy Drew series.  It will always be the most valuable dust jacket for that reason, but I contend that the 1930A-1 Lilac Inn dust jacket is harder to find and ought to be worth nearly as much as the 1930A-1 Old Clock dust jacket.

Let's look at past auctions. 

In 2015, a Lilac Inn book with the 1930A-1 dust jacket sold for $4,302.22 (view blog post here). 

In 2010, a Lilac Inn book with the 1930B-2 dust jacket sold for $2,330.00 (view blog post here). 

It's safe to say that this recent sale of the second printing Lilac Inn dust jacket at $999.00 was a very good deal.  Someone who was likely buying to resell was the second-highest bidder.  This means that the second-highest bidder considers the book to be worth more than the closing bid price, since they were likely going to sell it.

I own both the first and second printing Lilac Inn dust jackets.  I got very lucky in both cases through Buy It Now listings.  Both jackets were paired with the wrong books, which is common with early Lilac Inn jackets for some unknown reason.

This is the first printing dust jacket (general G&D fiction on the reverse side).  I paid around $300 for it.

The star seen on the spine in the above photo is not on the jacket itself.  I place stars on the mylar covers of my first printings.

This is the second printing dust jacket (series book lists on the reverse side).  I paid around $500 for it, and I acquired it before I acquired the first printing dust jacket.  

I can't part with it because it's in better shape than my first printing dust jacket, and I consider the second printing Lilac Inn dust jacket to be just about as desirable as the first printing dust jacket.  

Back to School Update

Last week wasn't the worst week ever, but it sure felt like it.  

In a recent post, I wrote about my six-week autoimmune flare, caused by a chipped tooth.  I improved immediately after the tooth was repaired.  It's been a roller coaster ride since then.  I had temporary deep fatigue from August 8 to 10.  On the afternoon of August 9 during a meeting, I became so tired that I nearly fell out of my chair. 

This fatigue was caused by the dental x-ray of August 5.  The assistant, who I previously stated had an odd attitude, zapped me without covering my thyroid.  My chart is flagged that my thyroid must be covered when I am x-rayed.  She ignored it.  Right as she hit the button, I realized that my neck was uncovered.  Ugh.  I paid for that, but at least it was only for a few days.

I improved again, but the school year didn't start well.  We have new textbooks, so the entire year will be highly stressful.  A few days after I returned to work, I realized that the summer update to my work computer messed up the Smart Board.  I use the Smart Board for all instruction, so this was a big problem.

I put in a work order.  It was fixed but still screwed up and even harder to use.  This was a disaster, since by this point, the school year had started.  I put in another work order.  They figured it out on the second attempt.  Finally, I was functional on the fourth day of school.  

This made the first full week of school very stressful.

Last week was the second full week of school.  The system for distributing IEPs for special education students has not been working in Oklahoma, and this is a state-level problem, not local.  My school finally managed to get us the information last Monday.  Since I was giving a test on Wednesday, I had to speak to every special education student that I have in class about their accommodations.  

On Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, all of this happened:

• Fire Drill
• spoke to 30 students about accommodations and their needs
  
• Open House (late night Tuesday)
• Lockdown Drill
• Picture Day
• gave a test
  

And to top it off, a neighbor's cat was killed by dogs on Tuesday morning.  I also found out about the death of a very friendly neighborhood cat on Tuesday, likely from poisoning.

Everything I just mentioned caused a hard flare.  I felt awful all week.  I had a three-day weekend for the Labor Day holiday.  It took me from Friday evening until late Sunday evening to get back to feeling okay, so I lost most of my weekend.

I've had a crummy start to the year.

At least my eBay and Etsy sales are greatly diminished as I planned, and I'm doing okay with keeping both stores open in a limited capacity so that I don't lose my search rankings.  I currently have 67 items on eBay.  My active Etsy listings continue to drop as more items deactivate, reaching the end of their four-month run.  I'm down to 154 listings on Etsy.  Around 20 more will deactivate in a few days.

In case you haven't read my posts from the last few years, I usually shut down both stores for the first two months of school due to the autoimmune flare that occurs during the early part of the school year.  I am definitely in an ongoing flare that underlies the hard flares that I'm also experiencing.  Overall, I'm not doing that bad.  I mean... it could be a lot worse.

By the way, the real reason I decided to leave both stores open is because I have some free listings on Etsy due to a glitch.  21 of my Etsy listings have been expired for months and yet are still active listings.  By keeping the listings active, they continue to stay active indefinitely.  

I reasoned that if I was keeping Etsy open, then I would keep eBay open as well, only I deactivated most of my eBay listings.

My reading has been very sporadic.  I'll read a few books, then I get too stressed or have a flare.  When that happens, I go days or weeks without reading.  I've managed to read a few books in the last few weeks, which is surprising considering everything that has happened.  I will publish a few reviews soon.

I always bottom out with my thyroid sometime during September.  That should happen in the next two to three weeks, and then I will steadily improve.  How I feel at any given time is directly tied to what happened two weeks before, due to the pituitary-thyroid feedback loop.  Since last week was particularly awful, I expect that I will bottom out sometime next week. 

Note: I continued to find appalling typos each time I proofread this post before publishing it.  I am making so many mistakes right now.  If some are still in the post, then you know why.

Popularity of My Blog Pages

I created some blog pages awhile back to make it easier for readers to view my reviews.  The drawback of the blog format is that posts are always listed in reverse chronological order.  On these pages, I have listed the posts in order of publication.

It's interesting to see which pages have been viewed the most.  The number of views does not truly represent popularity of one series over the others, for several reasons.  The pages are generally only viewed by people who land on my blog, and those people tend to be fans of girls' series.  This is why the Three Investigators page has such a low number of views, much lower than it should.

I have linked to some of the pages on Facebook, especially to the Nancy Drew Collecting Information page when people ask for information about Nancy Drew books.  I have one link placed in an eBay group, so a good many people are using it for information. 

Any pages linked on Facebook will have more views.

My Keeper page is linked from many of my Keeper posts, so that has inflated its number of views.

One obvious conclusion can be drawn. The most recent Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series are nowhere near as popular as the original sets.  It's not surprising that the Hardy Boys Undercovers Brothers and Adventures page is in last place in views.  The Undercover Brothers series is pretty awful.  It was a difficult set to slog through.

Nancy Drew Collecting Information - 511 views

Hidden Clues Informational Posts - 341 views

Middle-Grade Fantasy Reviews - 327 views

Nancy Drew #1-56 Book Reviews - 327 views

Keeper of the Lost Cities Summaries, Reviews, and Theories - 240 views

Dana Girls Reviews - 233 views

Nancy Drew #57-175 Reviews - 230 views

Hardy Boys #1-58 Book Reviews - 219 views

Vintage Teen Book Reviews - 207 views

Judy Bolton Reviews - 185 views

Glossy Internal Illustrations - 148 views

Hardy Boys #59-190 Book Reviews - 147 views

Nancy Drew Girl Detective and Diaries Reviews - 139 views

Kay Tracey Reviews - 132 views

Three Investigators Reviews - 121 views

Young Adult Book Reviews - 105 views

Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers and Adventures Reviews - 97 views