Your host:
- Welcome! I am a mystery enthusiast and pleased to serve as your host for this challenge. Here is my personal web page and my Mystillery blog. You can email me at rickmills9@gmail.com - Rick Mills
Instructions:
- Advance signup is not needed.
- Obtain a set of four Beachcomber beach bags. Use one of these:
- Here is a one page grid in PDF with all four categories ready to fill in.
- Here is a plain text list which is easy to copy/paste onto a blog tracking page.
- Here is a Google Sheet which is View-only, but you can open it and do FILE>DOWNLOAD to make your own spreadsheet.
- Mark the items on the beach bags as you find them in your books. This is on the honor system - no need to submit any author/title information.
- For Crime Scenes, find a letter which occurs anywhere in the word. The crime scene could be a specific room, building, outdoor area, street, city, state, or country. You are not limited to the author's exact words. For example, if you need a "P", and someone uses a "trail", feel free to replace that with a P for "Path".
- For Detectives, find a letter which occurs anywhere in the detective's name.
- Titles do not count. For example, "Inspector Closeau" could count for A, but not for T.
- You can use anyone who has the detective role in the story, it need not be an 'official' detective.
- You may find more than one detective per book, but use each one only once, however...
- You can reuse a detective by reading additional books - for example, if you read two Nero Wolfe books, you can use Nero Wolfe for both F and O.
- For Victims, find a letter which occurs anywhere in the victim's name. Victims must be dead. You may find more than one per book, but use each one only once.
- For Weapons , find a letter which occurs anywhere in the word. You are not limited to the author's exact words. For example, if you need a "G", and someone uses a "pistol", feel free to replace that with "Gun".
- WILD CARDS! You are allowed four WILD CARDS total. These are freebies to replace those last hard-to-find items. Just write in "Wild Card". You can use them on any beach bag, even all four on one beach bag if that is needed.
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as you fill each beach bag. Honor system - you need not list nor document your books.
- You will get a cabana on the beach upon filling your first beach bag!
Rules:
- Challenge is open Jan 1 to Dec 31 2023.
- Print books, audio books, radio dramatizations, short stories, or e-books may be used.
- Beach bags may be filled in any order.
- You can use any book as many times as you like.
- You can work the beach bags simultaneously.
- Bloggers are welcome to any images for your blog.
FAQ:
- Can I repeat the Beachcomber? Yes, once you complete a set of four beach bags, you can begin another set.
Archive:
Messaging:
If you wish to contact another challenger, first try the Goodreads message system:- Click on the Goodreads icon on the challenger's line on the main page. This brings you to their Goodreads profile.
- Click the MORE button (with the down arrow)
- Click MESSAGE. This - hopefully - brings up a message form. Just fill it out!
- If the challenger does not have Goodreads, or is not accepting Goodreads messages, send an email to me (rickmills9@gmail.com) indicating who you wish to message. I will inquire of that challenger if they wish to message with you.
Privacy:
- Your name: You can choose how you wish your name to appear. If you wish to change it, just let me know.
- Your preferred pronouns will be honored if provided.
- Your image: You can choose your icon image. Initially, this is set to a publicly available image if I can find one (Google account, Goodreads profile, etc.) If you do not wish your image to appear, a generic icon may be used. Just email it to me. Keep in mind they are tiny (50 px wide).
- Your location is optional.
- Your email address is never posted, and is not shared with other challengers unless you specifically allow.
Back to the challenge page • Revised June 1 2023