• Welcome to the 2021 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge! Just read a book and submit your first Death Certificate to join. Your goal as Medical Examiner is to issue as many Toe Tags as you can during 2021, by reading murder mysteries and documenting the cause of death of the unfortunate victim(s).

• CHANGE TO TITLE LINKS: Challengers always enjoy reading each other's reviews. Titles on challenge pages have previously been linked to your review (if you wrote one) or to a generic description of the title (if you didn't write one). The Mystillery encourages challengers to write brief reviews of their readings, but the increasing number of submissions is leading to a change in how title links are handled:
  • If you write a review of your book (on Goodreads or a personal webpage/blog), titles will continue to link directly to that review. Nothing changes.
  • If you do not write a review, the title will no longer be linked to anything.
  This change will take effect going forward. Author and Series listing links are not affected and will continue as usual.

• The FAQ (Frequent Autopsy Questions) page was updated June 6 to provide examples of acceptable/non-acceptable names.

• Here is Mystillery Newsletter #10 for June.

• Please visit and follow The Mystillery Blog!

Morgue:

Welcome to the Morgue. We have a full staff of 36 competent Medical Examiners ready to examine your mystery readings. You may refer to their autopsy notes by clicking on their clipboard icons. Honorary badges are conferred to autopsy leaders as follows:

• Golden Gurney: Leads all 3 columns - quite difficult, but not impossible
• Silver Scalpel: Leads 2 columns
• Bronze Body Bag: Leads 1 column

Who else examined my book? Enter Author or Title:

BUREAU of VITAL STATISTICS updated FRI JUN 11 2021 @ 6.20 pm EDT convert sorted by toe tags issued. highest stats highlighted in green. 2nd highest in yellow.
Medical Examiners		Toe Tags tied 3 9 5 8	/ Books read 0 8 0 8	= TPB*	Autopsy notes	Personal effects
	Laura Marlane Nebraska SILVER SCALPEL	684	60	11.40
	C0NTENTH0MEB0DY USA	461	50	9.22
	OutsmartYourShelf United Kingdom	307	65	4.72
	Bev Hankins Indiana BRONZE BODY BAG	285	78	3.65
	Sanacrow Tennessee	270	56	4.82
	Jjean Missouri	250	51	4.90
	Tracy New York	249	44	5.65
	SueC Utah	219	51	4.29
	Tina Hilbert Utah	202	39	5.17
	Avid Series Reader New Mexico	198	34	5.82
	Rick Mills Maine	163	55	2.96
	Susan Jensen Arizona	153	29	5.27
	Scott Nickels Nebraska	149	20	7.45
	Jen Alaska	101	15	6.73
	Traci L. Illinois	100	51	1.96
	Guatemala Paula Texas	88	19	4.63
	Erika California	39	10	3.90
	BobbeyM Texas	36	10	3.60
	Kirstin B. Massachusetts	33	27	1.22
	Tara Illinois	31	11	2.81
	sk888888 New Jersey	28	6	4.66
	Simone C Alabama	23	11	2.09
	Shannon The Netherlands	22	4	5.50
	DrDoom Alberta	20	4	5.00
	Tari Hann Ohio	17	8	2.12
	Cheyenne McQuain Upstate New York	16	6	2.66
	Leonie Koch New York	16	5	3.20
	Penelope Piebaker Ohio	15	5	3.00
	Karen Baroness Montana	13	9	1.44
	Dr. Kate Michigan	11	6	1.83
	Anna Marten Wisconsin	10	4	2.50
	Angel Nebraska	6	1	6.00
	Rachel Roy Vermont	5	2	2.50
	Sharon Angle-Boyer North Carolina	3	1	3.00
	Laura United Kingdom	2	1	2.00
	Brandi Wyoming	1	1	1.00

Key to symbols
	Moved up
	New or updated today
	Honorary badge
	High column stat
	2nd place column stat
	Tracker page
	Blog
	Goodreads profile
	Paperback Swap bookshelf

* TPB = Toe Tags Per Book (average). This is a measure of how lethal your reading preferences are.

How to:

1. No advance signup necessary.
2. Read a murder mystery. Note the victim(s) and cause(s) of death. If unsure what counts, see the FAQ page.
3. Submit one Death Certificate per book, identifying the Cause(s) of Death of the victim(s). Any death (accidental, natural causes, homicide, suicide) counts, as long as the person is significant enough to be named in the book. See the FAQ page for examples.
4. This page does not update in real time. Your submission generates an email to the Chief Medical Examiner, who will review the data and submit it to the Bureau of Vital Statistics; as summarized above. Generally, you should see your submission posted within 24 hours. If you do not see it, click the REFRESH button on your web browser to reload the page.

Rules:

1. This challenge is open from Jan 1 2021 - Dec 24 2021.
2. Genres: You get to decide what is a 'mystery'. Traditional murder mysteries, thrillers, police procedurals, romances, all are welcome.
3. Formats: Print books, audio books, radio dramatizations, or e-books may be used.
4. You get one Toe Tag per victim. What counts? If the person is significant enough to be given a name, and includes a cause of death you can cite, then it counts. For more details on what counts and what doesn't, see the FAQ page.
5. Reviews: You do not need to write reviews, but you are welcome to. If you supply a link to your blog or Goodreads review, I will link to it.
6. Bloggers are welcome to copy the toe tag image from the header (or any image that catches your fancy) for your blog.

Prizes!

• At the close of the challenge, five active participants (chosen at random) may select a book from the prize list.

• Prizes awarded from Beachcomber, Medical Examiner, and Six Shooter will be mutually exclusive - that is, you can't win a prize from more than one challenge.

Archive:

• 2019 Medical Examiner's Reading Challenge
• 2020 Medical Examiner's Reading Challenge

M.E.'s notebook: Dr. Prouty's cigar preceded him like a black standard as he shambled through the doorway. He paused to eye the Queens critically. "Good morning, dear children. What's this? Are my eyes deceiving me, or am I back at the Morgue again? Why the gloom?" Ellery Queen, writing in The Chinese Orange Mystery, 1934.

Need more challenges?