Welcome to the Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge for 2026! Your goal as Medical Examiner is to read murder mysteries and count toe tags attached to the unfortunate victim(s). Just read the obscure General Information page and then file your death certificate. M U R M U R S from the M O R G U E: The Chief Medical Examiner will be out of the office from TUE SEP 29 through FRI OCT 2 and Mystillery challenges will not be updated during that period. Please continue your submissions as usual during the interim. As your host will be away on October 1 and unable to run the pin setting machine, Mystillery Lanes has opened a bit early for the bowling season! Make note of your 2026 reads (back to January 1) with numbers in the titles, and start rolling! Sep. 28: Beth M (North Carolina) earns the first Kill-o-tag of the challenge as she fills out her 1000th toe tag, which also puts the group total over 10,000 ! Sep. 28: Beth M (North Carolina) rolls in the Gold Gurney for most toe tags! Sep. 28: Erika Morris (California) and SueC (Utah) finagle the Fuchsia Forceps for finding 200 toe tags!   Review previous challenges: 2019 • 2020 • 2021 • 2022 • 2023 • 2024 • 2025

Who else examined my book in 2026? Enter Author or Title:

BUREAU of VITAL STATISTICS updated MON SEP 28 @ 7.00 PM EDT
Medical Examiners 2 9		Authors	Titles 1 4 3 6	Toe Tags 1 0 2 1 9	Autopsy notes	Personal effects
	Beth M North Carolina Gold Gurney (most toe tags) @9/28 Kill-o-tag (1000 toe tags) @9/28	81	104	1019
	Tina Hilbert Ohio	36	66	960
	Susan Jensen Arizona	87	111	850
	Colleen Illinois	61	95	822
	JenneB Pennsylvania	47	59	776
	OutsmartYourShelf The United Kingdom	69	84	747
	Horror Girl Texas	55	75	666
	Linda B Kentucky	58	95	571
	Bev "Quincy" Hankins Indiana Silver Scalpel (most titles) @2/18 Bronze Body Bag (most authors) @2/1 Magenta Magnifier (500 Toe Tags) @8/28	128	151	540
	Tracy House New York	39	62	518
Medical Examiner		Authors	Titles	Toe Tags	Notes	Personal effects
	Sanacrow Tennessee Brass Bone Saw (300 Toe Tags) @7/31 Scarlet Sponge (400 Toe Tags) @7/31	12	24	415
	Jjean Texas	38	56	296
	batkat West Virginia	21	40	286
	Vallery Louisiana	23	29	252
	Erika Morris California Fuchsia Forceps (200 Toe Tags) @9/28	20	34	243
	Rick Mills Maine Chief Medical Examiner	41	67	238
	SueC Utah Fuchsia Forceps (200 Toe Tags) @9/28	24	48	204
	Shannon The Netherlands	22	43	199
	Traci L. Illinois	39	52	168
	Tari Hann Ohio	44	59	148
Medical Examiner		Authors	Titles	Toe Tags	Notes	Personal effects
	Jen McFarren Texas Garnet Gloves (50 Toe Tags) @6/21 Lavender Lab Coat (100 Toe Tags) @8/19	25	27	110
	Tara Taylor Illinois	10	14	90
	Karen Baroness Texas	21	22	41
	Dianne Lebold Ontario	10	11	28
	Lindsey Boulier Idaho	4	4	22
	Jace Boyer	2	2	6
	Brandy	1	1	3
	Jules Vandemberg Italy	1	1	1
Medical Examiner		Authors	Titles	Toe Tags	Notes	Personal effects

Ambiguous instructions and arbitrary rules are found on the General Information page.

Key to symbols Moved up a position(s) New or updated today Update pending Goodreads librarian Kill-o-tag, 1000+ toe tags High column stat 2nd place column stat Tracker page Blog Goodreads profile Chat line Instagram

Chief Medical Examiner's journal Mystillery Morgue Monday, September 28: "Any word on time of death?" Inspector Wintle called out. "I'm a pathologist, not an oracle," Dr. Kimber snapped, before relenting slightly. "About a day, I'd say, but I'll know more after the post-mortem." Anthony Slayton, writing in A Most Efficient Murder. Contributed by Bev "Quincy" Hankins.

Honorary badges Gold Gurney Most Toe Tags Silver Scalpel Most Titles Bronze Body Bag Most Authors Magenta Magnifier 500 Toe Tags Scarlet Sponge 400 Toe Tags Brass Bone Saw 300 Toe Tags Fuchsia Forceps 200 Toe Tags Lavender Lab Coat 100 Toe Tags Garnet Gloves 50 Toe Tags

A Mystillery challenge hosted by Rick Mills rickmills9@gmail.com