Summer Reading Challenge - The List

Memorial Day weekend is fast approaching, and I plan on starting Amanda's Summer Reading Challenge , since this is the unofficial start of summer.  The temperatures here are expected to be in the 90s, so it will definitely feel like summer!  As you can see my stack of books is ready to go.  I had a few already on my shelves, I found a couple used, and I broke down and ordered the others from Amazon.  Here they are once more:

1. Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
2. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
3. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
4. Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler
5. Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
6. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
7. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
8. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
9. Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos **Bonus Read
10. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco **Double Bonus Read

I haven't decided which one I plan on starting with.  Perhaps I should go with Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, since today happens to be his birthday.  I also came across this 19th Century Literature Yahoo Group.  They happen to be discussing Doyle's book right now.  I have joined the group, but not yet read any of the discussion threads (I hate to learn too much of a story before-hand).  I could put the pile in some sort of chronological order, but I suspect I will just pick and choose at random.  And do you notice there seems to be a preponderance of British authors on my list?  Hmm.

At the moment I am reading Death in the Garden by Elizabeth Ironside.  It is excellent.  The story is well told, the characters have depth and are all really interesting. And Ironside writes very well. It is set in 1920s England, as well as in contemporary London.  I plan on searching out her other mysteries when I finish this one.  It has been published by a small press called Felony & Mayhem, which "brings the best in bygone mysteries back to life".  I will definitely have to keep my eye on this publisher.

I really enjoy mysteries, and I have not read as many as I would have liked in the last year or so.  I hope to remedy this with this reading challenge.  You can also visit Bibleeohfile, Oh! And By the Way, Pages Turned, Sassymonkey Reads and The Blog Jar  (have I left anyone out?) for more summer reading lists.