Halloween Bingo 2020: The First Call

Let the games – Halloween Bingo – begin!  Today, or yesterday – depending which side of the International Date Line  you’re on – was the official start of our annual Halloween Bingo.  Most of it is taking place on GoodReads this year, and I’m trying, but I really can’t stomach that place, so most of my updates and tracking will be done here.

The first call today was:

My original pick for this, as it is every year I’ve had this square, was Thirteen Guests by J. Jefferson Farjeon but I’m in another group reading Agatha Christie in order, and we’re currently reading … The Thirteen Problems, so it just makes sense to use this book for the square.

If I read a square that hasn’t been called yet, a ghost of stickers-yet-to-come will appear; once the square has been called, the sticker will become fully corporeal.  (Alas, this only works in regular browsers, but I’m in too deep to try to do something different now.)  As the squares get ticked off, a fully formed image will appear.  Previously, I posted the finished image, but this year I’m going to leave it a mystery.

Below is the table that will summarise the books I’ve read for each square, and note if I took advantage of one of the Spell Pack cards, and which one.  If all goes well, Book Titles will link to my review of the book here.

Bingo Square Date Called Book Title Date Read
Row #1
Gothic
Genre: Suspense
Ghost Stories
Dark Academia
Southern Gothic
Row #2
Darkest London
Black Cat
Cozy Mystery
Genre: Mystery
International Women of Mystery
Row #3
Grave or Graveyard
Deadlands
FREE SPACE
In the Dark, Dark Woods
Psych / Romantic Suspense
Row #4
American Horror Story
A Grimm Tale
It was a Dark and Stormy Night
Monsters
Trick or Treat
Row #5
Country House Mystery
13 Sept. 01 The Thirteen Problems
Locked Room Mystery
Halloween
Murder Most Foul

The Spell Pack cards are below – I’ve used a border in the same color as the card to mark the squares where I’ve used one.

Cards used:
Bingo Flip:  Lillelara has agreed to trade my Psych square for her Romantic Suspense square.

I’m planning a follow up post with tentative titles for each square.

7 thoughts on “Halloween Bingo 2020: The First Call”

  1. I loved Farjeon’s Thirteen Guests, but I believe there is one scene/element that will probably tick you off.

    Btw, as the WP quirks continue, when I first saw your new post in mu notifications (little bell in the top right) and opened the preview panel, it didn’t show me your card. Instead, it showed the individual squares that make up (I presume) the underlying ghostly image.
    Unless this is a ghostie in itself, of course.
    It’s HW Bingo time. Anything is possible.

    1. Well, now you have me thinking I’ve been ignoring an intuition I’d previously have said didn’t exist. Is it animal related?

      Sadly, you’re seeing the ‘mysterious’ ghosty image; WP’s app breaks all the CSS and totally destroys the card layout. It’s beyond frustrating, but I don’t have the mind space right now to figure out how to get around it. I just fantasize about smacking WP developers solidly upside the head.

        1. Ok – I’m out then. At least for now. Your use of ‘irk’ makes me think that perhaps, at a later date, I could attempt to read it with the idea of skipping that scene when it comes along. Or should I just give up and black box it?

          1. It happens off-page, so there are no details. I’m not sure if that makes a difference. I would not discount the book on the basis of that one element.

            1. Ok – off screen is doable, so back into the TBR it goes. I really do want to read it at some point. Thanks for the input. 🙂

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