Score

The Big Sleep (#18) is just under an average rating of 4.0 (at this moment). So are The Outsider (#69), Stalking Jack the Ripper (#66), We Have Always Lived in the Castle (#40), Storm Front (#28) and Still Life (#24).

It doesn't work, avarage rating, because the moment someone rates a book lower than the mentioned 4.0 (in this case), the average rating drop a tiny bit.

It says a book must have 40,000 ratings but #65 Penicillin has 2 ratings and Ninety-Five has 4 ratings.

@Mitchell
Will you please state what books you deleted? Thanks.

Ok I see that both books have been removed. Thanks!

Removed for having an average rating of less than 4.0:
One of Us Is Lying
Never Never

Removed for having fewer than 40000 ratings:
The Case of the Captain's Hair

Re: #13, do we really consider Harry Potter a mystery?

LeAnn wrote: "Re: #13, do we really consider Harry Potter a mystery?"

looking at Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
mystery is the 65th highest shelf with 989 people shelving this as mystery.

So it meets the stated criteria.

It is shelved 3rd as fantasy by 78,454 people.

That said the criteria could be adjusted - say it had to be shelved as mystery in one of the top 31 shelves - which would put it on the first column.

Removed for having an average rating of less than 4.0

3.97 - Storm Front
3.85 - Rivers of London
3.49 - The London Séance Society
3.86 - The Stranger Diaries
3.73 - The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
3.52 - The Essex Serpent
3.71 - Practical Magic
3.99 - The Westing Game
3.74 - The Familiar
3.99 - The Night Circus
3.98 - Finlay Donovan Is Killing It
3.96 - The Kind Worth Killing
3.83 - Her Royal Spyness
3.79 - How to Solve Your Own Murder
3.79 - The Marlow Murder Club
3.96 - A Curious Beginning
3.82 - The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
3.88 - Death at La Fenice
3.90 - Still Life

so to those who keep adding books to this list - if a new book gets added to this list and it has less than 40,000 ratings or is not a first book in a series or standalone or doesn't have an average rating of 4.0 or above - I will delete it without commenting.

If a book goes below 4.0 rating I will delete it with commenting.

There's been an organized effort voting the same books to the same lists including this one. It is happening every couple hours and it has been happening every couple of days.

I wouldn't have noticed except that all but one of their books don't meet the criteria for this list so I keep on removing them - and the next "voter" adds them back

❌ OUTLIER: [LOW AVG RATING] The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1) by Alan Bradley (Avg: 3.82, Pos: 27)
❌ OUTLIER: [LOW AVG RATING] Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #1) by Louise Penny (Avg: 3.90, Pos: 33)
❌ OUTLIER: [LOW AVG RATING] Her Royal Spyness (Her Royal Spyness Mysteries, #1) by Rhys Bowen (Avg: 3.83, Pos: 34)
❌ OUTLIER: [LOW AVG RATING] Death at La Fenice (Commissario Brunetti, #1) by Donna Leon (Avg: 3.89, Pos: 36)
❌ OUTLIER: [LOW AVG RATING] A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell, #1) by Deanna Raybourn (Avg: 3.96, Pos: 62)
❌ OUTLIER: [TOO FEW RATINGS] A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder (Countess of Harleigh Mystery, #1) by Dianne Freeman (Ratings: 16,898, Avg: 3.81, Pos: 86)
❌ OUTLIER: [LOW AVG RATING] A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder (Countess of Harleigh Mystery, #1) by Dianne Freeman (Avg: 3.81, Pos: 86)

I've been seeing an organized effort pushing the same books on to the same lists. For this list all but one of the books don't meet the basic requirements - but it is rather annoying. You can check out the most recent voters to see what I'm seeing

✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes (Pos: 103, Ratings: 72,449, Pub: Unknown)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": Bruno, Chief of Police (Bruno, Chief of Police, #1) by Martin Walker (Pos: 114, Ratings: 25,419, Pub: 2008)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell, #1) by Deanna Raybourn (Pos: 115, Ratings: 61,605, Pub: 2015)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": Mademoiselle le Sleuth by Theasa Tuohy (Pos: 116, Ratings: 2,853, Pub: Unknown)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": Her Royal Spyness (Her Royal Spyness Mysteries, #1) by Rhys Bowen (Pos: 117, Ratings: 41,997, Pub: 2007)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox Mysteries, #1) by Charles Finch (Pos: 118, Ratings: 18,164, Pub: 2007)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1) by Alan Bradley (Pos: 119, Ratings: 181,151, Pub: 2009)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": Death at La Fenice (Commissario Brunetti, #1) by Donna Leon (Pos: 120, Ratings: 43,950, Pub: 1992)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #1) by Louise Penny (Pos: 121, Ratings: 292,506, Pub: 2005)

they've been pushing those books and Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (which does meet this list's criteria)

on to the same 10 lists

So I just reported the following

===

So there has been what looks to be an automated effort to vote a set of books by suspicious voters.

An example of this is https://www.goodreads.com/list/user_v...
well except I'm about to delete most of these votes again

I've been deleting spurious votes off of https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... basically twice a day for several weeks

When I have looked the users, look fake to me.

I only noticed because on this list of 11 books, only Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers actually fit the list criteria.

A place to see this in action is
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

The batch of books voted as a group are easily visible there
- still life
- sweetness at the bottom of the pie
- bruno chief of police
- a curious beginning
- the marlow murder club
- vera wong's unsolicited advice for murderers
- cocaine blues
- a lady's guide to etiquette and murder
- a beautiful blue death
- death at la fenice
- how to solve your own murder

Really I don't expect you to do anything about this.
And I don't expect to hear from you.
And I don't this vandalism of my list to stop

But I figured I might as well report it.