The Corpse Wore Pasties by Johnny Porkpie
Read as part of CBR13Bingo: Shelfie. Posted is a picture of the book with other Hard Case Crime books I collect. This one’s Hard Case Crime book is one that I’ve been meaning to get to for some time. It almost qualified as my “white whale” for bingo but I decided to stick it here instead to show off part of my Hard Case Crime collection. And while I didn’t think it was as good as other HCC tales, I wish the label would put […]
The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
Read as part of CBR13Bingo: Book club. I’m part of a mystery readers book club that goes through the Gamache series. Whoo is the title accurate. Throughout the book, I had a sense of where it was going to go because I’ve read enough of this series and I’m aware of why it is so popular (handsome guy who everyone wishes was their dad blows into charming, rustic village to solve the case) to take the liberty of assumption as I pour through it. But I […]
Echo Park by Michael Connelly
Read as part of CBR13Bingo: Cityscape. My cover has a cityscape photo of Los Angeles in the background, with Echo Park presumably in the foreground. As I said in my last review of a Michael Connelly book (City of Bones, which I liked), you know from the start usually whether or not it’s going to be a good Harry Bosch tale. This one was lacking, though it had its moments. A seasoned mystery reader is going to see how a story like this unfolds from […]
Hit Man by Lawrence Block
Read as part of CBR13Bingo: Gateway. This is an excellent introduction to Lawrence Block, one of my favorite writers. Also proved an excellent introduction for me to his Keller series. I really don’t have the words to describe Lawrence Block. It’s an appreciation for him that has grown as I’ve gotten older and my tastes have evolved. In my 20s, I’d look for the pulpy mystery shlock with exciting hooks. Now that I’m older, I appreciate the mundane nature of life and how fictionally exciting […]
Velvet Was The Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Read as Part of CBR13Bingo: Rec’d. Inspired by Emmalita’s review. This one is a tough one to review. I really wish both Cannonball Read and Goodreads had half stars. This is a solid 3.5. I’m giving it the bump to 4 but just barely. I appreciated Emmalita’s review and others I’ve read. BookMarks collected mostly rave reviews about this book. At times, I felt like it elevated itself. The feeling of Mexico City in the 70s, political tension, Cold War flashpoint was real. The two […]
The Turnout by Megan Abbott
Read as part of CBR13Bingo: Free. I checked this book out from my library. Megan Abbott just owns. In a time when everyone is desperate to write a female-centric thriller in the mold of Gone Girl, Abbott has done her own thing: taking female-centric activities like cheerleading, gymnastics, and femme-focused medicine, and excavating the hell out of all subtext to examine what the world does to women, especially young women. Here she turns her eye to ballet and produces something that continues to match her incredibly high […]
