Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Shoulder pads and shootouts

G is for Gumshoe (1990) by Sue Grafton

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CBR Bingo Square: Relation”ship” (Fiercely independent PI Kinsey Millhone has to allow fiercely protective PI Robert Dietz be her bodyguard) I read a bunch of the ‘Alphabet Mystery’ series in my teens, when there was somehow time to read everything, and I would stock up on library books rather than booze for staying up all night on New Year’s Eve. They star, and are usually narrated by, Private Investigator Kinsey Millhone, a young-ish woman in California. She and Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski (1982-2022) were probably […]

War Without End

The Border by Don Winslow

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Someone I follow on Instagram did a “What are you reading this weekend?” post. I responded with this book. The person replied: “I’ve never read Don Winslow but I’ve heard good things.” Hmm. On the one hand, Winslow is one of my favorite, reliable writers. He churns out some incredible crime fiction, including epic historical crime fiction that integrates real events into the narrative. I’m reading what he’s writing. On the other hand, Winslow’s art is hard to separate from the artist, especially when he […]

It’s Writing By Numbers but at Least the Painting is Good

The Outsider by Alex Finlay

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Grayson ‘Gray’ Hernandez has just finished law school. He dreams of making a big splash as a hot-shot lawyer, but so far his career hasn’t really taken off yet. Forever the idealist – his immigrant parents run a pizza place in a bad neighbourhood, and Gray wants to help them – he takes up a job as a Supreme Court messenger. It doesn’t pay much but at least he gets to be around the most brilliant minds of the country. Then, one night, the Chief […]

I Hate Sara Linton, Part Infinity

Genesis by Karin Slaughter

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On a dark, quiet night in the Georgian countryside, just outside of Atlanta, an older couple drives in silence, both lost in thought, when suddenly a nude woman runs into their car. Her injuries are horrific and can’t be explained by the car crash alone. But what is she doing alone in the forest at night? And why isn’t she wearing any clothes?  Genesis is the third book in Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent series. It’s also where she re-introduces characters from her Grant County series […]

Eat the Rich.

Strip Jack by Ian Rankin

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On a balmy summer night in Edinburgh, the filth razes an illicit brothel in a well-to-do area. Johns and working girls alike are piled into the back of a police car to be given a fine and a stern talking to, with one exception. One of the men coming out of the building is MP Gregor Jack. He is well-liked by his constituents and respected by his peers, but the press are waiting outside and he is proverbially, if not literally, caught with his pants […]

The One Where I Don’t Like What I Think I Will Like

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Perfect Prey by Helen Fields

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The Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman) ** Perfect Prey (Helen Fields) ***½  Somewhere, in a very British and very sedate retirement village, a group of seniors get together in the jigsaw room where they solve unsolved crimes. They’re pushing eighty, they have opinions on which type of cake is better (walnut). They are Ron (former commie rabblerouser, scourge of the Thatcher era), Elizabeth (former detective with a fantabulous past full of the sort of intrigue James Bond could only have dreamed of), Ibrahim (former psychiatrist […]



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