Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Have you ever thought what a God would be like who actually ordained and executed the cruelty that is in [the biblical Book of Revelation]? A holocaust of mankind. Yet so many of these Bible-men accept the idea without a second thought.”

Revelation by C.J. Sansom

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This was probably the weirdest (and creepiest) book in the series so far. The motivation behind the murders is unfortunately still around today, and I enjoyed the Tudor take on the movie Seven (though having never seen the movie, I am just guessing at that comparison). I also appreciated how well-researched the book is, and how realistically all the characters are written; though Shardlake and his “crush on a woman who is going to kick him in the teeth” per book is starting to get […]

“How easy it is to leave things undone until they are too late.”

Sovereign: A Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery by C.J. Sansom

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In my love affair for both Historical Murder Mysteries and series whose books get progressively more brick-like the longer they go on, I tackled Sovereign, the third in the Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery series. And I don’t really regret that I did. Set this time in York during the great Progress Henry VIII took after the near civil war of 1541, York truly comes alive, with the Minster and St. Mary’s Church shown particular love. Sansom paints a pretty good picture of how as much […]

“There is nothing under the moon, however fine, that is not subject to corruption.”

Dark Fire: A Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery by C.J. Sansom

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I am a huge fan of mystery novels, especially historical ones sent in Tudor England, so the Shardlake series was a a huge yes for me. Sansom delivers an incredibly well-written and well-researched England set during the reign of Henry VIII. This one, the second in the series, finds hunchback (yes, it’s important to the character) lawyer Matthew Shardlake trying to track down a barrel of Greek Fire promised to Henry by Shardlake’s patron Thomas Cromwell; a barrel that has apparently resulted in the deaths […]

Your Buddy Misses You

The Bell in the Fog by Lev A.C. Rosen

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  This is the second book in the Evander Mills series so there will be slight spoilers for the first book, Lavender House. The series takes place in the early 1950s San Francisco and is centered mainly in the underground queer subculture. The main character is Evander “Andy” Mills, a disgraced former SFPD officer who was disgraced and fired when he was outed in a raid on a gay club. Andy now works as a private investigator for a community that often can’t go through […]

The cook and the case of the missing children

Murder in the East End by Jennifer Ashley

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This is book four in the Below Stairs series by Jennifer Ashley, set in Victorian England.  The series is unique in that the focus is on Kat Holloway, a cook in a grand house in Mayfair – an upstairs/downstairs premise that gives you a look into the workings of a large kitchen in that time period.  She is intelligent and resourceful, and her quick thinking has saved many a meal when the upstairs folk demand a menu change at the last minute.   But of course, […]

“Two hearts girl get the job done”

The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang

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  Mysteries that take place in old New York City are pretty much catnip for me. If you add in an interesting and capable female lead, I’m pretty much all in. Naturally, The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang roped me right in with both. Set in Manhattan in 1850, the book features a healthy dose of weird history, a mystery I only partially figured out and a protagonist with skill and grit that the author shows and doesn’t tell. Before a change in legislation made […]



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