Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Kind Worth Killing – A Thriller Worth Reading

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

by 2 Comments

I am no stranger to a thriller, I love a good murder mystery. I was looking for book recommendations to make me feel better about present stress in my life (i.e., when I am stressed, reading about murder makes me feel better because at least I’m not being murdered) and picked this one up on the recommendation of a friend and am delighted to give it two big ol’ thumbs up. This is a book I was delighted and surprised by, so much so that […]

Cheating shmeating! In the mid-19th century, Harvard really knew how to rock a scandal.

Blood & Ivy: The 1849 Murder That Scandalized Harvard by Paul Collins

by Leave a Comment

Ooh, I do love a good period true crime drama. From Erik Larson’s much-lauded Devil in the White City, to Kate Summerscale’s lesser-known The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, to Bruce Chadwick’s I Am Murdered (which I reviewed all the way back for CBR5),  you take a  murder that’s at least a century old, add some period costumes, a few blue collar witnesses pitted against high-brow lawyers, and a lot of research, mix well, and you have a perfect cocktail of historical entertainment. I especially enjoy reading […]

Psycho Killer, Qu’est-ce que c’est?

In the Woods by Tana French

by Leave a Comment

Detective novels are a difficult concept to grasp, at some level. Why do we purposely seek out the sort of thing – violence, grisly murders, sex crimes, blood and viscera – we would do anything to avoid in real life? Then there are the tropes of the genre itself that work both for and against it, from the hyperconfident, competent yet over-empathic medical examiner to the tortured detective from a broken home and, more tellingly, the killer’s psychopathy. The majority of all murders are crimes […]

Nobody fights you like your own sister; nobody else knows the most vulnerable parts of you and will aim for them without mercy.

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

by 2 Comments

Reviews for this one kept popping up following its November 2018 publication. I’m a bit squeamish and while I like mystery books I don’t read horror. Pluiedenovembre assured me that this one wasn’t scary or gory so I requested it from the library. Like ASKReviews mentioned in her review of this book a few days ago, it is also a very quick read. The chapters are short and crisp, with rapid fire information. Our point of view character is Korede, a nurse in one of […]

I hope this isn’t how I’ll be going on.

Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates

by 1 Comment

I’ve been seeing the phrase “start as you mean to go on” flying around a lot as we collectively, tentatively tiptoe into 2019. 2018 was an utter disaster for me, and although 2019 is better so far – touch would, knock on wood, hug wood – I’m afraid of jinxing myself. I can’t say that I’m glad I read Zombie, and I very much hope it’s not how the year continues in terms of reading or anything else. I want to add the qualifier, “It’s not a bad book,” […]

Marry Groundhog Day With Clue and Quantum Leap…and then do weird stuff

The 7 and 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

by 2 Comments

Aiden wakes up not knowing who he is or where he is…he’s told three rules: Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11 pm. There are eight days and eight witnesses that Aiden will physically inhabit in order to find clues. He can only leave Blackheath House once he can tell “them” who killed Evelyn Hardcastle. This book sounds amazing, right?!? And it was recommended by a person whom I really like and admire her taste in books so I was excited to read it and […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo