Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

How I spent my Christmas vacation

Greenglass House by Kate Milford

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CBR12 Bingo: Repeat (Green) This is the perfect book to read, snug under a blanket in front of the fireplace, while the snow piles up outside. Greenglass House is the story of Milo, the 12-year-old son of innkeepers, who is excited to have his busy parents to himself during his winter vacation, when their inn is usually empty. But on the first night of vacation, first one mysterious stranger, than another, shows up at their door until Greenglass House (the inn) is teeming with strange […]

“Knowledge wasn’t always power. Sometimes it was crippling.”

The Nature of the Beast (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #11) by Louise Penny

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This wasn’t what I was expecting, but I ended up having a pleasant enough time of it. The blurb makes it seem like it’s going to be all about a serial killer, but he’s really more of a tertiary concern throughout. Mostly, this book is about the murder of Laurent Lepage, nine years old, and what his death uncovers hiding in the woods behind Three Pines. Gamache and Reine-Marie have both retired to Three Pines, and Lacoste is now the acting head of homicide, with […]

“You tell your lies and you think nobody knows. But there are two people who know. Yes – two people. One is le bon Dieu – and the other is Hercule Poirot.”

The Mystery of the Blue Train (Hercule Poirot, #6) by Agatha Christie

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This one wasn’t my favorite, though I liked it quite a bit by the end. I had a hard time at first getting a handle on the arc of the story, and Poirot doesn’t come in until about chapter ten, so there are just a bunch of POV characters you’re introduced to before you have any context for why they’re important to the story. I fully realize this is a technique employed by many books I have enjoyed in the past, but there was something […]

Behold…

The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie

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I’m not an Agatha Christie expert. She’s an excellent writer, quite talented at setting up clever, puzzle box mysteries. But as I’ve said countless times, the whodunnit has never interested me much. I’m more interested in the whydunnit. I do believe aspiring mystery writers need to read her in order to hone their craft. But I’m not a diehard. The English countryside whodunnit really isn’t my thing. However, I saw this one was a standalone (the only recurring character is a mystery novelist one that […]

Hamburg-er

Blue Night by Simone Buchholz

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I had so much fun reading parts of this that I almost feel bad giving it 3-stars. What I liked about it wasn’t necessarily what I was going for when I picked it up. Germany isn’t one of the countries most well known in the States for European crime fiction. Italy, France, the UK are all heavyweights and even Spain and parts of Eastern Europe have made the rounds in recent years. But the Germans are not especially renowned here in this regard. When I […]

Looking forward to more from this author

The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey

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CBR12 BINGO: Debut BINGO (Diagonal): Money, Debut, Yellow, Pandemic, Music Minor spoilers. I thought it would be a struggle coming up with a book to read for the Debut BINGO category, but I was fortunate enough to see a CBR Facebook post with some great suggestions. I took note of The Animals at Lockwood Manor and thought, “A mystery that combines natural history with an early World War II England setting? This has my name all over it.” Shout out to whoever posted the suggestion. […]



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