Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Murder Most Fun

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

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Toward the end of CBR11, someone (Classic, I believe) posted a review of Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. It had been a while since I had read a good mystery, an even longer while since I had read any Christie, and having just finished The Most Depressing Book Ever, I decided to do myself a treat and see what happened to Roger. I’m not sure why murder mysteries are so gratifying — perhaps the logic of it all, the finding of answers, the […]

The Swedish Maigret? Hah!

Cop Killer by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö

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I don’t know if Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö planned for there to only be ten books in the Martin Beck series but here, at book nine, things seem to be wrapping up. This book is the most self-referential of its predecessors by far, even going as far as bringing a former convict from one of the past crimes back as a minor but important character. It acknowledges the journey you go on with these people. At the heart of this one is Martin Beck. […]

Literally, Off the Rails…and So, So Good!

Point Blank by Peter Vonder Haar

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This is the second Clarke & Clarke mystery from Peter Vonder Haar where we follow the Clarke twins once again, up to their necks in danger.  Of course, Cy and Charlie aren’t alone in the mayhem set against a Houston background, their big brothers attempt to help as they can. Can you really help Cy when he succeeds so often by running into danger head first?  You know what the law of diminishing returns is, right? If you keep doing something enough times you won’t […]

I don’t really find the idea of a snake vampire all that appealing

Archangel's Viper by Nalini Singh

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3.5 stars This is book 10 in an ongoing series, so really not the place to start. The first book in the series is Angels’ Blood. This review will contain some spoilers for that book. Holly Chang, who for a while renamed herself Sorrow, was the only survivor of the terrible carnage perpetrated when the archangel Uram went crazy and kidnapped her and all her friends and proceeded to torture and kill most of them. He forced Holly not only to drink his blood, but to watch […]

The culmination of nine books of story.

How the Light Gets In (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #9) by Louise Penny

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This is the closest I have ever been to giving one of these books five stars. I think I might have even done it if I’d been able to read the book faster, but since I was stuck with audio CD’s from my library, which I could only listen to in my car, my time with the story stretched out and I was able to think about it more rationally than I would have if were sitting on my couch frantically turning pages to find […]

“My father told me once that the most important thing every man should know is what he would die for.”

Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #3) by Tana French

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This was even better the second time. I think this might actually be the most balanced of all the books, in terms of tragedy vs. hope. In the Woods is just tragic all around, as is Broken Harbour, and The Likeness is still too full of Cassie’s grief over her partnership/friendship with Rob, and with what happens in the actual book, for it to feel much like a win when she gets proposed to by Sam. But here, devastating things happen to Frank (happened to Frank 22 years before), […]



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