Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Arrange your ideas. Be methodical. Be orderly. There is the secret of success.” – Not Hastings

The Murder on the Links (Hercule Poirot, #2) by Agatha Christie

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Okay, first of all, Hastings is an *idiot*. I don’t think I quite realized that in the other books I’ve read with him in them. He’s supposedly modeled after Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories, an audience surrogate character, but Watson gets an unfair rap about his bumbling—a side effect of his characterization on film rather than evidence in the canon—whereas Hastings is genuinely a boob, and one that doesn’t realize the extent of his boobitude. In this one, not only does he get everything […]

Northern Exposure

Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson

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  The first few chapters of this book made me groan because they read like an airport paperback thriller. Nothing against that genre, it’s just not for me. I thought about quitting the book. But I stuck with it and I’m glad I did. It ended up being sort of a Agatha Christie tribute: a series of murders and unexplained events happening in a sleepy town where everybody knows everyone, only the town is perpetually covered in snow because it’s in the northernmost point of […]

No, her name ain’t baby, it’s Charlotte. Sherlock Holmes if you’re nasty!

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas

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Cbr11bingo Remix This remix of Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet is clever and ingenious. It’s a fun read with interesting and sympathetic characters, most notably a female Sherlock Holmes. Sherry Thomas does an amazing job of reimagining this classic. Those familiar with Doyle’s first Holmes mystery will recognize certain traits of Sherlock and plot points in common, but this is a story with something original to say about women, class, justice and independence. It’s also a fine mystery. Charlotte Holmes is about 25 […]

A cute YA book with mystery and romance

Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett

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3.5 stars From Goodreads: Mystery-book aficionado Birdie Lindberg has an overactive imagination. Raised in isolation and homeschooled by strict grandparents, she’s cultivated a whimsical fantasy life in which she plays the heroic detective and every stranger is a suspect. But her solitary world expands when she takes a job the summer before college, working the graveyard shift at a historic Seattle hotel. In her new job, Birdie hopes to blossom from introverted dreamer to brave pioneer, and gregarious Daniel Aoki volunteers to be her guide. […]

Introducing Holmes and Watson

A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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Cbr11bingo Pajiba Reviewing mysteries is tough. One has to be careful not to spoil the story for others, and yet often the very issue I would want to address in my review is directly related to the big reveal in the story. I will do my best not to spoil A Study in Scarlet for others while trying to convey my concerns with it. A Study in Scarlet, published in 1887, is the first Sherlock Holmes mystery. The reader sees Holmes through the eyes of […]

Quirky, adorable mystery – perfect beach read.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

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This was a book that I voted for in our book club selections because of seeing it on several “Must Read” lists. I had no preconceived ideas about the plot, just knowing that others liked it. Fifteen year-old Bee is a typical teenager with a very untypical mother. Bernadette is outspoken, opinionated and is the definition of “marches to the beat of her own drum”. In a previous life she was an acclaimed architect, with designs that were revolutionary and award-winning. Now she is bordering […]



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