Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

cloisterf*ck

The Cloisters (2022) by Katy Hays

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I am posting a picture from Christchurch Priory, Dorset, a medieval structure which actually would be a good place for a murder mystery. I’m not going to post a picture of the book cover, because the cover is beautiful and it will suck you in to buying it and you will end up throwing it across the room and denting it anyway. At least if you’re an academic. The setting is the Cloisters section of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the narrator/protagonist is Ann, a […]

Seeing the Masterpiece

Eight Million Ways to Die by Lawrence Block

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When I first read through the Matthew Scudder series, I couldn’t appreciate Eight Million Ways to Die for what it is. I had avoided the Scudder series for a long time because alcoholic ex-cop PI held no appeal for me. I learned that Matt grows with the series over time. And I did as well. It’s documented in other reviews, I won’t rehash here. Just check the tag. But this one is always considered his best work. And when I read it…I mean, it was good. I […]

The Story at All Costs

Off the Air by Christina Estes

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When controversial talk show host Larry Lemmon dies under mysterious circumstances, local reporter Jolene pursues the story – and gets in over her head in the case itself. At some point, like most people who enjoy writing, I considered journalism as a career path, though I quickly realized I was nowhere near as persistent and unafraid of failure as the job requires. This book, written by a long-time reporter, only reinforced this. The mystery interested me off the bat – the poisoning of far-right radio […]

Game, set and …

The Match by Harlan Coben

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Several decades ago, a young boy was discovered living alone in the woods. The boy was put in foster care; the authorities assumed the boy would eventually be claimed. But no such thing happened. The boy, nicknamed Wilde, grew up and became a… PI? Enforcer? Jack of All Trades in the security business? We don’t know, we don’t care. All we know is that the boy’s memories never came back, save for one: a red banister, a portrait of a man, and the sound of […]

Blinded by the Glitter

A Most Efficient Murder by Anthony Slayton

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When the body of a strange young woman is found in the Earl of Unsworth’s garden during a party, his capable secretary Mr. Quayle is tasked with keeping the family from scandal during the investigation – a task only made harder by the secrets everyone is keeping. This is a cozy sort of mystery in 1920s England, with the vibe you’d get if you blend the adventurous plots of Sherlock Holmes and the humorous domestic drama of PG Wodehouse. I liked how the author built […]

February-March 2024 Leftovers

The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones

A Lowcountry Bride by Preslaysa Williams

Bone White by Ronald Malfi

Alexander the Great by Phillip Freeman

Nero: Matricide, Murder and Music in Imperial Rome by Anthony Everitt and Roddy Ashworth

Beyond a Boundary by C.L.R. James

A Stab in the Dark by Lawrence Block

The Killing Kind by John Connolly

Shōgun by James Clavell

Nobody's Angel by Jack Clark

A Murder in Hollywood: The Untold Story of Tinseltown's Most Shocking Crime by Casey Sherman

Village in the Dark by Iris Yamashita

Nestlings by Nat Cassidy

Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland

The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age by Michael Woolraich

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Rain, rain, go away. I thought my reading count looked too low and then I realized I didn’t do leftovers for February, so here’s Feb-March combined. The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and Rise of the Tudors ***** Jones is such a talented historian. Gets all the important stuff of the Wars of the Roses in great detail and lets the story entertain. His Templars book will soon be on my radar. A Lowcountry Bride**** Had to read this for a library […]



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