Val McDermid – Page 2 – Cannonball Read 17

“News always reached Miss Marple, one way or another.”

Marple: Twelve New Stories by Various

December 29, 2022 by narfna Leave a Comment

I would read more of these Agatha Christie short story collections featuring notable authors, for sure. Even the ones where Americans tried and failed to capture that British Marple feeling were entertaining in their failure. But most of these stories were pretty successful! One nailed it completely. Highlights for me were the stories from Ruth Ware (I know!), Naomi Alderman, Elly Griffiths, Kate Mosse, and Leigh Bardugo. This may be the easy way out, but I’ve just copied and pasted my Goodreads status update mini-reviews […]

Celia knew a bad place when she saw it.

The Butterfly Girl by Rene Denfield

Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints.... by Val McDermid

Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie

April 22, 2020 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

Sometimes my reading comes in clusters. The cluster here is leftover audiobooks and books around the house before I permanently delete them or donate them! Quarantine house cleaning!! The Butterfly Girl 2/5 Stars – This is the second of the Naomi Cottle series. Naomi is a former abducted child with the uncanny ability to find missing, lost, and abducted children. In the previous book she reconnected with a former friend from childhood and formed a relationship with him. In this book, that partnership is at […]

The British Countryside Mystery

A Place of Execution by Val McDermid

April 18, 2020 by Jake 1 Comment

For years, I held out on reading Val McDermid until I could find this book. I can’t remember where it was first recommended to me but it was often billed as the best of her illustrious career. It probably sat on my primary Amazon list for close to two years. Trips to bookstores proved fruitless. Until one day, I stumbled on it for sale at my local library’s book sale. Yay for libraries and their book sales! Even after I got it, it’s probably been […]

A delightful Austen novel made into a delightful Austen adaptation

July 5, 2016 by bonnie 3 Comments

Finally, I am all caught up with The Austen Project! There really are no excuses for me to put off The Lizzie Bennet Diaries now. Ahem. Anyway, I went into Northanger Abbey with high hopes, because I genuinely like the original sooooo much. I did my Master’s Thesis on the two film adaptations (the 1980s film is suuuuper campy and not all that great, the 2007 film is deliciously aces and full of female sexual empowerment in ways that Jane Austen would totally approve of […]

I’m not sure how Jane would feel about all of the Twilight references.

May 12, 2016 by scootsa1000 1 Comment

Until a few weeks ago (mentioned in ElCicco’s great review of Eligible), I hadn’t heard of The Austen Project. The gist of the project is to take Jane Austen’s novels, choose current authors, and have them modernize the story. And now I’m obsessed with making may way through all of the books rewritten thus far…I’ve already read Alexander McCall Smith’s Emma, and am on the library list for both Eligible and Joanna Trollope’s Sense & Sensibility. But I was lucky enough to find a copy of Val […]

A sadly disappointing mystery by an author I really like.

September 8, 2015 by Mrs Smith Reads Leave a Comment

I’ve just realized that I really need to keep up with my reviews, as I opened this draft and had to think long and hard about the book to remember what it was about. That might actually be my review, right there. Mrs Smith’s actual review of The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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