Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Gentle escapist mystery

Aunt Dimity and the Duke by Nancy Atherton

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The second book in the Aunt Dimity series, this book set out the backstory behind some secondary characters from the first book.  Computer whiz and amateur garden designer Emma has been dumped by her long time boyfriend who promptly marries another woman.  So Emma takes the trip to England they had planned, only by herself.  She is soon prevailed upon to visit a castle in Cornwall, where mystery and romance await. She designs gardens (yay!), falls in love (natch) and solves the mystery.  There’s some […]

British murder mystery with a literary twist

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

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Continuing my run of Elly Griffiths novels, this is the first in the Harbinder Kaur series.  Harbinder is a detective near Brighton, UK who is brought in to investigate when a schoolteacher is murdered at Harbinder’s former school.  The other main protagonist, Clare, is a fellow teacher and friend of the murdered woman.  More violence occurs, which seems to center around Clare and a Victorian short story known as The Stranger by the fictional R.M.Holland. What sets this book apart was the way it integrated […]

Atmospheric Scottish thriller

The Blackhouse by Carole Johnstone

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It would be understandable if readers assumed I had miswritten the author’s name.  The book shares a title and a similar setting to the trilogy by author Peter May, but this review refers to The Blackhouse by Carole Johnstone.   Set in a fictional island near the isle of Harris in Scotland, the author splits between a current day protagonist (Maggie) and a man who died 25 years in the past (Robert/Andrew).  Maggie comes to the island trying to determine if he was murdered and if […]

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life

Demon Copperhead by Barbra Kingsolver

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All of a sudden, I was seeing Demon Copperhead (2022) by Barbara Kingsolver all over the place. I first noticed it on NPR’s Best Books List. And then my book club chose it as our next book. I’m very familiar with Barbra Kingsolver. She was one of my favorite authors for many years, and I’ve read most of her books. However, I was disappointed in one of her latest books–Unsheltered and didn’t finish it. I wasn’t sure if Kingsolver was a good author for me anymore, so I […]

Third times a charm

The Cardboard Kingdom V03 Snow and Sorcery by Chad Sell

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Book three of The Cardboard Kingdom graphic novel series is Snow and Sorcery. This is a series you need to read in order, but that is okay as book three is not due until early November 2023 and you will have plenty of time to read the first two Chad Sell books. There are various authors and illustrators (such as Barbara Perez Marquez and Manuel Betancourt) as well, but I forgot to write all their names down so I can add them to my review. […]

Have a cup of tea? Don’t mind if I have three

The Tea Dagon Society Book One by K. O’Neill

The Tea Dragon Festival #2 by K. O’Neill

The Tea Dragon Tapestry (Tea Dragon, #3) by K. O’Neill

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I have the goal of reading all of K. O’Neill’s works. It has been a little tricky as they have gone by at least Kate O’Neill and Kay O’Neill as well. But with the finishing of the third book in the Tea Dragon Society series, I might have made it. This is a big deal as (until a few years ago when posthumously her second book came out) Harper Lee might have been the only author with that honor. I came to The Tea Dagon […]



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