cbr18bingo

Hack Your Way Out of Your Troubles

Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder by Rachel McCarthy James

August 29, 2026 by Pooja Leave a Comment

CBR18 Bingo: Repair – The axe is a tool used to fix a lot of things – houses, sheds, ships. In this book, it can provide a murderous solution to people’s problems too. The phrase ‘axe murder’ conjures images of a brutal, gruesome, and somewhat old-fashioned crime. The history of the axe murder is much longer than its presence in newspapers though, and more intimately intertwined with the lives of its perpetuators and its victims than one might think. Firstly, Whack Job is a truly excellent […]

Sometimes a Friend Group is Just a Girl and a Murderous Haunted Doll

She's A Doll by Barbara Truelove

August 29, 2026 by Pooja Leave a Comment

CBR18 Bingo: Friends – The emotional center of this story is the friendship between Lucy and Nicola. After Lucy is murdered by her best friend’s brother, she does not go gently into that good night but instead possess a porcelain doll and decides that she must kill Kyle. But a doll body is weak, so she turns to Nicola, a former classmate, for help in her mission. I’ve long believed that horror and humor are two sides of the same coin, so I really enjoy when […]

“People always say that your wedding day is the happiest day of your life, but honestly, people should try solving murders more often.”

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

August 29, 2026 by Pooja Leave a Comment

CBR18 Bingo: Joker – Vera is a wild card in the investigation around Malcolm’s murder, and shakes up the lives of the suspects out of the blue. After a dead man is found in Vera Wong’s teahouse, being rather unimpressed by the police’s efforts, Vera decides to investigate the death herself. Unfortunately, she finds herself liking all her murder suspects a little too much. A word to the wise: Don’t read this book while hungry. Vera cooks up veritable feasts throughout the book, and the […]

Being a ghost isn’t that different to being a war photographer. Long periods of boredom interspersed with short bursts of terror.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

August 29, 2026 by LittlePlat Leave a Comment

Malinda (Maali) Almeida is dead. He’s just taking his sweet time working it out. No, he’s not still hallucinating from some ‘silly pills’ a friend might have slipped him; he is well and truly dead and he has no idea how that came to pass. Maali is (was?) the son of a Sinhalese father and a Burgher mother; a closeted gay man with a gambling problem, Maali was also photographer who served many masters during the political upheaval of 1980s Sri Lanka. As a man […]

Unextreme Utena

Revolutionary Girl Utena by Chiho Saito

August 28, 2026 by vega-table Leave a Comment

CBR18 Bingo – Justice: it’s about a girl who fights for what she believes is just, instead of just being a normal girl who doesn’t need to duel. Because it’s not normal (or just) for middle school girls to duel for their life all the goddamn time. Revolutionary Girl Utena is one of my favorite animes and I had no interest in ever reading the manga because I was not interested in the story without all the things that the manga cut. That all changed […]

Some Bodies are None of Your Business, Pal

Defending Jacob by William Landay

August 28, 2026 by esmemoria 1 Comment

Bingo: Or. Father, the main character and narrator, tries throughout the book to convince the police that there is an option to his son as the killer. A month or so ago I decided to go on a tear of 12 mystery/thriller books one after the other. I wanted a break from some of the heavier stuff I read. I found some lists of top thrillers and blindly bought a bunch. I also found some traditional mysteries at the used bookstore. Well, I’m starting to […]

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