Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Cozy mystery, Singapore style

Aunty Lee's Delights (Singaporean Mystery #1) by Ovidia Yu

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I was in Singapore for a week so I decided to look up Singaporean books to expand my understanding a little bit. It needed to be something I could read on an airplane, and it needed to be very Singapore. I landed on Aunty Lee’s Delights after seeing Ovidia Yu’s name come up in several “Must-Read: Singapore” lists.  Aunty Lee is an established lady of a certain age and class in Singapore. She’s also a bit — well, maybe more than a bit — of […]

Here There Be Dragons (it’s Steve)

The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst

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At this point I think it’s just safe to assume that all bed and breakfasts have some weird magical shenanigans going on. I’ve got my eyes on you Vermont, so quaint and charming. Sixteen year old Calisa is heading to Vermont for the summer to help out at her aunt’s bed and breakfast. She’s nursing her first real heartbreak and hoping a change of scenery will help heal that wound. But what she finds when she gets there is not the cozy inn she barely […]

“Bardun Jacques would’ve reshaped the landscape around him using the sheer force of profanity, which, Aelis reasoned, might actually have been an eighth College in his hands.”

The Warden (The Warden #1) by Daniel M. Ford

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I have read a couple of books lately where the back of the book synopsis does not completely (or accurately describe what the book actually contains; sometimes it’s by a little, sometimes it’s by a lot. The Warden, thankfully, is one of those books where it’s only by a little. The basic plot is: Aelis de Lenti, daughter of a noble house and recent graduate of the esteemed Magisters’ Lyceum (read: bisexual spoiled little rich girl who likes only the finer things in life and […]

“I have received many love notes about my wit. Though they are often disguised as strongly worded letters which request I hold my tongue.”

A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales

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When a rich, eligible young man comes to town, Beatrice Steele, a Regency-era miss with an unseemly interest in crime, is determined that her younger sister Louisa will be his bride. But when he is poisoned in front of the whole ball, she must solve his murder instead with the assistance of the prickly detective Drake. This book is a humorous pastiche of Jane Austen and Agatha Christie with plenty of intrigue and funny characters, but its inspiration is while in some ways its greatest […]

“Remember, Vera reminds herself, your ass is bad. Very bad. And that is a good thing.”

Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) - Vera Wong #2 by Jesse Q. Sutanto

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I often make mystery comparisons to one of the greats, Angela Lansbury’s Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote. But it’s not a comparison I make lightly, because that show and character brings me ALL the joy, and so does this book. So, this is Jessica Fletcher, if she was a 60 year old Chinese tea shop owner in San Francisco who knows more and better than anyone else. Whereas Jessica is subtle, Vera is anything but. She is pushy, demanding, and downright insulting, but the found […]

Lost in the Brain Fog

The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann

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When their neighbor turns up shot and killed, Agnes and her housemates are excited to be able to pin the death of their friend Lilith on the same murderer – if only they can solve the crime themselves before the police do. I picked up this book because the premise cracked me up. The image of these pensioners all creeping around trying to cover up one murder and solve another is just so dark and amusing. Of course, as I started reading I quickly found […]



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