Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Golden Girls with Guns

Killers of a Certain Age: A Novel by Deanna Raybourn

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Back in 2010 a Bruce Willis movie called Red (Retired, Extremely Dangerous) came out. I don’t especially love action movies but this one was great — a comedy action movie with a load of outstanding actors in it, including John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, and Helen Mirren. They all play retired secret agents whom Willis convinces to come out of retirement when he finds himself targeted by mysterious forces. Helen Mirren was my favorite as a bad ass weapons expert who has been running a genteel […]

More Lady Killers, Please

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

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I am so excited about this book, y’all. I’ve been gushing about it in all my book-related chats since I started listening to it. I set it aside yesterday with about 80% finished because I wanted it to last just a little bit longer. It has been an exciting and fun escape during the awful end of summer break. A team of female assassins are set to retire and to celebrate, their employers “The Museum” have sent them on a fancy shmancy cruise. While sitting […]

Probably the weakest entry in the series so far

A Sinister Revenge by Deanna Raybourn

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This is book 8 in the Veronica Speedwell series. It’s not a good place to start. You want the first book, A Curious Beginning. 15-word review: Veronica tries to discover who wants to murder Stoker’s brother. Stoker is sadly mostly absent. Official book summary: Veronica’s natural-historian beau, Stoker, has been away in Bavaria for months and their relationship is at an impasse. But when Veronica shows up before him with his brother, Tiberius, Lord Templeton-Vane, he is lured back home by an intriguing job offer: […]

Justice and the law aren’t the same thing.

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

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I have read nearly all of Deanna Raybourn’s books and this one is a definite departure from her usual historical fiction. However, she keeps her penchant for mystery solving shenaningans here, and her trademark sense of humor is intact. Just a wee bit snarkier. Four retiring lady assassins are invited by their former employer to literally sail into the next phase of their lives aboard a complimentary cruise. How are former assassins allowed to just retire and sail off into the sunset, you ask? Well, […]

“She might be less than what she had once been, but she was still worth a hell of a lot.”

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

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Billie and her three colleagues – Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie – are gearing up for retirement. After forty years of being international assassins, it’s time to hang up their weapons. Their organisation, The Museum, sends them on a fabulous cruise as part of the send off, but in the midst of the festivities they discover they’re being targeted by one of their own. Only the top level of the Museum can order a hit, and once they get our of their sticky situation, they’re […]

Butterflies with a side of murder

A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn

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Lured to an island by the promise of rare butterflies, lepidopterist Veronica Speedwell finds herself delving into another mystery. The charismatic Lord Templeton-Vane is a friend of Malcolm Romilly, whose wife disappeared shortly after they said their wedding vows. After his loss, and the subsequent gossip, he retreated into his secluded world, which includes a castle with lots of delightful hiding places. As part of the invite, Lord Templeton-Vane (Tiberius) asks Veronica to pretend to be his fiancee, for propriety’s sake. Nothing to do with […]



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