Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Crime Doesn’t Pay

Frank Sinatra In A Blender by Matthew McBride

The Nightrunners by Michael Collins

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Been in sort of a mini-slump lately reading-wise and while both of these books had moments, neither was able to break it… Frank Sinatra in a Blender When you dial up the alcoholic ex-cop PI routine up to a 10, add a heavy dose of slapstick comedy and stupid criminals, this is what you get. Parts of this book are so much fun and very relatable, particularly the references to White Castle (my stomach churned just reading them). But this book desperately need a better […]

Sidewalks of New York

Manhattan Nocturne by Colin Harrison

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Note: This book has been re-published under the title “Manhattan Night”. It was renamed because a movie by that name based on the book came out, so the publisher re-issued it with the movie title. Since I hate when publishers do this, I’ve chosen to review it under the original name. The Amazon link directs to the page with the updated name and appropriate info.  Colin Harrison is a writer I’ve been meaning to try for awhile. I started The Havana Room and was enjoying it but stopped for […]

Get a New Line of Work?

Bitter Falls (Stillhouse Lake Book #4) by Rachel Caine

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I am a sucker for a series with a strong, capable woman.  Add the fact that she’s a mom on a mission? I’m alway sold.  I’m easy…always have been.  To catch you up, the Stillhouse Lake series is about a woman, Gina Royal, who comes home to find out that her husband was a serial killer and that he had been killing people under her nose for years (in a sound proof hobby room in the garage).  People did not believe that she wasn’t aiding […]

An old favorite

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

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I read all of Agatha Christie’s books in the years of elementary through high school. Hercule Poirot heavily influenced my idea of what a Frenchman should be, and I read all of his lines in my head through the filter of my French teacher in 5th grade (Miss Marple sounds like my grandmother, but stuffier, in my head). I haven’t picked up one of her mysteries for at least twenty years but my daughter has recently started to be interested in mysteries so I was […]

Two Duds

The Wounded and the Slain by David Goodis

Doctor Lovebeads by Gary Reilly

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How much does it suck when you read two books concurrent with one another by authors you normally like…and they turn out to be complete duds? I took time to write this review after finishing both books to wonder if it was just me. Nope. Both were not good and very close to bad. The Wounded and the Slain There are good ideas in this David Goodis noir tale: ideas about marriage, accountability, colonialism, loss, sense of place and justice. But they’re buried underneath Goodis’ […]

A Serviceable Mystery

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

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I love a good mystery. I can tear through an absorbing mystery in a day, but I slow down for certain mysteries because of the depth of the characters.  While Case Histories moves at a decent clip, the characters are sketched with more mannerisms and exposition than depth. To her credit, though, author Kate Atkinson is quite good at portraying the many forms of grief and loss. While I did not find this mystery very satisfying in the end, I do appreciate the effort that went in […]



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