Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“We women have been taught since birth that virtue is our greatest asset. I have nothing against virtues—I’d like to think that there are many virtues I practice assiduously. But power does not yield to virtue. Power yields only to power.”

Murder on Cold Street (Lady Sherlock, #5) by Sherry Thomas

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I liked this one, but the mystery plot got convoluted at the end and I had to re-read several bits multiple times, and stop and think about things before it all came together for me. That confusion aside, this also didn’t have as high of emotional stakes for the characters I cared most about. The biggest stakes are for Inspector and Mrs. Treadles, since Inspector Treadles has been accused of two murders. Reasonably, as it turns out, as he was found in a locked room […]

And Melt With You

I'll Stop the World by Lauren Thoman

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I’ll Stop the World is the debut novel by Lauren Thoman, published by Mindy’s Book Studio, the Mindy being Mindy Kaling. It’s clear from her opening note at the beginning of the book that there are twists in this book. I did get one of them because math, but I was really surprised by the second. I admit though when I know there’s a big twist in books I try not to think to hard about it because I just want to enjoy the story […]

The perfect mix of war and noir

Five Decembers by James Kestrel

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Five Decembers by James Kestrel won the 2022 Edgar Award for best novel. It is a solid murder mystery that involves a classic noir detective story paired with international intrigue and  the Pacific Theater in WWII. Main character Joe McGrady is army brat who went to college and later served in the army before settling in Hawaii and becoming a detective in the Honolulu Police Department. His boss, Capt. Beamer, is a chain-smoking benzedrine-inhaling hard nose who hates Joe and makes it clear that he […]

Horror Month 2023: #11

Night Walker by Donald Hamilton

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Months like this one make it tricky to continue my required monthly Hard Case Crime read. I usually skip February as HCC has done a poor job of publishing Black authors. And I’ve read all the female authors they’ve so far published (precious few). And now, reading only horror for these 31 days, I’ve read all their horror reads: the Stephen Kings and Sugar Rush. But unlike February and March, I didn’t think this month required a departure from it. So I grabbed this one […]

Let’s keep all the Holmes’ together

Sherlock Holmes #3 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Enola Holmes #9 Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose by Nancy Springer

Sherlock Holmes #6 The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

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So I got into Sherlock Holmes via his sister Enola. I read all of the Enola Holmes books when my niece wanted to watch the movies on Netflix a bit ago. I love her as a character, and Sherlock is in most of her books, so I figured I’d check him out. I must say I like Enola’s Sherlock better than the original Sherlock. He’s a bit prickly and I think has some untreated mental disorders. This book is a collection of short stories, which […]

Horror Month 2023: #8 and #9

Reptile Memoirs by Silje Ulstein

Come Closer by Sara Gran

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I meant to review every book of Horror Month separately but I happened to consecutively read these two and they both feature women going through…transformations. So I figured it made sense to talk about them both on one page. Reptile Memoirs**** This is billed as a horror mystery but aside from a woman’s weird psychosomatic fascination with a snake, there’s not much in the way of horror, if that even qualifies as horror. That’s okay though; this is an interesting enough mystery tale with shifting […]



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