The headquarters of the Vidocq Society were housed in a Victorian brownstone in Philadelphia. I know this because author Michael Capuzzo reminds the reader at least four times throughout the 426 pages of The Murder Room, so he must think it’s pretty significant. This is a minor complaint about a book that is rife with problems. I picked this book up with high hopes, drawn in by what I think is a fascinating subject. The Murder Room is a work of non-fiction about a real-life […]
Yup, another review of The Cuckoo’s Calling
If I counted correctly, I’m the sixth Cannonballer to pick up The Cuckoo’s Calling, so you’re probably already familiar with the summary: injured war veteran and private detective Cormoran Strike, down on his luck and down to his last pence; his new girl Friday, Robin, newly engaged and enthralled with the prospect of working with a real live detective; a celebrity suicice–OR IS IT?–and a bunch of usual suspects, all with a conceivable motive and a suspicious air about them. None of the individual characters were […]
They Fuck You Up, Your Mum and Dad. Return the Favor.
We Need to Talk About Kevin is a character study of a very unhappy woman who believes that she deserves to be unhappy, and maybe she does, but maybe she doesn’t, and her hate is a form of love and her love is a form of hatred. Through Eva, Shriver takes you on a powerful, haunting journey. Whether or not it’s a journey you’ll be glad you took is another question entirely. Find out why here.
Women Can Be Scary Part I: Agatha Christie
At some point in my young reading life, I think when I was in junior high, I read quite a few Agatha Christie mysteries. I still fondly remember the plots of Murder on the Orient Express and The Mirror Crack’d, but I’m pretty sure I never read And Then There Were None, considered Christie’s masterpiece. Unlike most of Christie’s novels, this mystery does not feature a detective like Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple sleuthing a path to the final revelation of the murderer’s identity. Instead, […]