Oh well. Now I don’t have to feel bad about finishing up Deanna Raybourn’s Lady Julia Grey series. This one was kind of a bust. I’m a big fan of Raybourn and had more love for the Lady Julia books than the majority of her fans, but this final (?) book in the series was a huge disappointment. A lot of Cannonballers have read and reviewed her books. I reviewed two of them this year, here , so I’m not going to get into too much detail about […]
Same Song; Different Tune
This is the first book I’ve read by Attica Locke and it definitely won’t be my last. Bluebird Bluebird is a complex and gripping mystery with social commentary that never feels ham-handed or preachy. I enjoyed it so much I may even check out Empire on Hulu (Ms. Locke writes for the show). Darren Matthews has a lot going on. He is a black Texas Ranger is East Texas. His career is in jeopardy after sticking his neck out for a family friend. His […]
Do you disapprove of minstrels, too?
I often geek out when visiting historical sites. The whole “OMG, so and so ACTUALLY walked here, lived here, died here…” gets me every time. No surprise then that Juliana Gray’s dedication in “A Strange Scottish Shore” definitely spoke to me: To all those who have stood where history was made and felt its echo.” This is the second in what I truly hope is a continuing series about a no-nonsense administrator, Emmeline Truelove, her employer, the Duke of Olympia, and her would be paramour, […]
“You left me alone but you’re still my own”
The key to a good suspense/mystery novel is similar to that of a good horror film. The characters reactions to things have to be realistic and make sense. That doesn’t mean they have to necessarily be smart or follow basic common sense. It means they have to make sense given what we know about the character’s past experiences and personality. That way, when everything goes pear shaped, it feels like these things are being experienced by a real human and not merely a vessel to […]