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Presumed Puzzled: A Puzzle Lady Mystery (Puzzle Lady Mysteries) Hardcover – January 19, 2016
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“Jessica Fletcher meets Groucho Marx!”―RT BookReviews
A shocking crime of passion has Bakerhaven buzzing!
In Parnell Hall's Presumed Puzzled, the Puzzle Lady gets more than she bargained for when she’s hired to track down Paula Martindale’s straying husband. She finds him, all right―hacked to pieces on his living room rug, while his blood-drenched wife haunts the crime scene clutching a butcher knife.
It’s a tough spot for attractive young attorney Becky Baldwin. Paula is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but try to find one juror who’s going to think so.
It’s up to Cora to find the evidence to save the day. She has just two problems: She’s a witness for the prosecution, and every bit of evidence she finds in Paula’s favor, from crossword puzzles to Sudoku to alibi witnesses, tends to indicate that Cora herself is the killer!
- Print length288 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMinotaur Books
- Publication dateJanuary 19, 2016
- Dimensions5.5 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches
- ISBN-101250061237
- ISBN-13978-1250061232
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Praise for the Puzzle Lady Mysteries
“The pleasure is in the wordplay, at which Hall is a master. Across and down, the word is C-U-T-E.”―The New York Times Book Review
“Fun from the first page.”―The Dallas Morning News
“An ingenious series of light-hearted, humorous mysteries.”―Winston-Salem Journal
“If sweet–looking, gray-haired Miss Marple cursed, smoked, and carried a gun in her purse, she’d be a ringer for Cora Felton.”―Booklist
“Heaven for crossword fans.”―Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Minotaur Books (January 19, 2016)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 288 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1250061237
- ISBN-13 : 978-1250061232
- Item Weight : 13.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,199,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #28,526 in Amateur Sleuths
- #47,292 in Women Sleuths (Books)
- #100,995 in American Literature (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Parnell Hall is the Shamus Award winning, Edgar nominated author of the Stanley Hastings Private Eye novels, the Puzzle Lady crossword puzzle mysteries, and the Steve Winslow courtroom dramas. With Stuart Woods he writes the NewYork Times bestselling Teddy Fay thrillers.
Parnell has a scene with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie Hercules in New York. He also wrote the screenplay for the movie C.H.U.D.
Please buy his books to save him from these misspent lives.
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It’s been a slow few months in Bakerhaven, but things are about to heat up again in a big way. It all starts when Police Chief Harper calls Cora Felton, famed puzzle lady and part time PI, to go to see Pamela Martindale. Pamela has reported her husband, Roger, missing, but it hasn’t yet been the 24 hours required to start an official police inquiry. Cora reluctantly goes only to learn that Pamela received a crossword puzzle that day. Cora knows she was played by the chief.
Things turn interesting that evening. With the man now officially missing for 24 hours, the police get word that he is headed for home. Cora and Chief Harper head over to the Martindale house to find out what happened only to discover Pamela holding a bloody knife and Roger dead on the living room floor. Naturally, Chief takes Pamela into custody, but she maintains she is innocent. What is going on?
And with that set up, we are off on another wild, wacky mystery. This one takes place more in a courtroom than many in the series, but that doesn’t keep the twists from coming. I was surprised by several of the events of the book. But you can rest easy, we reach a logical conclusion before it is all over, and the book reads so quickly it will be over all too soon.
The characters have never been the strength of this series, and that continues to be true here. Oh, they are developed enough for us to care about them, especially if we’ve been reading the series from the beginning, but they don’t have as much depth as many of the books I read. Think of them more as characters in a sitcom – you love them, but you don’t see every side of them in every episode.
Having said that, Cora has taken a step forward with another of her nasty habits, something I was thrilled to see.
And as I hinted before, the humor is still flying fast and furious. Yes, the verbal sparring gets to be a little harsh at times, but those scenes never last long. Instead, I found myself chuckling and laughing all the way through the book. Jennifer, Cora’s three-year-old grandniece, was especially funny here.
And we get a couple of crossword and Sudoku puzzles to solve over the course of the book. Or if, like me, you just want to know what happens in the mystery, you can read on until the characters solve it for you.
I’ve found that, for most people, this is either a series you love or you hate. Personally, I enjoy my time with Cora. If you are like me, you’ll enjoy Presumed Puzzled.
Hard to believe this is book 17.
I have enjoyed all of the books. I think this one is great. It has a plot twist that will keep you guessing.
Cora is unconventional, she can be close to unlikeable, but the action is FUN.