And a Puzzle To Die On: A Puzzle Lady Mystery [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Parnell Hall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 23, 2005

Features five exclusive, original crosswords by New York Times constructors

The big mystery in Bakersfield is how many candles to put on the birthday cake of Cora Felton, the town's favorite puzzle lady. But while her niece Sherry helps plan the big event, Cora is more interested in landing a case filled with sex, scandal, and mayhem. She gets her wish when attorney Becky Baldwin asks Cora to look into a murder that is not only two decades old - but already solved.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Cora Felton, the Puzzle Lady, doesn't really create crosswords; her niece, Sherry, does. That deception has been one of the signature charms of the previous books-- along with the included crosswords waiting to be solved by readers. Alas, this sixth offering in the series doesn't take much advantage of either. The puzzles themselves are perfunctory and only tangentially related to the plot. As for Sherry, she is pushed way into the background as Cora takes on a murder mystery whose solution is so convoluted it's hard to grasp, even as Cora spells it out point by point. Always a pushy broad, hard drinking and chain-smoking, Cora has now given up the booze (though not the smokes); perhaps that's why pushy is now bordering on obnoxious. There's still some fun to be had here, but less Cora, more puzzles might be a better recipe for the next installment. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Review

"Heaven for crossword puzzle fans."
-- Kirkus Reviews (Kirkus Review )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 445 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; 1 edition (November 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786278900
• ISBN-13: 978-0786278909
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,178,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Parnell Hall's music video, KING OF KINDLE, is on his Amazon author page! Cameos by Lawrence Block, Mary Higgins Clark, and dozens of other mystery writers. See how many you can spot. (Scroll down for video)

Parnell is the author of the Puzzle Lady crossword puzzle mysteries, set in the fictitious town of Bakerhaven, Connecticut. Cora Felton, the Puzzle Lady, has a nationally syndicated crossword puzzle column, but couldn't construct a puzzle if her life depended on it. Her niece Sherry Carter writes the column for her. The much married Miss Felton is much happier solving crime. She made her debut in 1999 in A CLUE FOR THE PUZZLE LADY, and has since romped through LAST PUZZLE & TESTAMENT, PUZZLED TO DEATH, and A PUZZLE IN A PEAR TREE, WITH THIS PUZZLE, I THEE KILL, AND A PUZZLE TO DIE ON, and STALKING THE PUZZLE LADY. Cora is herself a suspect in YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN PUZZLED.

Though poor at words, Cora proves most adept at numbers in THE SUDOKU PUZZLE MURDERS. New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz constructed the sudoku puzzles that help solve the mystery. Sudoku puzzles also play a part in DEAD MAN'S PUZZLE, and THE PUZZLE LADY VS. THE SUDOKU LADY. Cora tackles a new number puzzle in THE KENKEN KILLINGS.

As research for the Puzzle Lady books, Parnell competed in the National Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, Connecticut, where out of a field of 254 contestants he finished 250th, just ahead of the four people who failed to turn in a paper. Parnell composed the puzzles for his earlier books. He now has them created by New York Times constructor Manny Nosowsky, and edited by National Tournament winner Ellen Ripstein.

Parnell also writes the Stanley Hastings mystery novels, and the Steve Winslow courtroom dramas. His first novel, DETECTIVE, was nominated for an Edgar award by the Mystery Writers of America, and a Shamus award by the Private Eye Writers of America. His tenth Stanley Hastings novel, MOVIE, was nominated for a Shamus award for Best Private Eye Novel of 1995, and for a Lefty for the funniest mystery novel of 1995. Recently, Stanley and his wife Alice vacationed at a New England bed-and-breakfast in COZY, a takeoff on that subset of the genre; the book is full of recipes and the cat solves the crime. Stanley returned to the mean streets of Manhattan in MANSLAUGHTER, HITMAN, and CAPER. He has his first paranormal encounter in the short story DEATH OF A VAMPIRE, in the Charlaine Harris anthology, CRMIES BY MOONLIGHT.

Parnell worked for two years as a private detective in New York City. His experiences form the basis for his Stanley Hastings series. He has no courtroom experience, however, and owes his Steve Winslow series to a childhood spent reading Erle Stanley Gardner.

Parnell is an actor, who has done summer stock and regional theater, and appeared in a number of movies, including Arnold Schwarzenegger's first movie, Hercules in New York (in which he appeared clad in a leopard skin) and A New Leaf with Elaine May and Walter Matthau.

Parnell is a member of the Writers Guild of America East with several screenplays to his credit, including the underground horror movie C.H.U.D., which has been satirized on Saturday Night Live, the Simpsons, Pushing Daisies, The Dailey Show, and The Colbert Report.

Parnell's career as a professional songwriter began at the age of sixteen, when Pete Seeger sang The Literacy Test Song on the Folkways album, Gazette, Volume 2. Parnell has performed his songs at several mystery conventions, including the Edgar Awards, Magna Cum Murder, Malice Domestic, and the Bouchercon. This year he is performing The Ballad of Alferd Packard,
a song celebrating Denver's most famous cannibal, at the Left Coast Crime banquet.

Parnell Hall is a former President of the Private Eye Writers of America, and a member of Sisters in Crime. He lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not as good as the rest., February 2, 2007

By 

KatieK (alabama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: And a Puzzle to Die On: A Puzzle Lady Mystery (Puzzle Lady Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I've read all of the puzzle lady novels and have enjoyed them all, but this one is not up to par. First, the cursing has escalated both in frequency and severity. Before, it was an occasional "he-- or sh--", but now it's gone to more unexceptable ones & pops up much more often. This one is also too much about Cora. There is very little interaction w/the people who make the stories good. Her antics are way over the top & the solution is one that the reader couldn't possibly see coming. That's not all bad, I suppose, but it needs to have some line to follow & this is way out there. I'm about to start the next one, but if this style keeps up, it will be the last.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars deliciously convoluted amateur sleuth mystery, October 27, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: And a Puzzle to Die On: A Puzzle Lady Mystery (Puzzle Lady Mysteries) (Hardcover)

She is known as the puzzle lady but it is really her publicity shy niece who is the puzzle constructor. Cora's favorite pastime is solving real life murder mysteries, which is why she agrees to lawyer Becky Baldwin's proposition. Becky wants Cora to find out if convicted murderer Daryl Daigue really killed seventeen year old Anita Dryer two decades ago. Depending on what Cora digs up, Becky will decide whether she wants to take the case.

Sara visits Darryl in prison; he acts like a criminal but insists that he was working at the time Anita was killed and he was covering for Ricky Gleason, the actual killer. Before leaving the prison, Warden Profack subtly warns Cora not to work on Darryl's case. Sara find that admonition suspicious and keeps digging which leads to her being followed by a private detective who is murdered at Cora's birthday party. Later, someone throws a rock through her window and she is arrested for absconding with a toy poodle that belongs to a woman who was also murdered because she had something that the killer wanted. The truth about who hired Becky and the two murders comes out when Cora has her day in court.

AND A PUZZLE TO DIE ON is a deliciously convoluted amateur sleuth mystery in which everyone connected to the case has a hidden agenda. The protagonist is in fine form as she breaks into offices and homes, steals what turn out to be significant, winds up spending a night in jail, and refuses to conform to court etiquette. Parnell Hall has written a complex who-done-it that has the requisite number of red herrings and misleading clues.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Inelegant but still fun, January 4, 2005

By 

Tracy D. Rosselle (Brandon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: And a Puzzle to Die On: A Puzzle Lady Mystery (Puzzle Lady Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Enlisted to investigate whether reasonable doubt exists that repugnant Darryl Daigue actually committed the murder he was convicted of 20 years ago, Cora "The Puzzle Lady" Felton stirs up one hornets nest after another in "And a Puzzle to Die On." It's the sixth in Parnell Hall's series featuring Felton and the regular gang in Bakershaven, Connecticut, and if you've enjoyed any of Hall's previous novels you'll no doubt like this one.

This is a cozy with a slight edge: The violence is muted; the dialogue is pretty tame by crime novel standards; but Cora is a chain-smoking, foul-mouthed (compared to most cozy characters) old broad with an attitude. The fun is following along from one riotous chapter to the next, listening to the banter among the characters, getting lost in a comic misadventure that's light as air. If you enjoy that kind of thing -- and Hall is quite adept at carrying readers along on a wild ride with few hard bumps or crash landings -- this book is for you. You'll be able to ignore the implausible, hopelessly convoluted plot that exists solely to puzzle the reader. After finishing the book, I still wasn't sure what had happened -- but I didn't care all that much. Hall had entertained me for a few hours.

I had read the first in this series, "A Clue For the Puzzle Lady," and after reading this most recent entry, I'll go ahead and read the others. As a rule, I don't enjoy cozies. But Hall has a nice touch and a good sense of pacing, and this series provides a welcome change of pace for a reader who usually prefers a crime novel with a harder edge and bleaker vision.

One side note: A glaring error in the dust jacket copy has me wondering if the folks at Bantam even read the book. The copy twice refers to Bakersfield instead of Bakershaven.