"Wonderful addition to this "puzzling" mystery series."

Life is puzzling at best and no one knows that better than Cora Felton a/k/a the "Puzzle Lady." However, it's not the puzzles in the paper she loves to solve, but rather good old down to earth murder and mayhem that's more her style. Even though the rest of the world sees her as the woman who creates those crazy crosswords, in reality, she's only the figurehead. Her very shy niece, Sherry, is the genius of those little conundrums.

This birthday, Cora cares more about the job she's been hired to do by a local attorney, Becky Baldwin, than any birthday celebration. Becky is thinking about representing a low-life on death row, Darryl Daigue, in a possible appeal of his sentence. Like all criminals, he asserts his innocence. However, not only does no one seem to care that Darryl may soon be swinging for a murder he didn't commit, there's the fact that no one wants Cora digging too close either, even when she finds possible evidence from the get- go that it had to be someone else. Coupled with an ever growing number of corpses, bizarre crossword puzzles in the mail full of possible clues, a toy poodle she's picked up for nabbing and a warden who's just one of many to warn Cora to leave things as they are, it's anyone's guess as to where on the page of life this answer key lies.

Hall has created a cranky heroine full of spunk and vigor who's not afraid of anyone or anything. The plot has enough twists to more closely resemble a convoluted, labyrinthine jigsaw puzzle than a crossword, and Cora is just plain fun. It's a winner all the way around, so get out your pencil and be prepared to fill in the blanks as you solve this puzzle to die for.

Reviewed by Anne Barringer
Posted January 14, 2005

When nerdy cruciverbalist Harvey Beerbaum throws a birthday bash for Cora Felton at the Bakerhaven Library, it's no surprise that the centerpiece, a huge cake decorated like a crossword puzzle, is a complete bust--until a corpse thrown from the second floor stacks hits it dead center and fills in 14 down. Cora may hate birthdays almost as much as she hates crossword puzzles--but when it comes to solving crimes, no one can hold a candle to the Puzzle Lady.