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Summary
Summary
The new novel in the ever-popular mystery series finds the Puzzle Lady on the set of a movie about her own life--and when the first dead body shows up on set, it comes with a crossword puzzle.
It's murder on the movie set!
It was no surprise when Cora Felton's ex-husband's sensational tell-all memoir, Confessions of a Trophy Husband: My Life with the Puzzle Lady , was optioned for the movies, but it certainly raised eyebrows when the Puzzle Lady herself signed on as an associate producer. Cora explained gamely that she hoped to have some control over the project. The truth was, she needed the money.
Some of the more salacious details of the steamy bestseller had not sat well with Granville Grains, the breakfast cereal company for whom the Puzzle Lady appeared in national TV ads for schoolchildren, and they suspended the campaign. Sales of her popular Sudoku books also sagged, leaving Cora and her niece, Sherry, who actually constructs the crosswords, to live on the modest income from the Puzzle Lady crossword puzzle column.
Now Cora is filming her life story on location in New York City, and things couldn't be worse. She doesn't like the script, she doesn't like the director, and she absolutely hates the actress who is playing her in the movie. It's almost a relief when the first dead body shows up on the set. If only it didn't come with a crossword puzzle . . .
Author Notes
Parnell Hall is a part-time actor, a former private detective, singer/songwriter, and full-time writer of novels and screenplays. He writes the Stanley Hastings Mystery series, the Steve Winslow courtroom drama series, and the Puzzle Lady Mystery series. He also writes under the pseudonym J. P. Hailey. He wrote the screenplay to the 1984 movie C.H.U.D.
Hall co-authored New York Times bestseller Smooth Operator with Stuart Woods.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
At the start of Hall's enjoyable 20th mystery featuring Bakerhaven, Conn., crossword puzzle creator Cora Felton (after 2018's The Purloined Puzzle), Cora is less than thrilled to learn that her ex-husband, Melvin Crabtree, has sold his tell-all memoir, Confessions of a Trophy Husband: My Life with the Puzzle Lady, to Hollywood and is styling himself as executive producer. To keep an eye on the project, Cora heads to New York City for the filming and is immediately embroiled in murder when a sandbag lands on the head of gofer Karen Hart. The subsequent murders of Karen's fellow gofer Melinda Fisher, actor Fred Roberts, and Karen's boyfriend, Patrick Monahan, as well as an attempted assault on director Sandy Delfin and an unsolved crossword puzzle, complicate the case for Cora and Sergeant Crowley, her former lover. Cora and the film's shrewd leading lady, Angela Broadbent, team up to scan the cast and crew for possible suspects. Hall's sly swipes at the movie business enhance this lively tale that keeps readers guessing about the culprit to the end. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Cora Felton returns in her twentieth wild adventure (after The Purloined Puzzle, 2018), and it is becoming difficult for reviewers to come up with new adjectives to apply to her. Inimitable comes to mind, since she is (mercifully) not able to be imitated. Just one of her is sometimes one too many at least for those who cross her orbit. Not only has her ex-husband published a sensational tell-all memoir, Confessions of a Trophy Husband: My Life with the Puzzle Lady, but it has been optioned for film as well, and in a feeble attempt at gaining some control, Cora insinuates herself into the production as an associate producer. Instead of quiet on the set, there is murder, and although the Milli Vanilli of Cruciverbalists can't actually solve Sudoku or crosswords, she successfully dodges a bullet and manages to link four homicides to one suspect. The movie is eventually scrapped, but Cora manages to land on her feet in an ending that promises further adventures. The reader is left hoping that the police give Cora those Hamilton tickets she finds in the course of disproving a suicide as a reward.--Jane Murphy Copyright 2019 Booklist
Kirkus Review
The Puzzle Lady goes to Hollywood.Cora Felton, famous for creating crossword puzzles, is actually hopeless at them. Her success as her niece's frontwoman and her genuine abilities as a wisecracking sleuth are about to be tested by a former husband's tell-all book, which reveals her checkered past. Melvin Crabtree has sold the movie rights to his book, but Cora and her lawyer, Becky Baldwin, have negotiated a contract that allows her some control over her portrayal. Upon her arrival at the New York City shoot, the director gives Cora a crossword puzzle that she ignores, since she's much more interested in the casting call to select the two actresses who'll play the present-day Cora and the Cora once married to Melvin. The first day of auditions is capped by a midnight phone call from NYPD homicide cop Sgt. Crowley, with whom Cora's been briefly involved, telling her that someone's been murdered at the theater. Cora recognizes the victim as production assistant Karen Hart. Her boyfriend is also found dead, a possible suicide, but when Cora learns he has tickets for Hamilton she becomes convinced it's murder, because, after all, no one would kill himself before seeing the show. Cora's not happy with the casting of her present-day self, but she's thrilled with the casting of talented star Angela Broadbent as the younger Cora. True, the actor cast as Melvin is awful, but he's found hanging in his trailer just before he can be firedanother murder made to look like suicide. Apart from some weather-related problems, everything runs more smoothly once a much better actor is cast as Melvin, until the director's almost smashed by a falling light. Cora learns a great deal about which staffers are sleeping with whom in order to get better jobs, but the motive for the murders eludes her until she remembers the crossword puzzle she ignored.Although the latest in Hall's long string of amusing mysteries (The Purloined Puzzle, 2018, etc.) features only a single crossword, there's still plenty to be puzzled about. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
If Cora Felton, the Puzzle Lady, didn't need the money, she certainly wouldn't be sitting in a theater watching actresses audition to play her in the movie made from her fifth ex-husband's trashy tell-all book. But, when a production assistant is murdered before filming even starts, Sergeant Crowley, a homicide detective and one of Cora's ex-boyfriends, calls her to the scene. Lovers' spat gone wrong? It's possible, because the woman's boyfriend is found dead as well. Something doesn't feel right to Cora, but she's sidetracked when a TV actress steps in to play her in the film. Filming might start, but murders continue to roll. While Cora is willing to let Crowley solve this series of murders, it's actress Angela Broadbent who pushes her to investigate. The one-liners and witty comebacks never stop in the latest "Puzzle Lady" romp. VERDICT Hall's humorous mystery takes us behind the scenes in the film world. Readers who appreciate fast-paced cozies with an outrageous amateur sleuth will relish puzzling out the follow-up to The Purloined Puzzle.-Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
