Presumed Puzzled

November 9, 2015
Fans of clever wordplay will enjoy Hall’s 17th Puzzle Lady mystery (after 2015’s Puzzled Indemnity) starring Cora Felton, a feisty, lusty, oft-married but for the moment single lady, who fronts for her niece’s syndicated puzzle column—a secret known to only a few. When Bakerhaven, Conn., police chief Dale Harper and Cora follow up a missing-person report from Paula Martindale, whose husband, Roger, has failed to come home, they find the couple’s front door open, Paula holding a bloody knife, and Roger’s body on the floor. It’s hard to believe that Cora could end up a suspect in the killing, but in Hall’s capable hands evidence and clues (some provided by puzzles) serve to exonerate Paula and implicate Cora. Prosecutor Henry Firth is only too happy to swap prosecuting Paula for a chance to try Cora. The supporting cast, including lawyer Becky Baldwin and airhead TV reporter Rick Reed, play important parts, but it’s Cora’s bravura courtroom performance that provides this entry’s highlight.

November 15, 2015
Will the Puzzle Lady solve her latest case or go directly to jail? Roger Martindale's disappearance puts Cora Felton in a position to help two of her friends. Police Chief Harper asks Cora to review the report on Roger, who hasn't been missing long enough for the police to investigate. Although Cora doesn't care for Roger's wife, Paula, a regular at her bridge game, who's received a crossword puzzle that hints at blackmail, she agrees to look for her missing husband. After 24 hours, the police get involved, and the chief and Cora arrive at Paula's house to find her clutching a bloody knife as her husband lies dead on the floor. The murder gives Cora a chance to help out another friend, Becky Baldwin, a lawyer who needs a case. Apparently the missing Roger drove home to his death, but Paula claims she's innocent and eventually presents an alibi that's clearly going to be hard to prove. Although Paula insists her husband would never have cheated on her, the police discover that he's been spending a few hours in a hotel while he was supposed to be at work. More puzzles hint at Cora's involvement, even though Cora, who's acted for years as a front for her niece's syndicated crossword puzzle empire (Puzzled Indemnity, 2015, etc.), can neither make nor solve puzzles. Happily, she's very clever at solving murders--a skill that comes in especially handy when the evidence points to her. One of the Puzzle Lady's best outings. The often dislikable heroine is portrayed at her scheming best in a mystery full of tricks and treats.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2016
Becky Baldwin, Bakerhaven's beautiful young lawyer, needs a case. She even jokes to Cora Felton, the Puzzle Lady, that Cora should get herself arrested. Less dramatically, the town's police chief, Harper, wants Cora to create a puzzle for a charity event, which is why Cora is with Harper when he responds to a call at the Martindales. They find Paula Martindale standing over the body of her husband, bloody knife in hand. Paula claims innocence, but she is charged, and her case goes to trial. In a startling turn, her case is dismissed, and Cora goes on trial. Both cases hinge on whether and when Paula burned a crossword puzzle with a clue from the killer. Becky's defense of her clients is itself a stunning puzzle, with the pieces of evidence and testimony getting twisted one way, then another, until all falls into place. Cora's young grandniece, Jennifer, is now talking, enabling Hall to set up even zanier dialogue than usual, as the toddler repeats the most inappropriate words from the adults' sentences. Good fun for cozy readers and, of course, crossword devotees.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)