Puzzled Indemnity

November 24, 2014
In Hall’s whimsical 16th Puzzle Lady mystery (after 2014’s NYPD Puzzle), amateur sleuth Cora agrees to help a local attorney in Bakerhaven, Conn., by tailing an insurance salesman and finding out if he’s cheating on his wife. Happily for married Cora, the assignment takes her to New York City, home of the NYPD’s Sergeant Crowley, her occasional lover. The investigation leads to the apartment of a mysterious woman. As events spiral out of control, questions arise about the shelf life of such a quirky character as Cora. Known for worrying about her weight, dodging people’s questions about puzzles (her niece Kelly is the real puzzle expert), and complaining about everything in her life, Cora starts using blackmail. What’s more, her careless conversation later costs a man his life. Some readers may lose patience with her before reaching the convoluted conclusion. Others will enjoy the parallels to James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity.

December 1, 2014

Puzzle Lady Cora Felton investigates a liquor store robbery and a cheating husband who may be plotting to murder his wife for the insurance money in the 16th series installment (after NYPD Puzzle). Includes six crosswords and a sudoku puzzle by Will Shortz that help you solve the mystery.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2014
Hank and Brittany Wells live in suburban Bakerhaven, Connecticut, with matching cars, seemingly the typical happy couple. Except Brittany thinks Hank is trying to kill her for the insurance policy he has taken out on her. She hires the town's only attorney, Becky Baldwin, who in turn hires Cora Felton, the Puzzle Lady, to track Hank's movements. Cora jumps at the opportunity because it's winter and she's bored, but, best of all, Hank works in New York City, giving her the chance to see Detective Crowley, of whom she grew fond in NYPD Puzzle (2014). As Cora follows Hank, plays bodyguard to Brittany, and enlists her ex-husband and Crowley's hippie girlfriend to assist with some subterfuge, the puzzles start turning up. While Cora can't solve a crossword puzzle, she can use the embedded clues to solve the real crime, getting Chief Harper in Bakerhaven to collaborate with Crowley in New York. In this delightful comic mystery, the merging of the puzzle of the crime with the allusions to the movie Double Indemnity and Cora's convoluted conversations engages to the end.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)