Hall, Parnell: Puzzled to Death

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The third book in Parnell Hall's series of crossword mysteries finds Cora Felton, the public face of the syndicated Puzzle Lady newspaper column, roped into co-hosting a crossword puzzle tournament in her adopted home town of Bakerhaven, Connecticut. The brains behind the charity tournament, and Cora's co-host, is the smug and pedantic crossword constructor Harvey Beerbaum, also a Bakerhaven resident. (How many professional cruciverbalists, one wonders, can one small town realistically boast of?) Throughout the book Harvey seems ever more interested in having Cora make a display of her puzzle-solving prowess, which leaves her suspicious: does Harvey know that Cora is only acting as the front for the Puzzle Lady operation, and that her niece Sherry is the talent of the outfit?

Added to the personal dramas among the series' regulars is, of course, a rash of murders, all seemingly connected to the crossword tournament--just the thing to rouse Cora from her usual state of insobriety and set her sleuthing. Puzzled to Death is a decent addition to the Puzzle Lady books, offering a complex mystery as well as several puzzles for the reader to solve along with the book's principals. But it remains a shame that Cora, an otherwise intelligent and likeable character, is so unapologetically attached to her self-destructive habits. Clever and engaging on the page, she would in the real world have about her the stench of a habitual smoker, and the smoker's rasping cough and abbreviated life expectancy, and she would--if she were not currently involved in a murder investigation (and how often can a layman count on that unlikely distraction?)--very likely be plastered. Miss Felton should lose the liquor and tobacco so she can be around to amuse fans with her amateur detecting for many years to come.