NYPD Puzzle by Parnell Hall, a Mysterious Review.

Review: When Cora Felton, known across the nation as the Puzzle Lady, whose picture appears on a syndicated daily crossword puzzle, is asked by attorney Becky Baldwin to accompany her to New York City to meet with a potential client, she readily agrees. Only when they arrive at his penthouse apartment, he's found dead with a crossword puzzle on his chest and an intruder in the bedroom, in NYPD Puzzle, the fifteen mystery in this series by Parnell Hall.

As Becky shouts a warning, Cora takes out the gun she always carries in her purse and fires at him. She misses as the man escapes. When the police arrive, they arrest the only person in the room with a gun: Cora. And while the fatal bullet is too damaged for a ballistics report, the fact that a puzzle was found on the body is all the confirmation the police need that Cora killed him. Becky manages to convince them to let Cora out on bail, but when further murders take place, all with a puzzle at the scene of the crime, it's hard for the police, most particularly the crusty, surly but oh so attractive NYPD homicide sergeant in charge of the case, not to believe she is the culprit.

Cora Felton is as funny as she is smart and shrewd (even if she can't solve a crossword puzzle without the help of her niece; it's a close secret that only a few know about her). But there are a few puzzles in the book that readers can solve, adding some depth to a murder investigation that tends to wander in places. Still, the lively interaction between Cora and, well, almost everyone else in the cast of characters make for a humorous and generally interesting mystery story.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of NYPD Puzzle.

Puzzled Indemnity
Minotaur Books (Hardcover), January 2015
ISBN-13: 9781250027177; ISBN-10: 1250027179

NYPD Puzzle

A Cora Felton, Puzzle Lady Mystery by Parnell Hall