The Purloined Puzzle

Amateur sleuth and crossword impresario Cora Felton is asked to solve a puzzle, only to find that it’s been stolen—and a murder weapon has been left in its place. When the obnoxious sixteen-year-old Peggy Dawson asks Cora Felton to solve a puzzle for her, Cora is delighted to find that the puzzle has been stolen. She is less delighted, however, when a blood-stained knife is found in its place. Soon a body is discovered in the middle of Main Street, and Cora has a murder investigation on her hands. It does not help matters when she hears that her least favorite ex-husband, Melvin, is in town pulling a real estate scam, particularly when she discovers that Melvin may have purchased the knife. Now it’s up to the Puzzle Lady to figure out what really happened, in The Purloined Puzzle, from the New York Times' bestselling author Parnell Hall.

Sherry is off on her honeymoon when Chief Harper comes to Cora Felton, asking her to solve a crossword puzzle found on the body of Old Man Overmeyer. Small problem. Cora is the Milli Vanilli of cruciverbalists. Her niece, Sherry, writes the crossword puzzle column for her. Cora pokes into Overmeyer's death, hoping to prove he died of natural causes. She learns the cranky hermit was the sole surviving member of a forty-year-old stock pooling agreement, and before she can say "capital gain," the town is full of heirs. Complicating things is Sherry's ex-husband, Dennis, who is playing detective in the hopes of impressing his ex-wife. With Sherry out of town, her restraining order against him is moot, and he is taking full advantage of the fact. With Dead Man's Puzzle, Parnell Hall delivers another stellar, puzzle-packed entry in his entertaining Puzzle Lady series.

The Puzzle Lady embarks on another adventure involving one classic movie and featuring new puzzles by Will Shortz When an elderly boarder at a Bakerhaven bed-and-breakfast drops dead during afternoon tea, there's nothing particularly suspicious about it—except for the Sudoku in his jacket pocket. But when a second body turns up in the window seat and an autopsy shows both men were poisoned with elderberry wine, the Puzzle Lady suspects she's dealing with a cold-blooded killer who for some reason is copying the Cary Grant movie Arsenic and Old Lace, in which two old ladies who run a boarding house poison elderly widowers and bury them in the basement. More murders, more puzzles, and a grave dug in the cellar seem to cement the theory. Ordinarily, Cora would eat a case like this for breakfast, but for once she can't figure it out. And she's not sure if the clues don't add up, or if the much-married Puzzle Lady is just distracted by being involved in her first romantic entanglement in years. Arsenic and Old Puzzles is filled with laughs, mayhem, and fun new puzzles by Will Shortz. Mystery and puzzle fans will find much to enjoy in this latest treat from Parnell Hall.

Young attorney Becky Baldwin hires Cora Felton to accompany her to New York City to meet a new client in his penthouse apartment. But when they arrive, they find the man dead. There's a puzzle on his chest, and a prowler searching the bedroom. Cora pulls her gun and gets off a shot as the intruder ducks out the window. The NYPD now think Cora is the murderer. And when the fatal bullet is too badly damaged to identify, she's lucky to get out on bail . . .

When Cora Felton's sudoku rival, Minami, is arrested for murder it's up to Cora to clear her rival's name, get her off the bestseller list, and trap the real killer.

When attorney Becky Baldwin hires Cora Felton to make a blackmail payment drop, it couldn't go worse: she stumbles over a corpse and a puzzle, and someone steals the money. Becky won't name her client, but the most likely suspect is Cora's least favorite ex-husband, Melvin, who claims he's being framed by a psychopath. Cora is in a no-win situation. Solving the murder will either put Melvin's neck in a noose, or incur the wrath of a cold-blooded killer.

"Pure Parnell Hall - wit, intensity, sharp dialog and vivid characters ... maybe his best yet." Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author A relentless, darkly-funny thriller by Parnell Hall, the New York Times bestselling author of the Puzzle Lady series. Two killers are leaving a trail of mutilated corpses across Manhattan... while hunting a mysterious man with a name so common, they may never run out of victims. They are pursued by a disgraced cop, dying of cancer and desperate for redemption. Caught in the middle, but unaware of it, are a tabloid reporter and the cast of a troubled Broadway play facing a terrifying battle for their lives. "Chasing Jack is what you'll find if you look up 'Black Humor' in your Funkin' Wagnalls. The wit is savage, the pace relentless. Parnell Hall, always outstanding, has never been better." Lawrence Block "Parnell Hall is a pro's pro's pro. No one else creates characters as deftly or puts them in heart-in-your-mouth situations with such economy. Read Chasing Jack once for the joy of it and a second time for a lesson in how thriller writing is done." SJ Rozan "Parnell Hall, a master of the genre, is on fire in Chasing Jack, a bloody, twisty tale set in the tabloid world of night time Manhattan. Required reading for mystery fans." Reed Farrel Coleman "Parnell Hall has long been one of the my favorite crime fiction writers. Chasing Jack is his best yet." Harlan Coben