Puzzle lady mysteries

When nerdy cruciverbalist Harvey Beerbaum throws a birthday bash for Cora Felton at the Bakerhaven Library, it's no surprise that the centerpiece, a huge cake decorated like a crossword puzzle, is a complete bust—until a corpse thrown from the second floor stacks hits it dead center and fills in 14 down. Cora may hate birthdays almost as much as she hates crossword puzzles—but when it comes to solving crimes, no one can hold a candle to the Puzzle...

Chief Harper comes to Cora Felton, asking her to solve a crossword puzzle found on the body of Old Man Overmeyer. Cora pokes into Overmeyer's death, hoping to prove he died of natural causes and soon learns the cranky hermit was the sole surviving member of a forty-year-old stock pooling agreement.

"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...

"It's been a cold, lonely winter for Cora Felton. Long distance has cooled the Puzzle Lady's on-again-off-again affair with Sergeant Crowley, and the only case Chief Harper has for her to investigate is a routine liquor store robbery. So when attorney friend Becky Baldwin ask her to check out whether Brittney Wells' philandering husband is planning to kill her to collect on a million dollar, double indemnity insurance policy, Cora jumps at the chance....

"The Puzzle Lady couldn't be happier. Matt Greystone, the rookie sensation who just signed a huge contract with the Yankees after coming to the team as the player to be named later in a trade with the Diamondbacks, winning 17 games as a starting pitcher, was coming to town to rehab from an arm injury. A diehard Yankee fan, Cora was delighted when Matt invited her to a weekend pool party. On the plus side, she got to meet Derek Jeter. On the minus...

It's no surprise when Cora Felton's ex-husband's sensational menoir, Confessions of a Trophy Husband: My Life with the Puzzle Lady, is optioned for the movies, but it certainly raises eyebrows when the Puzzle Lady herself signs on as an associate producer. Cora explains gamely that she hopes to have some control over the project. The truth is she needs the money. Now Cora is filming her life story on location in New York City, and things couldn't...