Parnell Hall

Cora Felton, the Puzzle Lady (who actually couldn't solve a crossword puzzle to save her life), is surprisingly good at sudoku, so it's no problem when a Japanese publisher asks her to write a sudoku book. But when two Japanese publishers show up in Bakerhaven to vie for her services, Cora is a little confused. Which one did she actually sign with? Which one has the stunning geisha wife? And which one is about to be arrested for murder? The two

...

Miss Cora Felton, the eccentric amateur detective better known as the Puzzle Lady, likes nothing better than to solve a good mystery, and this time she's got a killer on her hands. What isn't puzzling is why critics agree that "Cora is emerging as a lovable and unique sleuth" (Chicago Sun-Times) in "a fun series for mystery fans and cruciverbalists" (USA Today). Bakerhaven, Connecticut, seems like the ideal place to host a charity crossword-puzzle...

"A young woman is found naked and stabbed to death -- it's the type of case that should be perfect for Stanley Hastings. Instead, it's his nightmare. The woman was the girlfriend of his boss, Richard Rosenberg, and the hotshot lawyer is charged with killing her." --

Cora Felton contemplates wedded bliss once again when she is courted by distinguished widower Raymond Harstein III, a relationship that is overshadowed by the arrival of cautionary cryptograms in the mail.

Poor Stanley Hastings. After getting hired by a hitman and nearly getting shot, the put-upon PI needed some fun, so when a gorgeous damsel in distress walked through his office door she seemed just what the doctor ordered. Wrong again. The fair maiden turned out to be a married mom who wanted Stanley to find out why her teenage daughter was skipping school. Playing truant officer wasn't much fun, but at least it should be easy. Fat chance.

Reluctantly embarking on a group safari trip to Zambia, Stanley Hastings finds himself at the mercy of a reckless hunter guide who enjoys encounters with dangerous animals before suspicious accidents begin plaguing fellow tourists.

"Presumed Puzzled is the latest mystery from Parnell Hall featuring the delightfully charming fraud Cora Felton. The Puzzle Lady gets more than she bargained for when she's hired to track down Paula Martindale's straying husband. Cora Felton finds him hacked to pieces on his living room rug, while his blood-drenched wife haunts the crime scene clutching a butcher knife. It's a tough spot for attractive young attorney Becky Baldwin. Paula is presumed...

While staking out a New Jersey hotel to catch a cheating husband, private eye Stanley Hastings instead finds the man murdered and becomes the prime suspect.

"It's murder on the movie set! It's no surprise when Cora Felton's ex-husband's sensational tell-all memoir, 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 signed on as an associate producer. Cora explains gamely that she hoped to have some control over the project. The truth is that she needs the money. Now Cora is filming her life story on location...