Sherry reveals that a crossword puzzle was written using the computer program Auto-Fill. Hall must have used a similar...
The “Puzzle Lady” team of Cora Felton and her niece Sherry Carter (Last Puzzle and Testament, 2000, etc.) is still working on its highly successful model: Sherry secretly creates the crosswords and keeps her aunt away from the booze; Cora provides the Puzzle Lady’s public face and investigates murders. But when Cora’s nemesis, pedantic crossword constructor Harvey Beerbaum, contrives a charity crossword tournament to put Bakerhaven on the map, the Puzzle Lady is roped in to co-host, to Cora’s consternation. While you’re wondering exactly what kind of map features crossword-puzzle tournaments, which sound about as thrilling as proctored exams, things get interesting. Cora unwittingly proposes a charity beneficiary that antagonizes both ends of Bakerhaven’s political spectrum; Harvey tries to force Cora to demonstrate her nonexistent puzzle expertise. Since the franchise demands crime and detection as well as crosswords, Cora decides to investigate the death of housewife Judy Vale, apparently strangled by her cuckolded husband Joey. As Sherry ponders a cryptic clue Judy left behind, Cora interrogates Mrs. Roth, Judy’s nosey neighbor. Hours after attending the tournament’s opening night and speaking to Judy’s lover, Billy Pickens, and celebrity contestant Paul Thornhill, Mrs. Roth is strangled, clearing Joey, who was in jail, but making more trouble for everybody else. As bodies accumulate and crossword competitors turn ugly, Cora plays detective, concealing both her blood-alcohol level and her real part in the Puzzle Lady masquerade.
Sherry reveals that a crossword puzzle was written using the computer program Auto-Fill. Hall must have used a similar device to tie up his convoluted plot.Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2001
ISBN: 0-553-80102-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2001
The intricate puzzle and continuing Irish atmosphere make this the series’ best to date.
A clever Irish lass is not afraid to voice her opinion.
Siobhán O’Sullivan may be still fairly new to the Garda, but she seems to have a real aptitude for crime solving (Murder in an Irish Churchyard, 2018, etc.). In addition, she and her boss, DS Macdara Flannery, have established an unapproved romantic relationship, and she’s “mother” to her siblings, all of whom help run a bistro in Kilbane, a picture-perfect town that’s hosting both an Arts and Music Festival and an International Poker Tournament. The card players include top-seeded Eamon Foley, aka the Octopus, who’s brought along his heavily pregnant wife, Rose. Foley’s closet rivals, Clementine Hart and Shane Ross, are eager to unseat him. After winning big with “the Dead Man’s Hand,” Foley is accused of cheating. Unhappy referee Nathan Doyle announces that he’ll review the tapes and deliver his ruling the next morning. Meanwhile, the unruly and well-oiled crowd moves on to Sharkey’s Pub, where the next morning Siobhán finds the body of Foley hanging in a locked storeroom. His death looks like suicide, but Siobhán, certain it’s murder, pleads her case to Macdara. The contents of Foley’s pocket include a set of brass knuckles, two defaced playing cards, and an apparent suicide note but no keys, wallet, money, or mobile phone. Among the locals who had placed unwise wagers with Foley before he died is Henry Moore, who bet his daughter Amanda’s racehorse. Both of Foley's rivals would be glad to see him gone, and his wife’s sorrow is limited to the prize money she’s never going to collect. Despite some reluctance from Macdara, Siobhán continues to dig, even in places he warns her to avoid, straining their relationship in her determination to leave no stone unturned.
The intricate puzzle and continuing Irish atmosphere make this the series’ best to date.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4967-1904-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An unsettling, often scary account of how memory loss affects a strong woman’s life.
A coffeehouse manager awakens on a park bench minus much of her memory.
Clare Cosi wakes up stiff and cold in Washington Square Park. Though there are lots of things she doesn’t remember, she does know that she’ll be safe at the Village Blend coffeehouse, where she’s greeted with joy and told that she’s been missing for four days. When her ex-husband, Matteo Allegro, and his mother, Madame Blanche Allegro Dubois, the coffee shop's owner, arrive on the scene, they realize she’s forgotten the last 15 years of her life and thinks she’s living in New Jersey with her young daughter, Joy. Hospitalized, she fails to recognize both Joy, now a grown-up, and her current fiance, Detective Mike Quinn. Celebrity psychiatrist Dr. Dominic Lorca takes over Clare’s care and insists she be moved to an upstate facility. Despite pulling every string available, Mike can’t free her from Lorca even though she’s a witness in the case of missing heiress Annette Brewster. Clare, no shrinking violet, pretends to take her drugs but is dying for a cup of coffee. Madame Blanche, Matteo, and Tucker Burton, the Village Blend’s assistant manager, hatch a plan to bust Clare free and find a place where she can be relaxed and open to stimuli that will help revive her memory. But Clare is loath to go with Matteo, who cheated on her repeatedly, even though their current relationship is good. Talking with her friends evokes memories of her past detective work (Shot in the Dark, 2018, etc.), and she struggles to relive her most recent days, some of which she spent with Annette, who’d arranged a private tasting of wedding cakes in the hotel she owns. Clare, Mike, and Matteo end up hiding out in the Hamptons from the police and a killer who’s stalking her.
An unsettling, often scary account of how memory loss affects a strong woman’s life.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-451-48887-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
