Parnell Hall

Noted crossword creator Harvey Beerbaum and beloved syndicated puzzle columnist Cora Felton agree to host a charity crossword-puzzle tournament, but the festivities are overshadowed when the town tart is found dead.

With Christmas just around the corner, Puzzle Lady Cora Felton feels no holiday cheer thanks to her role as one of the Eight Maids A-Milking in the local holiday pageant and the murder of an actress in front of an entire audience.

"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...

When 16-year-old Peggy Dawson approaches Cora with a crossword puzzle that the girl thinks is important to solve, Cora foists her off on Harvey Beerbaum, a crossword expert. After the puzzle disappears, Harvey refers Peggy to police chief Dale Harper. Naturally, the puzzle, when found, connects to a murder-that of stabbing victim Fred Winkler-as does a bloody knife found by Peggy's brother, Johnny, in his room. The police settle on Johnny as a 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...

Hired to write a book on sudoku, Cora Felton, the Puzzle Lady, is baffled by the arrival of two rival Japanese publishers who are vying for her services, a situation that becomes increasingly complicated by the lengths to which the men will go to beat each other.

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.

"Poor Stanley Hastings. After getting hired by a hitman and nearly getting shot, the put-upon PI needs some fun, so when a gorgeous damsel in distress walks through his office door she seems just what the doctor ordered"--From publisher's description.

"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 asks 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....

Cashing an inheritance check from a man she never met, "Puzzle Lady" Cora Felton is targeted by her ex-husband with an alimony suit that claims she remarried, a case that is complicated by a witness's murder and suspicions about her ex-husband's possible responsibility.