- ISBN13: 9780553581430
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
It’s no mystery why readers love the Puzzle Lady, Miss Cora Felton, the eccentric amateur detective who keeps everyone guessing as she keeps herself in the thick of trouble. Find out 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).
Wealthy widow Emma Hurley died with only her servants at her side — but after she passes away, her greedy heirs crawl out of the woodwork to stake a claim in Emma’s fortune. To their surprise, Emma was not content to leave behind a simple will. Instead, her final testament includes a clever puzzle … one to be given only to her living heirs.
The first one to solve the puzzle will inherit Emma’s entire estate; everyone else will be left with a pittance. The will also stipulates that Cora Felton — local celebrity and famed author of a popular syndicated crossword puzzle column — must referee the contest.
Unfortunately, it’s Cora’s niece, Sherry Carter, who is the brains behind Cora’s “Puzzle Lady” persona. And it’s up to Sherry to unravel the bizarre riddle Emma Hurley engineered before her death. For soon it’s plain that Emma’s game is one without a clear winner … and that the players could lose far more than they ever imagined!
Amazon.com Review
Cora Felton is the kind of dame your father might have called “a firecracker”: a not-so-upstanding lady of a certain age who drinks her martinis by the shaker and delights in scandalizing not only the staid denizens of her cozy Connecticut village but also her niece Sherry, who’s the private “ghost” behind Cora’s public image as the Puzzle Lady. Even People Magazine, which has lined up an interview with Cora, believes the brazen old broad is the brains behind her phenomenally successful syndicated crossword puzzle column. Only Sherry and the ambitious young newspaper reporter who loves her know that Cora hasn’t got a clue. Certainly, Emma Hurley didn’t, which may explain why she left Cora in charge of sorting out her will, a puzzle wrapped in a 40-year-old enigma whose solution will earn one of Emma’s heirs a vast fortune. The relatives are a motley lot, greedy and unappealing, but would any of them stoop to murder? When the bodies start piling up, it certainly looks that way, especially to Cora, who’s better at judging human nature than word contests. While the answers to the crossword lead everyone else to the wrong conclusions, they point Cora and Sherry to the right ones and target a murderer in the process. The pace rollicks along nicely, the crossword’s deceptively transparent, and this is a slight but charming little treat for the puzzle mavens on your Christmas list, especially those who’ve encountered Cora and Sherry in their first adventure, (A Clue for the Puzzle Lady). –Jane Adams
The other evening, I sat in the waiting room during my daughter’s dance class, reading Last Puzzle and Testament. I was probably three-quarters of the way through with it, when suddenly I dropped my head into my hands, rubbed my temples and moaned. Another parent there turned to me and said, “Do you have a headache?”
I looked up at him and said, “No, this book is really stupid.”
Pleasant, but absolutely nothing to set it above hundreds of
other “cozy” mysteries.
The writing and pacing is third rate, and I thought we had long since passed the point where drunks are cute. The interplay
between Cora and Sherry is almost unreadably annoying. You
want to smack these people upside the head and tell them to
act like adults.
This is the intellectual equivalent of a made for TV movie at best.
Parnell Hall appears to have won much critical acclaim with his writing yet I found reading ‘Last Puzzle & Testament’ quite tedious at best. If you are looking for a ‘hook’, give up. After the reading of the will in chapter 8, I found it difficult to stay interested. Though the puzzle is crafty, his style of writing leaves much to be desired. As for Cora Felton, `The Puzzle Lady’, I found her character completely unbelievable. I cannot imagine anyone with some semblance of a life going through her day with nothing but a cocktail in hand morning to night, staggering drunk or nursing a daily hangover. Seriously, if it’s a page-turner with some style you’re looking for, move on.
This second book in the series is a far cleverer mystery than the first. The double twist leaves a nice surprise ending that is still believable. And the multiple crossword grids being solved piece by deceptive piece are enjoyable. But the characterizations are far more disappointing than the first book, and other detail flaws persist.
Cora is a cartoon, too impaired when drunk and by contrast too clever when sober. I know no one who would let glasses dangle off one ear, for example. She is not funny or endearing, we see no driving reason to make her more sympathetic, and her niece is a serious enabler. Additionally, the Beasley character and the twins, Philip and Phyllis are annoyingly slapstick.
The details still grate: every post office is open 24/7 so people can get to their boxes, but the author has this one locked all night. A town that can barely support a daily newspaper would have possibly half a dozen florists (I know, I live in one); the author gives this town none.
If some of the characterizations get ironed out this series may prove to be a real winner. It is still entertaining enough to be worthwhile as is, however.
This book was cracklin! Really great. It’s been a long… LONG time since I’ve read a book that didn’t sag at any point, was fun the whole the way through, and was an all around great read. Cora is really fun, the puzzles are fun. Fast, excellent fun. If you read the first one, stick with it, because it gets better and better.