Pretty much picking up from the last book in the series, Cora Felton falls into another mystery in Parnell Hall’s YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN PUZZLED. But this time, the Puzzle Lady is the prime suspect.
The book opens with all hell breaking loose at the homestead, with problems arising with her niece and her fiancé. Then, of course, her ex-husband Dennis shows up to cause more headaches, and it all comes to a crashing halt as the cops show up to arrest Cora for the murder of a man called Benny Southstreet, who is in the process of suing Cora for plagiarizing one of his puzzles.
While it seems a bit confusing to start a book like that, Hall knows what he is doing since the next chapter contains those three key words that will make everything clearer: “One week earlier.”
Those familar with the Puzzle Lady series will rejoice in this new mystery. The buildup all starts so innocently, with Cora being bored out of her skull. While she grabs a muffin and coffee, a woman shows up wanting Cora to do her a favor. Thinking it involves some sort of lovers’ tryst blackmail, Cora is all over it … until she finds out the woman simply banged up her car and wants Cora to write a puzzle for her hubby to smooth everything out.
This little moment is what sets the whole case in motion, believe it or not, eventually leading her to the case of four rattan chairs missing from Wilbur’s Antiques. When she starts investigating, she is met with such contempt, making Cora think something fishy is going on. It is, but this is only the tip of the iceberg of what goes down in the rest of the story.
Hall leads us down the garden path, throwing us a huge red herring; Cora even calls it one in the big wrap-up, to the point where she makes an A.A. Fair joke. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT is another fine mystery with a few workable crossword puzzles. I did not do the puzzles this time, because with a hardback, I feel like I would be writing in some sort of school text. Well, at least I live near a copy place so I can get my fix while I wait for the next Puzzle Lady novel to make an apperance. –Bruce Grossman
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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• STALKING THE PUZZLE LADY by Parnell Hall
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- WEEKEND REGASM >> 9.10.06
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