You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled (Puzzle Lady, #8) by Parnell Hall

You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled (Puzzle Lady, #8) Reviews

• 
  Kevin

  3 stars
  The title of this book tells you everything you need to know about the book, I remained Puzzled until the very last chapter where Cora the Puzzle Lady explains this convoluted farce. I was completely entertained by Cora’s outrageous actions throughout the book. The solution that the film processor got caught because he never noticed the pinup shot of Cora’s niece Sherry, is just as insane as the rest of the book
  
  
  Cozies Reading Challenge
• 
  Catherine Cruz

  I gave this book 4 out of 5 just because, to me, some characters are just to annoying to overlook! But as always, love it!
• 
  Kate

  "When Benny Southstreet, a small-time hustler with a big-time gift for constructing crosswords, accuses Cora of stealing one of his creations, it's clearly a case of mistaken identity -- until Cora's own attorney files a plagiarism suit against her. Worse, when Benny is found dead, the police charge Cora with his murder.
  
  "At the heart of the matter is the not-so-little white lie Cora has been living for years: assuming the grandmotherly public face of her publicity-shy niece Sherry, who designs crossword puzzles and publishes them under Cora's name -- aka the Puzzle Lady. It turns out that Sherry's and Benny's cruciverbalist paths had recently crossed, resulting in the incriminating conundrum. Now Cora must solve the ultimate mystery: how to keep the secret of her identity without losing her life ..."
  ~~back cover
  
  Once again the plot is so convoluted that I hadn't a clue what was going on. Once the ending explained all those seemingly disparate events, I could see that the author had indeed given the clues necessary to deconstruct the plot, but I don't think it's fair for an author to be so obscure. Maybe that opinion is just sour grapes because I couldn't solve the mystery, but that's still my opinion.
  
  Laugh-out-loud wordplay and dialog, which does make the book worth reading.
• 
  Beverly

  The Puzzle Lady mystery series is just fun. Parnell has been at Magna Cum Murder in Indiana for years and, in person, his personality is just like the wacky, all over the place plot and pace of his puzzle lady books. And...there are crosswords to solve!! In this particular story line Cora is accused of stealing another puzzler's puzzle...chaos ensues!
• 
  Chrystine

  And the drama continues… I laughed out loud so many times in this book. A comedy of errors, built upon false assumptions, resulting in a who dunnit I did not see coming. Even the “why” eluded me in this one. The who and the why were as zanny, absurd, and dramatic as the story itself.
  
  A great escape from reality!
• 
  Ferne

  Very light reading. A fun read. My first read by this author.
• 
  Jeanne

  Another good Puzzle Lady mystery. I figured out the "how" but not the "who." But, it was well plotted and believable. So I would definitely recommend it to puzzle and/or cozy mystery fans.
• 
  Guyanese Christine

  Not as witty between the beloved quartet as usual....and the resolution was so complicated like it came out of left field. Hope this was an off-novel for Parnell.
• 
  Nancy G

  Fun read! Very humorous with great dialogue, banter and quick wit.
• 
  Sherrie

  "You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled" by Parnell Hall
  (from back cover)
  When Benny Southstreet, a small-time hustler with a big-time gift for constructing crosswords, accuses Cora Felton of stealing one of his creations, it's clearly a case of mistaken identity.....until Cora's own attorney files a plagiarism suit against her. To ad to the enigma, when Benny is found dead, the police charge Cora with his murder! Not only does all the evidence point to Cora, but someone seems to want her dead. The Puzzle Lady needs some clues fast--if she has any hope of staying out of jail......
  
  MY THOUGHTS: What do you have with a crossword puzzle, some missing antique Rattan Chairs, $5,000, an Ice Pick and some undeveloped pictures? The clues to who killed Benny Southstreet. Now all Cora needs is know what they all have to do with the murder. Cora is in real trouble. She has lots of charges against her. Plagiarism, fraud, false advertising, using the Internet to defraud, conspiracey to cimmit fraud and false advertising, two counts of breaking and entering, two counts of criminal trespass, burglary, larceny, and petty theft, which Cora admits to do all the above. But she was trying to solve a crime. Wilber's antique Rattan Chairs had been stolen over a year before. Cora was investigating the crime. The only crime NOT commited my Cora is the murder of Benny Southstreet. She has to connect all the missing pieces to solve the crime and get herself out of trouble. If you like a good murder mystery, you will like this book. You won't know who done it until the very last chapter of the book!!
  
• 
  Mark Baker

  The Puzzle Lady is back and dealing with stolen chairs, charges of plagiarism, and being framed for murder. And to think she was complaining about being bored. I was impressed with how everything was tied together in the end. My only real complaint here was that the witty banter between characters I normally love had too much of an angry tent to it for the first half of the book. Still, there were plenty of laughs. Now, if only Dennis would die soon I'd really be happy.
  
  Read my full review at
  Carstairs Considers.
• 
  Megan

  This is the latest mystery in Hall's "Puzzle Lady" series, which is more of a "hard-boiled" mystery series. It is as amusing as ever, and comes to a satisfying, surprising conclusion.
  
  The only thing that bothered me about it is that the "Puzzle Lady"'s niece has an abusive ex-husband, against whom she has a restraining order, but she doesn't bar him from the house, and she has a lot of contact with him. In real life, she wouldn't let him anywhere near her, especially since he was physically abusive.
• 
  Claire

  So silly. This read is just something light and fun. But I must say, you can really tell that this is a male author trying to tell a tale using a female voice. The main character, Cora comes across of a cross between an old, feisty, but funny old bitty and a crusty old, off-color old man. It in interesting conundrum. I think that I am hooked regardless.
• 
  Becky

  It's Cora's turn to be in trouble--oh, she's been in trouble before!
  
  Be sure to have graph paper or access to a copier as there are a few crossword puzzles to solve (this goes for all of the Puzzle Lady Mystery books!)
  
  
• 
  Lisa

  This was my first Puzzle Lady novel. It was fun and I will probably try to read more of them. The Puzzle Lady character was very entertaining. The mystery itself was not heavy and that made it a quick read.
• 
  VJ

  Rating a four-star just because it made me laugh. A lot. The writing is witty and punny and sometimes laugh out loud hilarious as I am picturing the scenes in my head. This author is really good at descriptions. I've read a few of these books in the past and I'll read more in the future.
• 
  Sarah

  I haven't finished, but really don't want to. It sucked me in at first but after the first 30ish pages I'm not interested. I don't really have a desire to finish it. If it was the only book I had, I would finish it, but I since I do have others I'm putting it down and saying enough.
• 
  Mary Ann

  It was an okay story. I just felt that a woman posing as a person who makes puzzles and likes to solve then was a bit stilted. She seemed to constantly be getting into trouble by jumping to conclusions.
• 
  Laurali

  This isn't a bad cozy mystery. I haven't read this series in quite some time, but it runs fairly true to course with the other books. This one has a few more twists, but you can see most of them coming.
• 
  Miste

  This series of books cracks me up. I think the Puzzle Lady is a hoot. Love the series.
• 
  Jennifer

  Another great adventure with Cora Felton that had me laughing out loud!