With this Puzzle, I Thee Kill (Puzzle Lady, #5) by Parnell Hall

With this Puzzle, I Thee Kill (Puzzle Lady, #5) Reviews

• 
  Kate

  "The eccentric Puzzle Lady, Cora Felton, and her brainy niece Sherry find themselves up against a killer whose identity is worse than a mystery ... it's a cryptogram!
  
  "Wedding bells are a-ringing, and though Cora is no stranger to saying 'I do,' she has a special feeling that this marriage will be her last. And who better to play the part of maid of honor than her beloved niece Sherry?
  
  "Sherry has doubts about her aunt's latest fiance, and when the first threatening cryptogram arrives, it's clear someone else does, too. But when her best friend comes back to Bakerhaven to marry Sherry's abusive ex at a dual ceremony where Sherry is to do double duty as aid of honor, things go from bad to worse to murder.
  
  "As Cura puts herself in harm's way to find out who ruined her special day, Sherry sets out to catch a cryptic killer determined to lead another victim to the altar or murder."
  ~~back cover
  
  This series surprises me with every book I read. I think "how many murders can be connected to crossword puzzles?" and then of course the next one is even more bizarre than the last, just as enjoyable, with of course the laugh-out-loud element which the author has become so proficient at. I'm liking them even more than I thought I would.
• 
  R.L.

  Καθόλου του στιλ μου.... Εντελώς γελοίο!
  
  Well... Different strokes for different folks I guess, but to be honest the characters of this book were completely unbelievable and superficial, the plot ridiculous, the dialogues completely unnarutal and the writting quite poor. How many times one can read that "she melted into his arms" or "he got egg on his face" ?
  
  This book was so bad and over the top that it turned up entertaining, so instead of throwing it on the wall, I actually read it in one go. Twisted logic maybe, but hey, it worked!
  
  Not my cup of tea...
• 
  Chrystine

  Oh my! Perhaps one of the most ridiculous things I have read in a long time! Breezed through this book in a day. Laughed so many times at the crazy antics. Double wedding. A Man no one can say no to. Strangers coming out of the wood work. Shenanigans all over the place.
  
  I did not see any of it coming. The only reason for the 4 stars was the wavering of Sherry - hate him/need to protect him. Completely uncalled for and frustrating to not end. No consistency in her beliefs about the puzzles throughout the book.
• 
  Harry Addington

  Funny mystery. I like this series.
• 
  Nancy G

  Fun read. Well planned mystery. Well done!
• 
  Michelle Fontanetta

  Best one so far in the series. Read this in a day!
• 
  Buck

  First book by this Author for me. Fun and light. Feels more like a spoof on mysteries and than a true mystery novel. Liked the dialogue and the characters.
• 
  Abigail

  This book was fine. I enjoyed reading it. I don't have much else to say about it. I did enjoy some of the wackiness, and it was interesting seeing Dennis up close and personal after his off-page presence in the previous books.
• 
  Hannah

  A very fun read. Cora, with her rather laid-back attitude to life and easygoing humour, is a little hard to identify with because she spends most of the novel detached from the reader, but it doesn't make her difficult to like in any way. The same goes for Sherry; she's quick and intelligent, and although more serious, she provides the necessary balance for Cora's character. The other side characters are there more as ornaments than anything, which was a shame, because I would have liked to know more about Aaron. We're never really given a description of him - all we know is that he's young and he's currently dating Sherry. Her ex-husband, Dennis, is very well fleshed-out, though, and we dislike him almost instantly.
  
  The mystery itself wasn't particularly exciting, nor were the puzzles themselves very hard to figure out. Hall did manage to completely trick me with the identity of the real villain, however - Raymond looked quite suspicious up until the end, when Cora unmasked the true killer. The one thing that really annoyed me about the mystery was that the readers were not given the reasoning behind the crime, or really how Cora solved it. It seemed more like a combination of good luck and asking the right things at the right time, and then stumbling on the correct answer. The correct answer was also extremely anticlimatic and rather disappointed me - the most annoying thing with crime fiction is the habit of some authors to make the murderer a character that wasn't even present for most of the story. It has the feel of simply placing the blame on an irrelevant character and using it to "trick" the reader, which is irritating. I want a chance to exercise my own detective side, too!
  
  The relationships between the characters were extremely well developed, and provided a great background to the events. In fact, the relationships and conflicts were probably dwelled upon more than the actual mystery itself. That said, the book made quite a fun read, and I'll definitely look up more Puzzle Lady books, if only to find out more about Sherry, Cora, and maybe Aaron. However, if you're looking for something that would really challenge your detecting skills and give you an adrenaline rush, then I'd suggest that you pick up an Agatha Christie novel instead.
• 
  Susan Ferguson

  Sherry Carter's best friend has turned up - Brenda is engaged to marry Sherry's abusive ex-husband. They also want Sherry to be the maid of honor. But Aunt Cora, engaged to Raymond Harstein III, a recent resident of Bakerhaven, tries to save Sherry by saying Sherry will be HER maid of honor the same day that Brenda is getting married. Which turns out to be the next Saturday. But Dennis, Sherry's ex-husband wants it to be a double wedding so that Sherry can be maid of honor for both. But the evening of the wedding rehearsal, Dennis and Brenda are supposed to bring Raymond to the church. Sherry doesn't trust Raymond and gets Aaron to check into things and he finds that Raymond is a drug dealer. When Sherry tells Cora she goes immediately to Raymond's and enters his house with Brenda, a bit behind Dennis. When theyw alk in the living room, they see Dennis pulling a knife from Raymond's chest. Cora goes immediately into hysterics. Raymond's next door neighbors, aging hippies, have seen something - or at least Daffy (Daffodil) has, but her husband Jack doesn't want her to tell. Then Daffy is found dead and Aaron is nearby, just recovering consciousness. Cora is determined to find out who killed Raymond. Sherry is trying to convince Brenda that despite what he says, Dennis has NOT changed. But Dennis is a prime suspect for the murder of Raymond and cocaine is discovered in his suitcase. Add to that, cryptogram warnings are being sent that Sherry and Cora are having to decode.
  
  
  
  
  SPOILER:
  Turns out Raymond is not a drug dealer, but a narc, as Cora discovers. So she is vindicated.
• 
  Naomi Young

  Interesting that I've marked this as read previously, because I don't recall it now. Well, I mean I recall it NOW because I just read it, but... ah, never mind.
  
  I found myself less endeared than irritated by Cora, and OK, mystery writers? Here's the problem with ciphers and puzzles in your books. I hate to break this to you, but many of us don't buy and retain your books. We buy and return for credit on the next, or we get them from the library. So we need to photocopy the silly puzzles in your book, or reduce the resale value drastically (at best), or be on the library blacklist.
  
  So:
  1. Put all the blank puzzles in the back for easy copying or
  2. Pub them up on a web site (and if you have an access code, make it good for more than one user per book, or
  3. Realize you're going to annoy some of your readers.
  
  So, acceptable evening's diversion, especially since I'm not feeling my best, but feeling ambivalent about further catching up with this series.
• 
  Patti

  In this 5th book of the Puzzle lady series, Cora finds herself getting married again. Raymond is a nice gent with a dubious past, but Cora is in love. Also getting married is Sherry's abusive ex, Dennis. He is marrying Sherry's best friend, Brenda, but Sherry knows why he is doing it and tries to talk Brenda out of it. She isn't going for it and asks Sherry to be her maid of honor.
  
  I liked this because of the two story lines going on at once. It was a bit ridiculous as to the plot lines at times (such as why Sherry could make it clear to Brenda that she was against the marriage, but couldn't say no to being maid of honor, as well as "Outspoken" Cora being unable to say no to a double wedding), but this is a cozy and those are the things you have to overlook when reading them.
• 
  Liora

  I greatly enjoyed this 5th book in the Puzzle Lady series of cozy mysteries. Cora is about to get married, for the umpteenth time, to a mysterious man from California, and suddenly Sherry's abusive ex-husband shows up engaged to her best friend. Before the nuptials can take place, Cora's fiance is found dead in his home with knife sticking out of his chest. The plot is contrived and not at all based on anything close to reality, but it kept me engaged anyway right up to the end. I did not appreciate the puzzle aspect in this one as much as in the previous novels, mostly just because they were anagrams, but also because the final puzzle was just too complicated.
• 
  Mark Baker

  Puzzle Lady Cora Felton is getting married again. But the engagement has just happened when her husband to be starts receiving threatening puzzles. As always, this book is fun with lots of stuff happening. However, the ending is rushed, a common flaw of the series.
  
  Read my full review at
  Carstairs Considers.
• 
  debbie

  always a fun read. main character is cora who poses as the puzzle lady...it is really her niece sherry who makes up the crossword puzzles, cora is simply the figurehead...in this one cora is about to be married, but her fiance is killed and they must solve the mystery...entertaining to read.
• 
  Marian Allen

  A fun read--a WAY fun read! Cora is a hoot; the plots and puzzles are fun, and Hall has a narrative voice that's funny without being irritating.
  
  If you like Agatha Raisin, you'll like these books even better. Cora is very like Agatha, but much less annoying.
• 
  Linda

  Two thumbs up for the Puzzle Lady! This was a fun, quick read and made me want to read some of the other adventures of the Puzzle Lady so I can get to know the characters better. The only part I didn't like was that it took over 100 pages to get to the first murder.
• 
  Elizabeth Webber

  A good cozy mystery. I enjoyed working out the puzzles at several points in the book. I was a little put off by some inconsistencies in the main characters' relationships, but not enough that I didn't enjoy the read.