A fascinating story of murder and mystery among strangers.

Parnell Hall has written another well-loved Stanley Hastings mystery. Private detective Stanley Hastings and his wife, Alice, have just taken a vacation to relax when strange things begin to happen. On a hiking trip Stanley meets lots of new people who all turn out to stay in the same inn where he's vacationing. This seems strange to Stanley, but he doesn't mind until someone begins killing the guests one by one, bringing his vacation plans to an end. The officer investigating the murders suspects everyone, even Stanley, until all clues lead to the arrest of one of the other guests. Believing the guest to be innocent, the Hastings try to find the real murderer.

If you are looking for a book that will keep you guessing and that has a twisting plot, this is the book for you. It has interesting characters and a surprise ending that will make you unable to put this book down. So settle in for an evening of mystery.

Each time someone in the book asks, "I beg your pardon?" I tumble into hysterics. This is the result of cleverly built up dialogue that becomes funnier with each fragment of repartee.
Who cares about the plot? This author is a genius who could solve all the problems of the world with his wonderfully optimistic and forgiving attitude, and a humor that is on the par with the very best comedy writers (even exceeding them). I had to stop reading at times to prevent myself from strangling on my own convulsive laughter. Have mercy, Parnell. If you had been any funnier, I'd have gladly died laughing.

The fun starts the moment that Stanley and Alice check into the Blue Frog Inn and doesn't stop until the improbable(or just goofy)conclusion. I've read all of the books in this series and while this is a little different from most it is just zany enough to keep you reading. It involves two murders, a small town sheriff who doesn't have a clue and a little bit of everything for everyone.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun light mystery to read.

I am in the process of collecting all of the Stanley Hastings books in hardcover. I have read them all and he is the most entertaining sleuth in the business. His reluctance at being drawn into the mystery makes the plots all the more irresistable and as a result, they are not predictable. He makes me laugh out loud...never have I read a more charming character.

I have read at least five other books featuring the unique Stanley Hastings, but this one is special because of the different setting. Instead of his usual ambulance-chasing, Stanley gets to play a major part in a production of "Arms and the Man". I had read the play long ago, and that added to my enjoyment of the book. Rarely has a protagonist risen so triumphantly over countless humiliating circumstances; you have to admire the almost masochistic determination of actors who put up with all he describes in hilarious, but still almost depressing detail. Ambulance-chasing in the Bronx seems a picnic compared to Stanley's experiences in this book.

PI Stanley Hastings is called by an old college buddy to fill in for an actor who died right before opening night of ARMS AND THE MAN in a tiny New England town. The stage manager promptly gets himself murdered, and Stanley has to help Chief Bob (an amateur actor himself) find the killer. The search is a comically depressing examination of backstage life and midlife crisis that leaves the reader amazed at Stanley's emotional resilience.

The amount of theatrical detail Hall included was impressive, and I enjoyed his use of internal dialogue, which ranks right up there with Lawrence Block's. And it's the rare mystery author who can sneak a Pinter joke into the dialogue like Hall does. I did find Stanley's hang-up on the spelling of the word "actor" mildly distracting, but it would take an awful lot more than that to detract from the fun of this book.

I mean this in the nicest possible way, but Stanley Hastings -- Parnell Hall's New York private investigator -- is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you know what I mean. But he is the funniest p.i. in mysteries today.

Don't misunderstand me. Hastings has enough brains to handle his job, which mostly involves recruiting accident victims for the attorney he works for. But when it comes to a real case, the reactions of the people who know him -- his boss, Richard Rosenberg, his short-suffering wife, Alice (who loves him, but doesn't take as a personal insult his lack of mental acuity) and his contact on the police force, Sgt. MacAuliff -- all respond in the same way: "Somebody hired you?"

In "Scam," Hall's 12th book, Hastings is hired by a man who chatted up a girl in a bar, and woke up hours later on the street. The man feels he is being set up, but he doesn't know by whom or why. Hastings finds the girl, but that is the last easy thing that happens, as New York's most hapless detective bumbles into a scheme involving a company's proxy fight and Hastings becomes suspect number one in three murders.

Hall's books are characterized by dialog-friendly writing and tight plotting, and the shaggy-dog feel of "Scam" is funny as it is clever. Stanley, too, can be a kick to watch working. While he's an easy target, he's also decent and honorable, worrying as much as Nintendo's moral effect on his son as the three murder charges have on him. Despite the humiliation and ribbing he receives, he presses onward, which makes him -- surprise, surprise! -- an admirable figure. While waiting for the refrigerator light to go on inside Hastings' head, Hall throws in enough plot twists and genial insults to keep the reader's attention until the inevitable and satisfying finish.

I have read all of Parnell Hall's Stanley Hastings mysteries. Scam lives up to his reputation as a funny, creative and inventive writer. The plot is so well-written that there are no loose ends at all-the entire Scam is like a sting operation. Ihope Mr. Hall's characters lives on and on

Cranston Pritchert hires New York private investigator Stanley Hastings to learn more about a woman he recently met in a singles bar, one who may be used to hurt him at his job at the Philip Greenberg Investment Company. Stanley thinks the story is full of holes, but Cranston is a paying customer and that is more important than indulging in one's pride of being used. Stanley accepts the case and starts to investigate who the woman is and why someone at Cranston's firm would want to set the man up to take a fall. ..... Stanley eventually identifies Cranston's singles pick up, but also finds a corpse. Soon other people involved in the case are also murdered. Stanley is framed by a rogue cop and arrested as the evidence against him piles up. Out on bail, he knows he better uncover the identity of the real killer before he is legally fried or locked away for several lifetimes. ..... SCAM will remind the reader of the classic Newman-Redford film, THE STING. It is just as entertaining with several twists to the story line and great characters providing a feel for the City. Especially interesting is Stanley, who proved he could act when he had to pull off the big SCAM. Parnell Hall scores big time with this humorous tale just as he always does. .....Harriet Klausner

Parnell Hall's 13th comic novel about Stanley Hastings proves lucky for the author but unlucky for the accident investigator with a family to support.

Hired by the wife of best-selling suspense novelist Kenneth P. Winnington to discover the identify of a crank caller, Hastings moves among the habitues of the publishing world, interviewing Winnington's agent, publicist, and two editors, one of whom rewrote his first book into a best-seller before being fired. But two interviews lead directly to two murders, and before long, Hastings manages to attract the attention of someone who wants him dead as well.

Like all of the other books, this is a fast-paced tale that gives Hall plenty of room to indulge in comic dialog that can at times sounds like he's channeling Abbott and Costello. But along the way, "Suspense" also picks up an entertaining subtext that takes Winnington's flat declaration that no author can write a suspense novel told from the hero's perspective. Hall takes up the challenge, and whips up a virtuoso performance. Hastings may object to his author's interference, especially when it leaves him in a situation in which there was no way out. Parnell Hall brings off this effect with panach; it's lucky that Hastings has Hall on his side.

Manhattan Private Investigator Stanley Hastings has just been hired by Maxine Winnington, wife of a best selling author, to investigate who has been making threatening calls to her. Since his client's number is unlisted, brand new, and given to few people, Stanley has a narrow list of suspects to investigate. For the half grand a day fee, Stanley will work the entire list.

However, Stanley's case takes a bizarre twist when a murder occurs and he is one of the chief suspects as much of the evidence points towards him. Though the famous writer has made numerous enemies who might want to destroy him, Stanley cannot fathom the link to him since he is a non. Still, Stanley now has a personal reason to solve this case, especially when the real culprit tries to silent the private investigator permanently.

Stanley Hastings is the Rodney Dangerfield of the PI world with no one, including his wife or his clients giving him any respect. In his thirteenth novel, Stanley still is extremely spry and one of the most humorist sleuths on the market today. With all that jocular satire, spoofing the genre, Parnell Hall places his hero (anti-hero?) in an interesting, very suspense laden who-done-it.

Harriet Klausner

Movie Proposal

Date: 3 December 2000

To: Steven Spielberg

From: Artur Avetyan, Detective reader

Subject: A movie proposal for the Detective, by Parnell Hall

Proposal:

Detective by Parnell Hall is one of the best mystery books I have ever read. Detective is all about life. Its about a detective name Jack Stanley who works really hard to become a good detective. The events that take place in this book are often seen in our lives; like drugs and murders. Also by reading this book you will find out how hard and dangerous the lives of detective's are. This book should be made into a feature film because it is important for people to know what happens in their lives. People need to know what it takes to be a real detective. This movie will inspire people to try their best at their job to become the best. This movie will show what drug dealers go through to sell drugs, and it will also show what police and detectives go through to catch this drug dealers, who are trying to ruin our lives, and our kids.

I think this will be a great movie because it shows what happens to people when they become involved in drugs and gangs. Drugs and gangs are a major problem in our lives these days and I think when people watch this movie they will be more careful. Parents will also pay more attention to their kids. This movie if made into a movie wouldn't cost too much to make. The Police and the special detectives team would help out with the making of the film. It would also be a successful movie because people like action and real life movies, but most of all this will be a great inspiring movie. It will prove that if you want something or if you want to become someone, you have to work hard for it.

Everyone in the town of Bakerhaven is caught up in the holiday season from the people taking part in the Christmas pageant to the folks posing in the live nativity. One of the highlights of the poignant is the humorous take on The Twelve Days of Christmas directed by Broadway producer, Rupert Winston. Cora Felton, known to the whole town as the puzzle lady, is one of the maids a milking if she survives the rehearsals without throttling the odious director.

Cora's niece Sherry is one of the women starring as the Virgin Mary. She receives quite a jolt when the actress playing the role before her is murdered. The girl that was killed was a high school teen who had every privilege and was one of the most popular students in her school. The father of Dorrie's best friend is visiting while on vacation from Scotland Yard and takes an active role in the investigation. All the circumstantial evidence leads him to Sherry as the perpetrator. Cora is not about to let her niece be tried for murder so she goes into sleuth mode to ferret out the murder.

Parnell Hall has written another excellent amateur sleuth novel starring his recurring character the Puzzle Lady. Cora is a natural comedienne who lightens the plot up when the action becomes very intense. This is a very convoluted mystery with so many twists and turns, dead ends, and viable suspects that readers will want to finish the book in one sitting so they can puzzle out who did what to whom.

Harriet Klausner

Parnell Hall may be a candidate for an award in the most-unlikely-occupation-for-a-fictional-detective sweepstakes. Jockey detectives, bookstore-owner detectives, and gourmet-chef detectives pale by comparison to a bogus crossword puzzle-maven detective. His sleuth, Cora Felton, is a syndicated crossword puzzle composer -- or rather she poses as one. Her niece Sherry is the real composer; Cora just solves murders.

Cora is the best thing about this book. She is an unsentimental, tough-talking, hard-drinking, much-married old bird. The late Eileen Heckert would have been perfect to play her on screen. How she came to be the beloved Puzzle Lady is never explained.

Apart from Cora, "Puzzled to Death" is a pretty ordinary mystery. The locale is Bakerhaven Connecticut, as patently artificial as the village in Murder She Wrote. It boasts a daily newspaper, a paper mill, a medical examiner, two crossword puzzle experts, a passel of bed-and-breakfasts, but only one lawyer. All the residents seem to have surnames that originated in the British Isles; an unlikely circumstance even in the most remote corners of Litchfield County. Bakerhaven is about to host a charity crossword puzzle contest when a local housewife is murdered. Cora and the chief of police compete at solving the crime while most of the town is busy solving crossword puzzles.

Hall's dialogue is snappy and he offers some interesting insight into crossword puzzle composition and contests, but he violates the rules of the classical murder mystery in his denouement. My overall reaction is ehhhh!

It seems a natural for Bakerhaven, Connecticut, to hold a charity crossword puzzle tournament--after all, the town is home to Cora Felton, the syndicated puzzle columnist beloved by millions as the Puzzle Lady. So why shouldn't Cora host the festivities & crown the winner? But Cora's got a stack of reasons not to attend as huge as the hangover she's nursing the morning the tournament opens. And when the demise of one of the celebrity contestants adds murder to the mix, Cora instantly proves that a juicy investigation is far more exciting than any tournament. A confounding confection, as deviously devised as it is irresistible to read, PUZZLED TO DEATH is as deceptive--and diverting--as the Puzzle Lady herself!

In cosmopolitan Bakerhaven lives renowned local celebrity Cora "the Puzzle Lady" Felton. Cora shares a home with her niece Sherry, who actually constructs the syndicated crossword puzzles. Cora does not have the slightest clue as to how to develop a crossword puzzle, but instead prefers applying her skills at solving homicides.

Bakerhaven hosts a charity crossword puzzle tournament and naturally everyone expects Cora to chair the event. The idea upsets Cora so much that she feels guiltily glad when someone kills Judy Vale. The prime suspect, Judy's spouse has an airtight alibi. When the victim's neighbor is also killed, Cora figures she has no time for across and down as she begins investigating a myriad of suspects with motives and opportunities.

A unique thing about a Parnell Hall tale is that the mystery is always interactive, as puzzles related to the plot are included throughout the story line. Each puzzle contains clues so that colorfully eccentric Cora and the audience can solve the who-done-it. Like it predecessors, PUZZLED TO DEATH adds an extra degree or two of fun to the mystery genre.

Harriet Klausner

By his own admission, Stanley Hastings is a dumb private investigator. So he is an ambulance chaser for Richard Rosenberg, negligence lawyer.

But then Stanley hits it lucky. He is hired by Joe Balfour to stop a blackmailer. From that point on things begin to go drastically wrong. A few days later the blackmailer, named Philip T. Grackle, is found killed. Enters Joe's daughter Jennifer who also pays blackmail. And so does Joe's wife. We have a ring-around-the-rosy,with every member of the Balfour family protecting the other by paying Grackle.First, Stanley has to find out why there is blackmail. The reason for it changes every few pages, presenting rather outrageous guesswork. Father and son Millsap, legal eagles, are added, to spin the case some more.

Luckily, Stanley has the help of his wife Alice and of Sergeant MacAullif and so solves the case. But while the book is quite funny, the ending is rather outrageous. Mr. Hall should be forgiven because he entertained us.

Last Puzzle and Testament is an intriguing approach to the "whodunit" genre. Set in a small town and revolving around the rich old maid who dies and her money-grubbing relatives, the story has the potential to be just another one of hundreds of similar stories. The gimmick that makes this novel different is the crossword writing amateur sleuth and a treasure hunt for the heirs that is based on, you guessed it, a crossword puzzle. Cora Felton is a celebrity in the small town of Bakershaven. She is cruciverbalist, a crossword puzzle constructor, with a national syndication as The Puzzle Lady. The only problem is that she knows more about multiple marriages and martinis than vocabulary. Cora's niece and companion, the divorced Sherry Carter, is really the crossword expert, but started using her aunt as a front for her image and to overcome the problem of being too young for credibility. Now they are stuck with the subterfuge. When elderly spinster Emma Hurley dies her attorney, following her instructions, assembles the potential heirs and informs them that the bulk of the estate is to be awarded to the first one to solve a puzzle she has devised. She also names the local celebrity, The Puzzle Lady, as the sole judge and referee. Then, as the puzzle solving begins, people start to die. The twists and turns of the puzzle, and of the detecting, involve Sherry and Cora in a variety of situations, all leading up to a very unexpected resolution. Part of the charm of this mystery is the character of Cora herself. A good-heated soul, she just drinks a little more than she should, and a lot more often. She and Sherry go through some interesting gyrations in order to cover up that Cora just doesn't have what it takes to solve, much less create, a crossword puzzle. The romantic interest is provided by Aaron Grant, reporter for the Bakershaven Gazette. He has already figured out that Sherry really writes the crosswords, but wants her to tell him as a sign of their developing relationship. Sherry, on the other hand, doesn't feel right about letting a relationship develop until she tells him the truth. Every time one of them is about to bring the matter to a head, something happens to distract them. Last Puzzle and Testament, by Parnell Hall is an amusing little mystery, well worth the read.

Everyone in the small town of Bakerhaven, Connecticut is familiar with local celebrity Cora Felton. Better known as the Puzzle Lady, her syndicated crossword puzzles appear in over two hundred and fifty newspapers across the nation. There is a secret concerning Cora that very few people in town know. The cigarette smoking, hard drinking woman does not write the crossword puzzle column. Her niece Sherry Carter does because the young woman thinks that Cora fits the image of the PUZZLE LADY.

When eccentric and wealthy Emma Hurley dies, all her heirs gather together to learn they are to participate in a series of puzzle solving. If the person gets the puzzle right, as judged by Cora Felton, they receive more puzzles. The first person to solve the entire puzzle will gain the whole fortune. The avaricious relatives will go to any lengths to see that they are first and they do so with the murder of one participant. Since the pair was so successful at solving Bakerhaven's last homicide, Cora and Sherry turn detective.

Parnell Hall is an excellent storyteller who knows how to entice his readers into wanting to buy and read his puzzling and exciting works as soon as they come out. The puzzles included in each novel make the reader feel like part of the story and that makes them want to finish the book in one sitting. The well-drawn characters seem like people the readers know. Cora's heart of gold personality gives LAST PUZZLE AND TESTAMENT a special feel that turns this novel into a keeper that will be read many times over in the years to come.

Harriet Klausner

This was better than the first in the series! I can't wait to read the next one. Cora Felton and the surrounding characters are interesting people, and the author does a great job showing each person's individual views on the crossword puzzle, and the rules for solving it. I could not put this book down, and I hope the series continues beyond 3 books.