From Publishers Weekly
Just in time for Christmas comes Parnell Hall's latest puzzle mystery, A Puzzle in a Pear Tree. In this round, series heroine Cora Felton and her indomitable niece, Sherry Carter, must track down a killer who's been planting clues in acrostics rather than crosswords. The fate of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" pageant in which the two ladies are performing hangs in the balance. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Rehearsals for a pageant based on "The Twelve Days of Christmas" are interrupted when cast members discover acrostic puzzles with threatening messages. Cora Felton (Puzzled to Death) and niece Sherry Carter react immediately with solutions, but they don't really expect to find a dead body in the crehe scene outside. With smooth prose and a tantalizing plot, this is recommended for fans of Hall's "Puzzle Lady" series. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
The latest installment of the Puzzle Lady mystery series may be a little tricky for new readers as it forgoes any explanation of how natural-born sleuth Cora Felton came to be a front for her niece, Sherry Harkin, a syndicated crossword-puzzle columnist. But fans of the series will be pleased with the duo's return, even if the book's premise is slightly silly. It involves a Christmas pageant, a living nativity, and, of course, several murders, with Sherry as the prime suspect, although Hall has some trouble making her alleged culpability seem plausible. There are also a few more twists and turns than it seems possible to keep track of, but this time, Hall has added a new wrinkle. As in previous books, filling in crossword puzzles is one of the book's delights. Here, the puzzles are acrostics, a labor-intensive way of solving the mystery, yet their presence adds freshness to the problem solving. Librarians take note: asking patrons to photocopy the puzzles might be a wise move. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
Praise for Parnell Hall and the acclaimed Puzzle Lady mystery series

“Fresh, funny, and ingeniously devised.”
--Will Shortz, Crossword Editor, The New York Times

“A fun series for mystery fans and cruciverbalists.”
--USA Today

“Fun from the first page. Mr. Hall has created a witty and airy detective story.”
--The Dallas Morning News

“Takes a sweet-faced grandmother on the gumshoe spree of a lifetime.”
--The Washington Post Book World

“Heaven for crossword puzzle fans.”
--Kirkus Reviews

“[An] homage to the very entertaining breezy mind-game mysteries of the 1930’s and ’40s.”
--Los Angeles Times



From the Hardcover edition.


Review
Praise for Parnell Hall and the acclaimed Puzzle Lady mystery series

?Fresh, funny, and ingeniously devised.?
--Will Shortz, Crossword Editor, The New York Times

?A fun series for mystery fans and cruciverbalists.?
--USA Today

?Fun from the first page. Mr. Hall has created a witty and airy detective story.?
--The Dallas Morning News

?Takes a sweet-faced grandmother on the gumshoe spree of a lifetime.?
--The Washington Post Book World

?Heaven for crossword puzzle fans.?
--Kirkus Reviews

?[An] homage to the very entertaining breezy mind-game mysteries of the 1930?s and ?40s.?
--Los Angeles Times



From the Hardcover edition.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
A killer has big plans for the holiday season in Parnell Hall's fourth delightfully cryptic cozy. Cora Felton may be known as the Puzzle Lady, because that's the role she's played on TV commercials, but truth is, she actually hates puzzles. On the other hand, she absolutely loves mysteries, and she's had some luck solving them as well. She's got a real doozy to work on this Christmas, when someone disrupts a rehearsal for the local pageant (an unconventional rendition of "The Twelve Days of Christmas"), and leaves a message in the form of an acrostic. At first, no one is sure whether to take the threat seriously. After all, the whole thing could just be a prank to pester the pageant's unpopular leading lady. Though Cora cares even less for acrostics than traditional crosswords, she can't resist this fascinatingly puzzling plot. So, when a second acrostic turns up, she gets her clever niece, Sherry, to handle the tedious job of fitting the proper words into the acrostic's numbered slots. Meanwhile, Cora sets out to discover what prompted the threats. When the game turns deadly (after someone kills the Virgin Mary in Bakerhaven's living cr￯﾿ﾽche), Cora plays for keeps, matching wits with an opponent who is either very clever, totally insane, or both. And, as she puts together the clues, the Puzzle Lady learns that sometimes providing a good answer is a better solution than revealing the right one. Sue Stone

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Chicago Sun-Times crowns Parnell Hall's Puzzle Lady mysteries "a joy for lovers of both crosswords and frothy crime detection...Cora Felton is a lovable and unique sleuth." Now the crime-solving powers of the inimitable Cora and her clever niece, Sherry Carter, are put to the ultimate test as they square off against a yuletide killer who hides within the white-and-black shadows of an acrostic....

A Puzzle In A Pear Tree

'Tis the season to be jolly, but Cora Felton, shanghaied into "The Twelve Days of Christmas" as a most reluctant maid-a-milking, has every right to feel like a grinch. When someone steals the partridge from the pear tree and replaces it with a cryptic puzzle she has no hope of solving, it's almost more than the Puzzle Lady can bear. But then smug crossword creator Harvey Beerbaum solves the acrostic, and it turns out to be a poem promising the death of an actress. This is more like it! Could the threat be aimed at Cora and her thespian debut? Or at Sherry, one of the ladies-dancing? Or at Sherry's nemesis, the pageant's predatory lead, Becky Baldwin?

Cora and Sherry barely have time for a mystery, what with trimming Christmas trees and buying Christmas presents, but rehearsals go on, under police protection--until a killer strikes elsewhere in a most unexpected manner.Ordinarily Cora Felton would be delighted to have two murders to solve. But this time she finds herself vying with a visiting Scotland Yard inspector who appears to have an all-too-personal stake in solving the crimes. Cora does too when her own niece becomes a prime suspect and the murderer strikes again.

Is someone trying to shut down the Christmaspageant? Cora would be only too happy if that were the case, but she fears the secrets lie deeper. Now she is interviewing witnesses, breaking into motel rooms, finding evidence, planting evidence, and having a merry old time. In fact, she would be perfectly happy--if this wasn't turning out to be a Christmas to die for!

Author Biography: Parnell Hall is the author of the acclaimed Stanley Hastings mystery novels and the Steve Winslow courtroom dramas, as well as three previous Puzzle Lady mysteries, A Clue for the Puzzle Lady, Last Puzzle & Testament, and Puzzled to Death. Nominated for the Edgar, the Shamus, and the Lefty Awards, he lives in New York City, where he is working on his fifth Puzzle Lady mystery, With This Puzzle I Thee Wed.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Just in time for Christmas comes Parnell Hall's latest puzzle mystery, A Puzzle in a Pear Tree. In this round, series heroine Cora Felton and her indomitable niece, Sherry Carter, must track down a killer who's been planting clues in acrostics rather than crosswords. The fate of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" pageant in which the two ladies are performing hangs in the balance.

Library Journal

Rehearsals for a pageant based on "The Twelve Days of Christmas" are interrupted when cast members discover acrostic puzzles with threatening messages. Cora Felton (Puzzled to Death) and niece Sherry Carter react immediately with solutions, but they don't really expect to find a dead body in the crehe scene outside. With smooth prose and a tantalizing plot, this is recommended for fans of Hall's "Puzzle Lady" series. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 8/02.] Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews