Lights! Camera! Puzzles!

The new novel in the ever-popular mystery series finds the Puzzle Lady on the set of a movie about her own life—and when the first dead body shows up on set, it comes with a crossword puzzle. It’s murder on the movie set! It was no surprise when Cora Felton’s ex-husband’s sensational tell-all memoir, Confessions of a Trophy Husband: My Life with the Puzzle Lady, was optioned for the movies, but it certainly raised eyebrows when the Puzzle Lady herself signed on as an associate producer. Cora explained gamely that she hoped to have some control over the project. The truth was, she needed the money. Some of the more salacious details of the steamy bestseller had not sat well with Granville Grains, the breakfast cereal company for whom the Puzzle Lady appeared in national TV ads for schoolchildren, and they suspended the campaign. Sales of her popular Sudoku books also sagged, leaving Cora and her niece, Sherry, who actually constructs the crosswords, to live on the modest income from the Puzzle Lady crossword puzzle column. Now Cora is filming her life story on location in New York City, and things couldn’t be worse. She doesn’t like the script, she doesn’t like the director, and she absolutely hates the actress who is playing her in the movie. It’s almost a relief when the first dead body shows up on the set. If only it didn’t come with a crossword puzzle . . .