Chicken Soup Awes All But Appears Nowhere in Last Puzzle and Testament

Summary: Chicken soup, not gazpacho soup, awes all but appears nowhere in Last Puzzle and Testament, 2nd mystery in the Puzzle Lady series by author Parnell Hall.

Gazpacho soup acquires its appetizing appearance from garlic, olive oil, salt and vinager added to sliced cucumbers, onions, peppers and tomatoes. It adapts to Mediterranean culinary cultures, especially of the Iberian Peninsula, and to the Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking Americas. It even appears on the perhaps less authentic menu of Wicker Basket, Bakerhaven restaurant arranged in the Italian style with red and white tablecloths; Saturday, July 1, 2006, 20:47, image of gazpacho ingredients: Juan Carlos (po.psi.que), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Chicken soup, not gazpacho soup, awes all but appears nowhere in Last Puzzle and Testament, 2nd mystery in the 20-book Puzzle Lady series authored by Parnell Hall (Oct. 31, 1934-Dec. 15, 2020).

Aaron Grant, as Bakerhaven Gazette reporter, brings Sherry Carter, as crime-solving puzzle lady Cora Felton’s housemate and niece, to Wicker Basket restaurant for their first date. Sherry considers okay Aaron’s commendation, gazpacho (from Spanish gazpacho, from Mozarabic *gazpáčo, from Greek γαζοφυλάκιον, “treasure-house”, from Persian گنج [ganj], from Sanskrit गञ्ज [gañja], treasury”) soup. Aaron and Sherry respectively decide next time upon caffeinated coffee with an oatmeal cookie and decaffeinated coffee with a BLT, without any mayonnaise, on white toast.

Cora eats an omelet entertaining cheddar cheese, onions and peppers and enjoys a caffeinated coffee during that late lunch at Wicker Basket with Aaron and Sherry.

Becky Baldwin, as recent law school graduate, favors a salad takeout for her lunch with Bakerhaven attorney Arthur Kincaid when she finds ex-boyfriend Aaron with Sherry.

Channel 8 crewmen get coffee when Becky goes to Wicker Basket with on-camera reporter Rick Reed at 3:30 pm. Eastern Time (7:30 p.m., Greenwich Mean Time). No one hints at what Becky, who perhaps had creamy coffee a previous time with Sherry’s acquaintance Daniel Hurley, and Rick have at their window table. Daniel inveighs against veal piccata (from Italian piccata, “pounded flat [for slicing, sautéing, serving in buttery, lemony, spicy sauce]") when he intercepts Cora and Sherry there.

Cora and Sherry journey to Wicker Basket for the dinner menu, not for the latter’s chicken soup or for its gazpacho, in Last Puzzle and Testament.

Dried tomatoes, mushrooms and penne (from Latin penna, “feather, quill" via Italian penna) and green salad, rice pilaf and salmon fillet kindle Sherry’s and Cora’s appetites.

Cora, who loves her martini easy on vermouth, on the rocks and with a twist, lectures Sherry into liking regular Coke previously at Country Kitchen restaurant. Sherry manages a Diet Coke even as Cora makes her dinner drink Wicker Basket house cabernet (perhaps from Latin caput nigrum, “black vine” via Médoc French). Fish and salad orders versus pilaf (from Turkish pilav, Persian پلاو, Sanskrit पुलाक, “boiled-rice lump”) orders need white wine versus the red wine that Cora negotiates.

Aaron offers chicken soup as order offending no one even as it perhaps never occurs as a drinkable, edible comfort-food option in Last Puzzle and Testament.

Cora prefers flower gardening and French toast with vodka-heavy Bloody Mary and Country Kitchen bar-hosted bridge games with a tall gin and tonic with lime twist.

The Cushman bakery and the Carter/Felton coffeemaker quarter carry-out and sugar-milk coffees for downtown Bakerhavenites such as Becky and for Cora and Police Chief Dale Harper. Sherry relishes iced, low-sugar lemonade, which Daniel reckons as too sugarlessly tangy even as Cora remembers orange juice as vodka-resistant remedy realized by first husband Jerry. Cora sees Jeff Beasley, town drunk who sneaks into the Hurley mansion with a half-pint (0.2 liters) of rye whiskey, sated with three Country Kitchen-served bourbons.

Perhaps troubled thoughts of that tragedy trigger Cora taking no alcohol with Sherry’s day-old pesto on rotelli salad, without chicken soup, in Last Puzzle and Testament.

Bacon, lettuce, tomato (BLT) sandwiches are on the Wicker Basket menu by Aaron's and Sherry's second lunch date, albeit accompanied by the latter's Aunt Cora, there. Sherry asks for her sandwich to be assembled on white toast and without mayonnaise; Sunday, June 5, 2011, 11:56, image of BLT sandwich with baby lettuce: jeffreyw, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Gazpacho soup acquires its appetizing appearance from garlic, olive oil, salt and vinager added to sliced cucumbers, onions, peppers and tomatoes. It adapts to Mediterranean culinary cultures, especially of the Iberian Peninsula, and to the Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking Americas. It even appears on the perhaps less authentic menu of Wicker Basket, Bakerhaven restaurant arranged in the Italian style with red and white tablecloths; Saturday, July 1, 2006, 20:47, image of gazpacho ingredients: Juan Carlos (po.psi.que), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gazpacho_ingredients.jpg; Juan Carlos (po.psi.que), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/popsique/291001466/

Bacon, lettuce, tomato (BLT) sandwiches are on the Wicker Basket menu by Aaron's and Sherry's second lunch date, albeit accompanied by the latter's Aunt Cora, there. Sherry asks for her sandwich to be assembled on white toast and without mayonnaise; Sunday, June 5, 2011, 11:56, image of BLT sandwich with baby lettuce: jeffreyw, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BLT_sandwich_with_baby_lettuce.jpg; jeffreyw, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreyww/5800854578/

For further information:

Dodson, Steve. 9 August 2007. "Gazpacho." Languagehat.
Available @ https://languagehat.com/gazpacho/

Hall, Parnell. 2019. Lights! Camera! Puzzles! New York NY; London UK: Pegasus Crime.

Hall, Parnell. 2018. The Purloined Puzzle. New York NY: Minotaur Books, A Thomas Dunne Book, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.

Hall, Parnell. 2017. A Puzzle To Be Named Later. New York NY: Minotaur Books, A Thomas Dunne Book, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.

Hall, Parnell. 2016. Presumed Puzzled. New York NY: Minotaur Books, A Thomas Dunne Book, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.

Hall, Parnell. 2015. Puzzled Indemnity. New York NY: Minotaur Books, A Thomas Dunne Book, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.

Hall, Parnell. 2014. NYPD Puzzle. New York NY: Minotaur Books, A Thomas Dunne Book, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.

Hall, Parnell. 2013. Arsenic and Old Puzzles. New York NY: Minotaur Books, A Thomas Dunne Book, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.

Hall, Parnell. 2012. $10,000 in Small, Unmarked Puzzles. New York NY: Minotaur Books, A Thomas Dunne Book, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.

Hall, Parnell. 2011. The Kenken Killings. New York NY: Minotaur Books, A Thomas Dunne Book, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.

Hall, Parnell. 2010. The Puzzle Lady vs. The Sudoku Lady. New York NY: Minotaur Books, A Thomas Dunne Book, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.

Hall, Parnell. 2009. Dead Man's Puzzle. New York NY: Minotaur Books, A Thomas Dunne Book for Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.

Hall, Parnell. 2008. The Sudoku Puzzle Murders. New York NY: Thomas Dunne Books St. Martin's Minotaur, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.

Hall, Parnell. 2006. You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled. New York NY: Bantam Books, division of Random House, Inc.

Hall, Parnell. 2005. Stalking the Puzzle Lady. New York NY: Bantam Books, division of Random House, Inc.

Hall, Parnell. 2004. And a Puzzle to Die On. New York NY: Bantam Books, division of Random House, Inc.

Hall, Parnell. 2003. With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill. New York NY: Bantam Books, division of Random House, Inc.

Hall, Parnell. 2002. A Puzzle in a Pear Tree. New York NY: Bantam Books, division of Random House, Inc.

Hall, Parnell. 2001. Puzzled to Death. New York NY: Bantam Books, division of Random House, Inc.

Hall, Parnell. 2000. Last Puzzle & Testament. New York NY: Bantam Books, division of Random House, Inc.

Hall, Parnell. 1999. A Clue for the Puzzle Lady. New York NY: Bantam Books, division of Random House, Inc.

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 January 2021. "Interstate Highways Add More Hurley Heirs to Last Puzzle and Testament." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/01/interstate-highways-add-more-hurley.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 29 December 2020. "Bakerhaven Acquaintances Afford A Clue for the Puzzle Lady." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/12/bakerhaven-acquaintances-afford-clue.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 December 2020. "Bakerhaven Alcohol Acts as A Clue for the Puzzle Lady." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/12/bakerhaven-alcohol-acts-as-clue-for.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 December 2020. "An Actual Bakerhaven Map Never Appears as A Clue for the Puzzle Lady." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/12/an-actual-bakerhaven-map-never-appears.html

"Puzzle Lady." Parnell Hall.com > Books. Website by Kate Anchev/Outbox Online Design Studio.
Available @ http://parnellhall.com/puzzle-lady/