Betting, Puzzling, Suing Are Why You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled

Summary: Betting in New York, puzzling from New Jersey, suing in Connecticut are why You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled, Parnell Hall’s 8th Puzzle Lady mystery.

Veronica Austin Martindale, monikered Ronnie by Wilbur's Antiques' namesake owner-operator, accepted eight rattan wicker-back chairs arranged June 6, 1952, by an admirer to the Austin family residence. The Austin family perhaps abided on the north, residential side, not the commercialized south side of Mount Vernon, New York: EJ220, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Betting in New York, puzzling from New Jersey, suing in Connecticut are why You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled, Parnell Hall’s (Oct. 31, 1934-Dec. 15, 2020) 8th Puzzle Lady series mystery.

Mimi Dillinger braves husband Chuck’s fax machine for Ned Browning, as Bakerhaven Gazette reporter, to build a human interest story around bent-fender bills and crossword-puzzle apologies. Sherry Carter copied Benny Southstreet’s crossword My Bad, without contacting the latter, for aunt and puzzle-constructing partner Cora Felton to convey for Mimi’s personal use only. Benny, desperate to delete his $40 debt to Aqueduct Racetrack bookie Frankie “The Shirt” Finklestein, delivers to Astroturf Publishing another, puzzle for which he demands $50.00.

Editor Wally Embers, upon whose desk Benny espies the Bakerhaven Gazette article, extends only $40.00, which encourages the latter to exchange betting and puzzling for suing.

Attorney Becky Baldwin flounders, with one client fighting speeding points on her driver’s license, until Benny fingers Cora and Granville Grains for plagiarism and false advertising.

A 100-yard (91.44-meter) restraining order grieves Sherry’s ex-husband, Dennis Pride, who guides Benny to puzzle constructor Harvey Beerbaum and Wilbur’s Antiques namesake guarding rattan wicker-back chairs. It hackles him, as second wife Brenda Wallenstein’s first husband and as Tune Freaks frontman, so that he huddles with Becky and Benny and with Chuck. Pride interventions incur Benny invading Chuck’s study for $5,000, identified to Dave as counterfeit, by the two-story Colonial’s kitchen window and Harvey’s dining room for chairs.

Addictions and jealousy jeopardize Dennis journeying judiciously through his remarriage as much as betting, puzzling, suing jeopardize Benny in You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled.

Dennis keeps Police Chief Dale Harper and Officers Sam Brogan and Dan Finley kinetic with Benny knowing about Chuck, Harvey and Wilbur kindling the Southstreet killing.

Cora never lets Dennis in on legendary diamonds, about which the latter laments Aaron linking officially with Sherry with a diamond ring, lost in rattan chairs. Dennis mentions Chuck, who maintains a study line separate from the family phone for Mimi and daughter Darlene, motoring to the pay phone on Elm Street. Cora never notifies him of Paul Fishman, at Bakerhaven mall’s Photomart booth, noticing Sherry as nice-looking, or of Reverend Kimble negotiating Carter/Grant engagement and wedding needs.

Betting, puzzling, suing and taking rattan chairs orient Benny toward operating in the red and outside the law in You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled.

Cora pocketing $5.00 against Danbury Deputy Sheriff Claiborne and $20.00 bridge winnings and police processing Beerbaum and Dillinger break-ins never prevent Benny performing other than self-destructively.

A broken wagon wheel sign, a car backed into a mall light pole and a nail in a rear tire qualify as crime-solving clues for Cora. Cora likewise regards Darlene racked with strep (streptococcal pharyngitis) and chambermaid Marge O’Connell, assistant manager Ralph and Haney owner-operators ignoring Dumpster rubbish from Four Seasons Motel. His favorite elm (Ulmus Americana) shades Buddy even as Cora sorts Daniel Farnsworth Cane Company bookkeeper (1935-1962) Philip Crickstein and the Martindale estate selling rattan chairs.

Cora tells what transgressions beyond Benny’s betting, puzzling, suing thwart malpractice associate Chuck tapping Hendricks and Sloane partnership in You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled.

Bakerhaven Television Station Channel 8 on-camera reporter Rex Reed accepts tips from Police Officer Dan Finley. Cora atypically alerts him to a Bakerhaven Town Hall meeting about absconded, burgled and errant rattan wicker-back chairs. It amazes her that two sets of four such chairs appeal to an antiques dealer, a cultured divorcée and a puzzle-loving gambler. Rattan wicker-back chairs are not things that she and perhaps Police Chief Dale Harper accumulate over the present objects of their respective admiration, cranberry scones and blueberry-ginger muffins.
Image of rattan wicker-back chair in Map of Furnitures of Theresianism and Josephinism in Vienna (Scholl Verlage, 1892), described as: Stuhl, Übergang von Rokokoformen zu klassizistischen. Die geschwungenen Linien der Rückenlehnen und Sitzrahmen stehen im Gegensatz zu den geraden kantigen Beinen und den bereits antikisierenden Motiven des Zierates. Rotbuchenholz, weiß gestrichen, grün verziert. Strohgeflecht gelb, mit grünen Fäden durchkreuzt ("Chair, transition from Rococo forms to Classical. The curved lines of the back rests and of the seat frames are in contrast to the straight, angular legs and to the already antique motifs of the ornamentation. Green-decorated, white-painted red beech wood. Yellow straw (wicker) braid, crossed with green threads."): Hubertl, scanner/postprocessor, Public Domain, 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:

Veronica Austin Martindale, monikered Ronnie by Wilbur's Antiques' namesake owner-operator, accepted eight rattan wicker-back chairs arranged June 6, 1952, by an admirer to the Austin family residence. The Austin family perhaps abided on the north, residential side, not the commercialized south side of Mount Vernon, New York: EJ220, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MountVernonNeighborhood.PNG

Bakerhaven Television Station Channel 8 on-camera reporter Rex Reed accepts tips from Police Officer Dan Finley. Cora atypically alerts him to a Bakerhaven Town Hall meeting about absconded, burgled and errant rattan wicker-back chairs. It amazes her that two sets of four such chairs appeal to an antiques dealer, a cultured divorcée and a puzzle-loving gambler. Rattan wicker-back chairs are not things that she and perhaps Police Chief Dale Harper accumulate over the present objects of their respective admiration, cranberry scones and blueberry-ginger muffins.
Image of rattan wicker-back chair in Map of Furnitures of Theresianism and Josephinism in Vienna (Scholl Verlage, 1892), described as: Stuhl, Übergang von Rokokoformen zu klassizistischen. Die geschwungenen Linien der Rückenlehnen und Sitzrahmen stehen im Gegensatz zu den geraden kantigen Beinen und den bereits antikisierenden Motiven des Zierates. Rotbuchenholz, weiß gestrichen, grün verziert. Strohgeflecht gelb, mit grünen Fäden durchkreuzt ("Chair, transition from Rococo forms to Classical. The curved lines of the back rests and of the seat frames are in contrast to the straight, angular legs and to the already antique motifs of the ornamentation. Green-decorated, white-painted red beech wood. Yellow straw (wicker) braid, crossed with green threads"): Hubertl, scanner/postprocessor, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:066a_Josepinism_Style_Furniture.jpg

For further information:

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. 18 May 2021. "Starbucks Caramel Adds Acuity in You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/05/starbucks-caramel-adds-acuity-in-you.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 May 2021. "You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled Alerts Us About Bakerhaven Trains." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/05/you-have-right-to-remain-puzzled-alerts.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 May 2021. "One Knife, Two Deaths, Four Puzzles Aid in Stalking the Puzzle Lady." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/04/granville-grains-corn-toasties-appall.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 27 April 2021. "Granville Grains Corn Toasties Appall Cora in Stalking the Puzzle Lady." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/04/granville-grains-corn-toasties-appall.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 20 April 2021. "Coastal Connecticut Attracts Reality Ads in Stalking the Puzzle Lady." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/04/coastal-connecticut-attracts-reality.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 April 2021. "And a Puzzle to Die On Augments Bakerhaven Acquaintances by One." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/04/and-puzzle-to-die-on-augments.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 April 2021. "A Birthday Bash And a Puzzle to Die On Await Cora and an Outsider." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-birthday-bash-and-puzzle-to-die-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 30 March 2021. "Bakerhaven Maps Aim a Victim at a Birthday Bash And a Puzzle to Die On." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/03/bakerhaven-maps-aim-victim-at-birthday.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 23 March 2021. "Four Cryptograms Assure Two Deaths in With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/03/four-cryptograms-assure-two-deaths-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 March 2021. "Honeyed Lemoned Teas Are For Fiancees in With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/03/honeyed-lemoned-teas-are-for-fiancees.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 9 March 2021. "Manhattan and San Diego Account For Why With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/03/manhattan-and-san-diego-account-for-why.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 2 March 2021. "Christmas Carolers Are Three Voices Short in A Puzzle in a Pear Tree." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/03/christmas-carolers-are-three-voices.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 23 February 2021. "A Puzzle in a Pear Tree Alters a Christmas Pageant and a Live Nativity." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-puzzle-in-pear-tree-alters-christmas.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 February 2021. "Tristate Access Adds a Broadway Director to A Puzzle in a Pear Tree." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/02/tristate-access-adds-broadway-director.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 9 February 2021. "Attorney Becky Baldwin Maybe Aces New York Lawyers in Puzzled to Death." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/02/attorney-becky-baldwin-maybe-aces-new.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 2 February 2021. "Perhaps Fun Night Attendees Ate All Free Desserts in Puzzled to Death." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/02/perhaps-fun-night-attendees-ate-all.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 26 January 2021. "New Yorkers Adapt to Less Light and More Parking in Puzzled to Death." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/01/new-yorkers-adapt-to-less-light-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 January 2021. "Fifteen Million Dollars Avenge Old Wrongs in Last Puzzle and Testament." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/01/fifteen-million-dollars-avenge-old.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 January 2021. "Chicken Soup Awes All But Appears Nowhere in Last Puzzle and Testament." Earth and Space News. Tuesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/01/chicken-soup-awes-all-but-appears.html

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/