Earth and Space News: Puzzle Lady Mystery Series book 5

Showing posts with label Puzzle Lady Mystery Series book 5. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Four Cryptograms Assure Two Deaths in With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill

Summary: Four cryptograms against a June wedding assure two deaths in With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill, 5th mystery in the Puzzle Lady series authored by Parnell Hall.

Whoever authors four cryptograms in With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill acts abusively and aggressively. The author assures negative associations in Bakerhaven collective memories, unlike the enduring admiration of readers appreciative of Jules Verne's (Feb. 8, 1828-Mar. 24, 1905) Runic (from proto-Celtic rūnā, via proto-Germanic rūnō, "secret [Germanic alphabet letter]") cryptogram (from Greek κρυπτός, "hidden" and γράμμα, "writing") in his 1864-published science fiction novel Journey to the Center of the Earth: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Four cryptograms against a June wedding assure two deaths in With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill, 5th mystery in the Puzzle Lady series authored by Parnell Hall (Oct. 31, 1934-Dec. 15, 2020).

Ralph Millsap, as Tune Freaks lead rock guitarist Razor, bustles from a Manhattan bridal shop on Fifth Avenue to Hillside Agency for beds and breakfasts (B&B). Brenda Wallenstein, artist and Mount Sinai Hospital nurse, crashes college chum Sherry Carter celebrating number puzzle lady Cora Felton’s engagement to hotel owner Raymond Harstein III. Country Kitchen draws Cora, Raymond and Sherry into distracting dialogues with attorney Becky Baldwin and Bakerhaven Gazette reporter Aaron Grant and with Brenda and Dennis Pride.

Dennis, as Sherry’s first husband, Tune Freaks ex-lead singer and Wallenstein Textiles salesman, eschews parents-in-law-to-be Norman’s and Wendy’s expecting a Manhattan ceremony at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Best-man, bridesmaid, escort, maid-of-honor and minister functions fall upon Aaron; Iris Cooper, Amy Cox, Lois Greely, Judy Douglas Knauer; Police Chief Harper; Reverend Kimble; and Sherry.

Judy, as Knauer Realty owner-operator, gives gentlemanly Raymond as next-door neighbors Jack and Daffodil Dirkson, with their garish VW microbus and cocaine-filled, 54-gram (1.91-ounce) plastic bags. She then helps Dennis out of Ramsey housing handled by Hillside Agency and into Trumble B&B opposite Raymond, who hates Dennis harassing Cora and hurting Sherry. Cora itinerates from the Kemper Agency-rented Carter/Felton residence to Bakerhaven Gazette, Bakerhaven Library, Bakerhaven Police Station and Cushman’s Bake Shop, all three blocks from Ramsey B&B.

Four cryptograms jeopardize Cora jubilating a France honeymoon with Raymond, judicious successor to ex-husbands Frank, Henry, Larry and Melvin, in With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill.

Trumble B&B on Piper Street keeps Dennis kinetic, at Bakerhaven diner away from Becky’s downtown, high-profile law office; and available for car service and rental car.

Living the lavish Wallenstein lifestyle leads Dennis to leap without looking, into locating a hillside, maple- and oak-wooded creek beyond Herb and Lois Greely’s general store. They mean that Police Officers Sam Brogan and Dan Finley only temporarily may manacle him or moor him in a police cell or an interrogation room. They nudge him away from any negative negotiations about him numbering among suspects named by Channel 8 on-camera reporter Rick Reed or County Prosecutor Henry Firth.

Four cryptograms occasion two deaths which Emergency Medical Services and Medical Examiner Dr. Barney Nathan observe as fatal stabbings in With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill.

Permanent placement as prosperous Wallenstein husband and son-in-law protects Dennis from pernicious proceedings in Bakerhaven Courthouse near Bakerhaven Town Hall offices of First Selectman Iris Cooper.

Brenda quibbling with Sherry’s 100-yard (91.44-meter) restraining order against physically and verbally abusive Dennis qualifies her for loving approval by querulous parents-in-law Randy and Gretchen Pride. Daffodil, Jack and Raymond raise questions resolved by Bakerhaven Gazette’s managing editor, who regards Dennis with unquestioning respect, referring Aaron to San Diego Union reporter Hines. Library assistant Jimmy Potter secures Cora solving two deaths even as neither he nor his librarian mother, Emily, surface among named attendees of the Pride-Wallenstein wedding.

Four cryptograms triggered two deaths, without tempting two victims to talk humously with Amy’s husband, Hartford insurance company executive, in With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill.

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Jack and Daffodil Dirkson, as admirers of the hippie culture of the 1960s and the 1970s, acquire a Volkswagen Microbus. They add abrupt, garish, psychedelic colors and a painted peace symbol, which advertise possible drug associations. They perhaps are not as committed to its upkeep as the 1969 model in the above image; Saturday, March 11, 2017, 20:05:08: Andrew Bone (andreboeni) from Weymouth, England, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VW_Microbus_(1969)_(33392514016).jpg; Andrew Bone (andreboeni), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/andreboeni/33392514016/

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. 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 @

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/

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Honeyed Lemoned Teas Are For Fiancees in With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill

Summary: Honeyed lemoned teas are for fiancees anxious to wed in With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill, 5th mystery in the Puzzle Lady series authored by Parnell Hall.

Number puzzle lady Cora Felton agrees with her fiance, Raymond Harstein III, about avoiding alcohol and cigarettes. She allows herself to appreciate honeyed lemoned teas, over her beloved coffees, in his company. She appreciates abundant sugar in her drinks. So perhaps tea appeals to her in its Korean form, as heated honey, lemon, sugar and water into pulpy, sweet, thick syrup monikered yuja-cha (from Korean 유자차, "[grapefruit-, pomelo-like] yuzu [Citrus junos] tea"); Friday, Oct. 26, 2012, 18:17, image of yujacha (yuja tea) and yujacheong (yuja marmalade): National Institute of Korean Language, CC BY SA 2.0 Korea, via Wikimedia Commons

Honeyed lemoned teas are for fiancees anxious to wed in With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill, 5th mystery in the Puzzle Lady series authored by Parnell Hall (Oct. 31, 1934-Dec. 15, 2020).

Her fiance, Raymond Harstein III, bears number puzzle lady Cora Felton a big diamond ring and brings her and her niece, Sherry Carter, to Country Kitchen. Raymond convinces Cora to cease drinking alcoholic concoctions so the latter contents herself with the mixed, non-alcoholic cocktail called Shirley Temple (Apr. 23, 1928-Feb. 10, 2014). Raymond and Sherry respectively drink seltzer with lime and white wine even as the three digest whatever draws them to the salad bar before undescribed dinners.

Raymond expects Cora to end chain-smoking cigarettes, whose packs she eases into her drawstring purse to enjoy before phytoremediating Listerine mouthwashes, breath sprays and breath mints.

Sherry favors caffeinated coffee for Cora to over-cream, over-milk, over-sugar, over-sweeten; decaffeinated coffee for such friends as Brenda Wallenstein; and decaf or tea for only herself.

Attorney Becky Baldwin and Dennis Pride, Sherry’s first husband and now Brenda’s first fiancé, get castor oil-like, greasy coffee at Bakerhaven diner just outside town limits. Police Chief Dale Harper and Officer Dan Finley have station-brewed coffee, over-milked by the former, with respective orange cranberry and blueberry muffins from Cushman’s Bake Shop. Dennis imbibes whiskey which he never ingested while informing Bakerhaven Gazette’s managing editor of his impending marriage and which perhaps interested him from Country Kitchen intoxicants.

Brenda and Dennis, like born and bred Bakerhavenites, never journey to Mary Cushman’s Bake Shop for honeyed lemoned teas in With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill.

Brenda keeps herself zaftig (from German saftig, via Yiddish זאַפֿטיק, “juicy”) despite black coffee even as Dennis keeps thin despite over-milked, over-sugared coffee with Cushman-imported muffins.

Cora loves the baked items that truck drivers load every morning from Silver Moon Bakery in Manhattan and that launch long lines of Cushman regular customers. She munches on a Danish pastry even as cruciverbalist (from Latin crux, “cross” and verbum, “word”) Harvey Beerbaum mulls her marriage June 12 over Cushman-made coffee. No takeout nestles among Bakerhaven eateries so Sherry nourishes herself on field greens salad with balsamic vinaigrette and romaine lettuce leaves and leftover, sliced chicken breast.

Cora opts for gin-free tonic and lime over honeyed lemoned teas at the engagement party organized for her bridesmaids in With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill.

Bridesmaids Iris Cooper, Amy Cox, Lois Greely and Judy Douglas Knauer pay for Cora and themselves to patronize Country Kitchen restaurant’s salad bar and town-famous appetizers.

Engagement-party settings quarter calamari ("[Italian] squid" from Greek κάλαμος, via Latin calamus, "reed"), crab cakes, escargots ("[French] snail” from Greek κογχύλιον, “small mussel”) and grilled shrimp. Fettuccine ("[Italian] ribbon [pasta]”) Alfredo, pork tenderloin, rack of lamb and salmon fillet require crème brûlée ("[French] burnt cream"), coffee, cognac and tiramisù ("[Italian] “pick-me-up [cake]”). Adam seethes over Dennis sipping Sherry’s Diet Coke before Cora savors her herb-crusted pork tenderloin with gravy biscuits, hazelnut and red pepper sauce and new potatoes.

Honeyed lemoned teas in With This Puzzle, I Thee Wed never threaten Cora treasuring too creamy, too milky, too sugary, too sweet coffee and coffee drinks.

Cora adores Mary Cushman's Bake Shop-imported pastries from Silver Moon Bakery in Manhattan, New York. She allows herself favorite muffins and scones. She atypically arms herself with a Danish pastry as she mentally arranges her June engagement and her seventh or eighth wedding; Friday, March 28, 2014, 19:02, image of Danish pastries at Schweizerbageriet, a bakery on MP Bruuns Gade, Aarhus (Århus), central Denmark: RhinoMind, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons