A review by spinesinaline
Arsenic and Old Puzzles: A Puzzle Lady Mystery by Parnell Hall

funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was enjoyable but the MC really makes it hard to like her, and things were wrapped up so quickly
in one long monologue
that it was hard to register all of it 

I did enjoy the references to the movie, and the detective’s complete ignorance of its existence so everyone describing the commonalities sounded a bit insane to him. And I appreciated having the sudoku puzzles to complete (I rewrote them on a separate piece of paper so I wouldn’t write in a library book). I’m not a big crossword fan but there are crosswords to complete too. 

It was a fun enough story to follow if you can detach yourself from the characters but not my favourite cozy mystery.
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