The Kenken Killings: A Puzzle Lady Mystery

Parnell Hall is the author of several mystery series and this is the 12th in the "Puzzle Lady" series. Cora Felton, the "puzzle lady" in the small town of Bakerhaven, Connecticutt, is actually not the creator of the crossword puzzles that have been published under her name. The author would be her niece, Sherry Carter, with whom Cora shares a house (and with Sherry's journalist husband as well). When police chief Harper calls on Cora to help solve a puzzle found at the site of a non-burglary, it turns out to be a number puzzle--a Kenken--which is apparently the new thing in number puzzles, and which Cora can solve. When the same bank manager who was not robbed turns up dead a few days later, there is another puzzle to solve.
Meanwhile, Cora's least favorite ex-husband, Melvin, has come to town accompanied by a very young and not-too-bright redhead as well as his shyster lawyer. Melvin is suing Cora for an annulment so he can stop paying alimony. As events progress, it appears that someone is trying to frame Melvin as the killer. Even though Cora doesn't like him, she knows Melvin would never kill anyone, and so she sets out to prove him innocent while sending the police on a wild goose chase. Cora is a truly cantankerous woman and a bit hard to like upon initial introduction. Perhaps she grows on the reader with greater familiarity since Kirkus says Cora is "at the top of her game" in this installment. There are puzzles included in the book for the reader to solve; however, answers are provided as they are the clues to finding the killer. Apparently most of the puzzle lady books involve crossword puzzles, so if you are a fan, these books might just be for you. Here is a review from Publishers' Weekly.