The Puzzle Lady vs The Sudoku Lady

I had such high hopes for this book. Why? Well, I love puzzles. Both Sudoku and crossword so I thought, hum, this should be entertaining. So that guess wasn't necessarily right, but it also wasn't wrong either.

Title: The Puzzle Lady vs The Sudoku Lady

Author: Parnell Hall

Length: 309

Genre: Fiction, Mystery

How long will it take to read: One week, tops.

The Puzzle lady is Cora, an older woman who is habitually getting married then divorced. She lives with her niece and her new husband. Her niece, Sherry, is actually the puzzle lady. Don't worry. I didn't ruin anything there. You find this out almost immediately. The puzzle lady make crossword puzzles. Cora is also known as being a great sloth. She helps the local police solve murders.

The story revolves around the Sudoku lady, Minami, coming to town to meet Cora because Cora's Sudoku books have out sold Minami's Sudoku books in Japan, her home. While there, a murder occurs. Minami also helps the police in Japan, so she challenges Cora to a duel. The duel is who can solve the murder mystery first. During the investigation, Cora unknowingly frames Minami who is arrested for not one, but two murders. I guess the excitement should be in how Cora clears Minami's name, and that part is actually quite funny, but that is about it.

There really isn't much to this book. I know, some of you out there say the same thing about the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer which is on my guilty pleasures list, but at least she can include suspense, romance, and some good old sexual tension. You will get none of that in this book. And it isn't even that funny.

Favorite Character: Is it fair to say no one? Okay, I guess I would pick Michiko because she has attitude and can't stand her aunt, Minami. One thing that we have in common.

Rating: 1 star. Only get this if your library has run out of all other books.

Published by Minotaur Books 2009