Book Review: Arsenic and Old Puzzles

When an elderly boarder at a Bakerhaven bed-and-breakfast drops dead during afternoon tea, there’s nothing particularly suspicious about it—except for the Sudoku in his jacket pocket. But when a second body turns up in the window seat and an autopsy shows both men were poisoned with elderberry wine, the Puzzle Lady suspects she’s dealing with a cold-blooded killer who for some reason is copying the Cary Grant movie Arsenic and Old Lace, in which two old ladies who run a boarding house poison elderly widowers and bury them in the basement. More murders, more puzzles, and a grave dug in the cellar seem to cement the theory.

Ordinarily, Cora would eat a case like this for breakfast, but for once she can’t figure it out. And she’s not sure if the clues don’t add up, or if the much-married Puzzle Lady is just distracted by being involved in her first romantic entanglement in years.

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How I Found It:

I stumbled upon this book while at work. As many of you know, I work at a library. I had been wanting to take a little break from science fiction and since mystery is my second love, I thought why not. I think what attracted me to this book was because I like puzzles and I remember watching my school present Arsenic and Old Lace my Junior year. You won’t find me reviewing a book in the middle of a series unless it could stand alone like most mystery books.

Initial Review:

It was interesting, yet somewhat annoying.

On Characters:

The Puzzle Lady, Cora,  is an interesting character. She’s in her late-60′s and still every bit as fiery as a woman in her 20′s. Her libido is about there as well. It was hard for me not to draw a connection between her an Ms. Marple from Agatha Christie. I am a huge Agatha Christie fan and I find the idea of the old woman solving mysteries hilarious.  The other characters were pretty annoying. The only ones I could remotely stand was Becky Baldwin (the only lawyer in the town) and Sherry, Cora’s niece. They were the most realistic out of the bunch. Everyone else was always two steps behind Cora and as dumb as a box of rocks.

On Plot:

I don’t want to give too much away, but the novel runs similar to the play until the middle. People die that are not apart of the movie and everyone kept mentioning it. There isn’t a huge plot twist and the fact that there were so many suspects annoyed me.  Everyone was suspecting everyone and the older woman’s love life crept me out. That is probably due to the fact that we are conditioned to think that sex is reserved for the young, but that’s a subject for another day. I read somewhere that a good book is when it cannot be summarized. I don’t know how true that is, but this is one that I could summarized in a couple of sentences.

On Setting:

The book is set in Bakerhaven, NY. I’m pretty sure the author just changed the name from Brookhaven, NY because there is no Bakerhaven. It appears to be a small town where everyone knows everyone. Gossip travels at light speed and The Puzzle Lady takes advantage of that. This brings about a huge plot hole.

Quotes:

N/A

Overall:

It served its purpose, but it had plot holes a mile wide and although I could have guessed the culprit, the motive was a bit of a surprise.

Rating:

4/10

Until next time,