When her ex's sensational tell-all about their lives is optioned for a movie, Puzzle Lady Cora Felton reluctantly accepts a producer role's in the much-despised production before a body is found on set, staged with a crossword puzzle clue.

Cruciverbalists, rejoice! Pick up a pencil and get ready to solve a puzzling murder-and an actual crossword puzzle-in this sparkling debut of a unique amateur detective: Miss Cora Felton, an eccentric old lady with a syndicated puzzle column, an irresistible urge to poke into unsettling events, and a niece who's determined to keep her out of trouble. When the body of an unknown teenage girl turns up in the cemetery in the quiet town of Bakerhaven,...

Cora Felton and her niece, Sherry, whose identity Cora has assumed, try to find out who murdered Benny Southstreet, a small-time hustler, before Cora gets framed for the crime.