Punning with Scissors
The Blurb
Quinn Carr has been quietly creating crosswords for the Chestnut Station Chronicle in her small Colorado town since she was in high school, but she has yet to solve the puzzle of how to make a living from her passion. So she lives with her parents and works at the local diner, catering to regulars like The Retireds, a charming if cantankerous crew of elderly men. The most recent member to join the group is a recently retired tailor, the unfortunately named Hugh Pugh.
But Hugh’s misfortune dramatically increases when he’s arrested for stabbing his husband with a pair of fabric shears. With a cryptic crossword clue left at the crime scene, Quinn seems tailor-made for solving this murder. The local police may be determined to pin the crime on the kindly tailor, but Quinn will use her penchant for puzzles and what her therapist calls her “obsessive coping mechanism” to get the clues to line up and catch the real culprit before the killer boxes her in.
The Details
Series: A Crossword Puzzle Mystery – Book #2
Author: Becky Clark
Genre/Category: Cozy – Amateur Sleuth/Hobby
Publisher: Lyrical Press
ISBN: 1516110676
Page Count: 191
Rating: 
The Review
Punning with Scissors is the second book in the “A Crossword Puzzle Mystery” series. The story revolves around Quinn, who has OCD. She is a bit hard to take, falling apart most of the time, and drives people nuts with worry. Quinn works at a diner with a great boss who tolerates her imperfections, as do her friends and family. Quinn has a hard time coping with her OCD and a harder time admitting it when she needs help coping with it, but she never seems to have trouble asking for help when there is a murder to solve.
The characters in this series are, for the most part believable, unfortunately for me, Quinn isn’t one of them. I have no issue with her having OCD, but I have an issue with her being not very likable; she is beyond irritating. The crossword puzzles are just a crutch, not a solution, but she acts like they can fix everything. Her parents are a delight, and a series could be written about them without Quinn that would entertain fans. The settings of this book, and the last one, are mostly the diner where Quinn works and Hugh’s home.
When Hugh’s husband is killed with a pair of Hugh’s shears, everyone thinks he is to blame, and even though Quinn doesn’t even know him, she jumps in to find the real killer. The suspects throughout this latest book are few and far between, and the motives are hard to believe. The crossword puzzles Quinn designs have little chance of changing the mind of an investigator, yet this seems to be her entire basis for proving the main suspect innocent and the only way to get the police to look at other suspects. When the killer and mystery are unraveled, it comes as no surprise. There are a few twists and turns, even a couple of red herrings, but Quinn has more than a murder and OCD issue; she also looks for trouble and has denial issues. I found it hard to enjoy Punning with Scissors because Quinn isn’t growing and doesn’t seem to be trying all that hard to get her OCD and life under control.
The Author
Becky Clark is the seventh of eight kids, which explains both her insatiable need for attention and her atrocious table manners. She likes to read funny books, so it felt natural to write them too. She surrounds herself with quirky people and pets who end up as characters in her books. Her stout-hearted dog keeps her safe from menacing squirrels, leaves, and deer, but not plastic bags. Those things are terrifying.
Becky lives in Colorado with her husband and the adorable Nala. One of them can never get enough cookies, loves to be outdoors, and needs constant grooming. The other is a dog.
Another of Becky Clark’s cozy series readers may enjoy the “A Mystery Writer’s Mystery” series’ book two, Foul Play on Words.
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