Becky Clark

OCD, crosswords, law-enforcement, small-town, diner, family, friendship, cozy-mystery, cold-case, pet, secrets, details, due-diligence, situational-humor, verbal-humor, internment camp, Colorado*****

I think that Colorado made a big mistake by not letting Quinn enter the police Academy. She is perfectly suited to Crime Scene Investigation and follow-up! Instead we get to enjoy her activities in the small town while she works in the diner and does more than due diligence to solve a cold case she literally stumbles on while also delving into the injustices and more of an internment camp for Japanese-Americans just a few miles from her home town. I have not read the first books in series, but didn't feel left behind. But don't think that this is all serious, because the characters truly are and there are missteps all along the twisty way (red herrings and all). I was riveted!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!… (más)

“Punning with Scissors” is a funny murder mystery – on purpose.
Quinn Carr pays intense attention to organization and detail. This is how she maintains her sanity and composure. She works at the Chestnut Station Diner in a small city on the Colorado plains where everyone knows everything, and no one knows anything. The book is written as Quinn sees the world; her conversations drive the plot. She is a perfectionist to the extreme and has her own strategies for handling stress and the irregularities of life. Her deep dark secret, and the key to her continuing sanity, is that she secretly constructs the daily crossword puzzles for the Chestnut Station Chronicle; she makes five dollars for every puzzle she publishes. Best of all, the clues in her puzzles are not typical clues; they are riddles, puns jokes, and hilarious, knee-slapping plays-on-words. Even Chief of Police solves her crossword puzzles every day -- in ink.
The action unfolds in humorous home-town exchanges, fun banter, and the casual conversations of the people Quinn knows including the jovial regulars at the diner known as the “Retired.” Everyone and everything exist happily day by day until the day Creighton McLellan is discovered quite dead with a pair of good scissors sticking out of his chest. Of course, Quinn is compelled to investigate the event as well as the past and present of all involved. The recipe to Kentucky Fried Chicken is not the only secret in town. She plants clues in her puzzles to help the chief solve the shocking murder.
“Punning with Scissors” is quick to read with a nice balance of light-hearted action and mystery as the complicated murder unfolds, and even the bananas might have clues. As a bonus, the crossword puzzles are included in the book, of course with the answers at the end for those who like to sneak a peek before they fill-in the answers -- in ink. I received a review copy of “Punning with Scissors” from Becky Clark, Lyrical Press Books, and Kensington Publishing Corp.… (más)

Puzzling Ink by Becky Clark is the debut of A Crossword Puzzle Mystery series. Quinn Carr is a woman in her late 20s who has returned to her hometown of Chestnut, Colorado where she has moved back in with her parents. She has been diagnosed with a mild case of OCD (I think the doctor got this one wrong) plus depression. Quinn loves crossword puzzles and creates them for the local paper which is something she does not want her best friend, Nico Lopez to know about. I could not warm up to Quinn. Her OCD is anything but mild. I became agitated after reading a couple of chapters. I did like the way the author addressed OCD. Quinn’s OCD issues dominated Puzzling Ink. Quinn’s parents are great characters. They are happy, upbeat people (it is hard to believe that Quinn is there child). I would never eat her mother’s cooking (a cumin frosted cupcake sounds disgusting), but she is a cheerful woman with a husband who loves her dearly. Officer Rico Lopez is Quinn’s best friend, and he cannot tell a lie. He is a very patient and kind man (must be if he is Quinn’s friend). There are a variety of other quirky characters including Jake and his ex-wife. The author did not devote enough time to character development. We learn the bare bones minimum about Quinn. I did enjoy the descriptions of the various chestnut statutes around town. I thought that it was a cute touch. The mystery was a disappointment. It was not at the forefront of the story and it is not one reader can solve (which is my favorite part). I wish the author had devoted more time to the mystery. The ending came out of left field. Crossword puzzles did not really play into the story. I thought the puzzles would have more of a tie in especially to the mystery. Puzzling Ink is not a good fit for me, and I will not be reading the next book in the series. I read to relax and for enjoyment and I got neither one in Puzzling Ink.… (más)