Puzzling Ink (Crossword Puzzle Mystery #1) by Becky Clark #bookreview #mystery
Title: Puzzling Ink
Author: Becky Clark
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Publication Date: November 3, 2020
Page Count: 227
My rating: 4 stars
About the book:
1 DOWN: DEATH BY HOMICIDE
Quinn Carr wishes her life could be more like a crossword puzzle: neat, orderly, and perfectly arranged. At least her passion for puzzles, flair for words—and mild case of OCD—have landed her a gig creating crosswords for the local paper. But if she ever hopes to move out of her parents’ house, she can’t give up her day job as a waitress. She needs the tips. But when a customer ends up dead at her table—face down in biscuits and gravy—Quinn needs to get a clue to find whodunit . . .
6 LETTERS, STARTS WITH “M”
It turns out that solving a murder is a lot harder than a creating a crossword. Quinn has plenty of suspects—up, down, and across. One of them is her boss, the owner of the diner who shares a culinary past with the victim. Two of them are ex-wives, her boss’s and the victim’s. A third complication is the Chief of Police who refuses to allow much investigation, preferring the pretense their town has no crime. To solve this mystery, Quinn has to think outside the boxes—before the killer gets the last word . . .
Puzzling Ink by Becky Clark is the first book in the new cozy Crossword Puzzle Mystery series. As with most cozy mysteries this first book of the series does contain it’s own mystery that is solved within so it can be enjoyed as a standalone. The character development that happens in each book however will carry over for those that continue to read the series.
The Crossword Puzzle Mystery series introduces readers to Quinn Carr who suffers from a mild case of OCD. Quinn’s original plans for her life didn’t quite work out so now she’s trying to get her life on the right track. Quinn has a day job working at the local diner for an eccentric boss and a side job of creating crosswords for the local paper.
Quinn knows that if she’s ever going to move out of her parents house she needs the job at the diner as a waitress to work out but quickly notices all of her boss’s faults. When he decides to leave Quinn on her own for the night Quinn wants things to go well and they do for the most part, that is until closing when she discovers a man had died in his booth.
As some of you may know I am a huge fan of quirky and humorous cozies and it seems the author of the Crossword Puzzle Mystery series is a fan of the same. This new series was full of fun and had me chuckling quite a few times. The protagonist is incredibly likable, she’s doing her best to cope with her OCD and while a little naive she still came across as a strong lead jumping in and doing what she needed to solve the murder. Definitely a series I will continue in the future after such a nice opener.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
Find this book online:
Goodreads / Amazon **
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7 Comments on “Puzzling Ink (Crossword Puzzle Mystery #1) by Becky Clark #bookreview #mystery”
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Carries Book Reviews 
Nice review Carrie. I am glad it had those quirky characters you are a fan of, I like them too.
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Thanks Carla! You would probably enjoy this series too.🙂
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This sounds really good 😊
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It’s a cute and funny one Jenny.🙂
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Great review Carrie! Crosswords and a murder mystery…perfect. Going to see if this is still available. ❤📚
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This is an older one Sandy, I actually just picked up book 3 and that one is on there. I know I need to get these all caught up so I keep kicking myself to keep writing.
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I discovered that, Carrie. Will check at the library next time I go. ❤📚
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