Death by Unches

When "noted Cruciverbalist", Deborah O'Nair-known to millions of newspaper readers as the famous crossword puzzle designer Annie Graham-is found dead, drowned in her bathtub, it seems just a sad accident and an end to an illustrious career as the supreme puzzle torturer of New Orleans. Dr. Galimatias, one of her biggest fans, is actually deciphering her latest puzzle when he hears the news that it is also her last. He is stricken. After all, Deborah O'Nair devised cryptic crossword puzzles, most challenging of all to solve because they involve word play of the most devious type. Dr. Galimatias is convinced that the puzzle is not just McNair's last brain teaser. It is a message. A cry for justice! Proof that what at first seemed to be an accident, was in fact, murder. Armed with the dead woman's last crossword puzzle, Dr. Galimatias sets out on a devilishly brain teasing adventure against the background of old New Orleans. Death by Unches by H.O. Ward is delightfully clever and more fun than the Sunday Times crossword.