Puzzling Ink by Becky Clark
Book Summary
Puzzling Ink by Becky Clark has
Quinn Carr living back home with her parents’ in Chestnut, Colorado after being
diagnosed with OCD and suffering from depression. She is working as a waitress at Chestnut
Diner for Jake Szabo plus she creates crossword puzzles for Vera Greenberg, the
editor of the Chestnut Station Chronicle.
Jake must be away from the diner and is leaving Quinn in charge which means
she also has to do the cooking. At the
end of the day, Quinn goes to give the last lingering patron the heave ho and
finds him dead in his biscuits and gravy.
It turns out the victim is Emmett Dubois who was a former business partner
of Jake’s and things did not end well between them. Jake is arrested for the Emmett’s murder
leaving Quinn in charge of the diner including the cooking. If Quinn wants to go back to her regular job,
she needs to prove that Jake did not kill Emmett. Quinn figures it cannot be much different
from creating a crossword puzzle.
My Thoughts
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.
Kris
The Avid Reader
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