Cora Felton may look like everyoneโs favorite grandmother. But the white-haired, bespectacled Puzzle Lady swears, smokes, gambles, and is even dodgy on the subject of how many husbands sheโs had. So it strikes her long-suffering niece Sherry Carter as amusing when Cora announces, โIโm tired of living a lie!โ
The inspiration for this sudden burst of honesty is a promotion by Granville Grains featuring the Puzzle Lady on a bus tour of televised personal appearances. Cora canโt think of anything sheโd like to do lessโexcept maybe quit smokingโthan travel the supermarkets of I-95 hawking the new and improved Corn Toasties to her legions of fans. And someone else mustnโt want her to go either, because theyโve left a knife planted in her front door with a crossword puzzle attached. But when Sherry solves the puzzle she canโt decide whether the enigmatic message is a threat, a love note, orโ creepier stillโboth.
Like it or not, Cora and Sherry must take their show on the road, along with a makeshift TV crew that includes a smarmy producer with a bad hairpiece, an abrasive director, an overambitious publicist, and two overgrown child-actors with some very adult problems. Throw in a few uninvited guests, including a roly-poly munchkin whoโs had an unrequited crush on Cora since high school and Sherryโs abusive ex-husband, and you donโt need to be a puzzle expert to know this trip is going to be murder!
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