A Puzzle in a Pear Tree

Parnell Hall. Bantam Books, $23.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-553-80242-9

Just in time for Christmas comes Parnell Hall's latest puzzle mystery, A Puzzle in a Pear Tree. In this round, series heroine Cora Felton and her indomitable niece, Sherry Carter, must track down a killer who's been planting clues in acrostics rather than crosswords. The fate of ""The Twelve Days of Christmas"" pageant in which the two ladies are performing hangs in the balance.

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