Nero Blanc, Anatomy of a Crossword

Nero Blanc's latest crossword caper finds professional cruciverbalist Annabelle Graham in Hollywood, serving as technical advisor for a puzzle-themed TV movie (entitled "Anatomy of a Crossword") that is based on one of her crime-solving experiences. Belle is enjoying the respite from a brutal Massachusetts winter, but she has had misgivings about the project from the get-go. Her uneasiness was triggered by the brusque behavior of a gang of Polaroid-snapping set designers who descended on Belle's native Newcastle before the filming. Now that shooting has begun, things have only gotten worse: a series of accidents is plaguing the production, and a real-life shooting claims the life of one of Anatomy's principal characters. To make matters worse, Belle receives a series of anonymously authored crossword puzzles whose answers suggest that the constructor has information about the murderer's identity.

Also hobnobbing with the Hollywood types in Anatomy of a Crossword—with the spoiled celebrities and soulless industry executives and the suspiciously jumpy screenwriter who are making the movie—are Belle's husband (private eye Rosco Polycrates) and Newcastle's grand dame Sara Briephs, who manages to land a part in the film. (When these characters are not on the scene, before they follow Belle to Hollywood, one misses them: the series' charm has much to do with the pleasant interactions its characters enjoy.)

Anatomy of a Crossword, like its predecessors in the series, is a cozy with a clever enough story line to keep readers guessing to the end. Mystery fans and crossword lovers should enjoy the book, the latter particularly so as readers are invited to try to solve the case along with Belle and Rosco: six crosswords—and a puzzle of a different sort—are included in the book. Familiarity with the other titles in the series is not essential, so new readers need not fear jumping into the Blanc book mid-series.