Blanc Books

Cordelia Frances Biddle and Steve Zettler, under the pseudonym, Nero Blanc, have written some marvelous crossword mysteries just perfect for the Christmas season. I've been enjoying their light mysteries since reading "A Crossworder's Delight," and this collection of shorter but fun mysteries is just the right recipe for the busy holiday season when time is at a minimum.

"Holly Jolly Roger" takes place in Saint Lucia, and is filled with tropical fun at Christmas. There is a puzzle, of course, for Rosco and Belle to solve as they enjoy their surroundings. And in this story, appropriately enough, there may even be a treasure!

"A Crossworder's Gift" takes place just as the Christmas rush is beginning in Las Vegas, and "The Eraser's Edge" has our favorite couple finding mystery at the Grand Canyon, with some humorous Hitchcock references from a pal at the end.

"Cross Stitch" is probably my least favorite because it doesn't involve Rosco and Belle, but it's still an enjoyable little distraction. My personal favorite here, "Mystery at Woodsworth House," has snow and an atmosphere of winter holiday fun. Fans will love the spelling clues of lamps beneath the snow as they join the couple for their romantic holiday getaway.

Trying to do the included crosswords is fun, but the answers are in the back if you have trouble as I often do. This is a terrific time for light mystery lovers and crossword fans. A pleasant distraction for the holidays.

I read this book with great anticipation because I love crosswords and mysteries. What a horrible disappointment. The characters are poorly developed, the dialogue is not realistic at all and the worst part -- which ironically is the most important part of a mystery -- the slick, and a reader would hope, clever, unraveling of the solution is far from either.

Every one of the short stories sputters along and then the "solution" is thrown at the reader like a bag of soggy oatmeal. Clumsy and unsatisfying.

Steer clear of this fiasco. The only reason I give it more than one star is because I still like the premise -- I just wish the authors were more respectful of their readers.

"A Crossworder's Gift" by Nero Blanc is a collection of five short stories with crossword puzzles, four of which feature crossword puzzle editor Belle Graham and P.I. partner Rosco Polycrates. The stories are bland and inoffensive, the perfect example of the stereotype of a cozy mystery, with thinly drawn characters and mysteries that are not very mysterious. Some pleasure in spending time in various vacation locations (Grand Canyon, Montreal, the Caribbean), but better mysteries can be found that accomplish that with far more style. Biggest mystery: how this series managed to reach seven books.

Loads of fun and the perfect gift for all my crossword puzzle fiend friends. Once again Nero Blanc takes the reader to five exotic holiday spots, as he did with last year's A CROSSWORDER'S HOLIDAY. I'm a big Nero fan, so I may be biased, but I really enjoy this series, and especially this new addition. These short stories are all within the realm of believability, which make the mysteries all the more interesting. The writing moves with a quick and entertaining flow, and the puzzles a super. There's even one in the shape of a pirates Jolly Roger.

When Digger Bonnet died on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, the secret of his treasure stash died with him. Bell and Rosco spend a week down there. The puzzle constructor and the private detective, with a little help from a parrot, try to decipher the clues to Digger's treasure puzzle. "Holly, Jolly Roger" is a humorous brainteaser.

In "The Mystery of Wordworth House", a ghost tries to right an old wrong using Rosco and Belle to translate his message to his two granddaughters. This is a cute ghost story.

When a gambler dies, he leaves a goodly amount of his estate to an animal shelter. To find the valuables, Belle Graham is asked to create and solve a crossword puzzle that should lead to the money. "A CROSSWORDER'S GIFT" is a delightful holiday mystery.

A puzzle constructor's convention is taking place at the hotel near the Grand Canyon with Belle as the guest of honor. When one of the conventioneers is found dead, Rosco and his wife start sleuthing. "The Eraser's Edge" is one mystery that is almost impossible to solve.

In "Cross Stitch" a sewing circle gets stranded during a blizzard and the five women bond with each other. After completing a crossword, the truth about a late heiress surfaces, but to find out what it is, the reader must decipher the crossword puzzle.

Nero Blanc's holiday anthology makes the perfect gift for mystery and puzzle lovers.

Harriet Klausner

One of the other reviewers mentioned a few loose ends. Boy, talk about an understatement. What a disappointment. While the book had its moments, thre weren't nearly enough of them to justify a readers plodding through the 282 pages of dialogue and description to find out the extrememly mundane solution to the mystery, and then there are all those loose ends. Save your time and money.

P.I. Rosco Polycrates and crossword editor Belle Graham are newlyweds. Belle's dad is coming to visit. He didn't attend the wedding but has decided to come meet Rosco and visit with Belle. He is afraid to fly so is coming by train. Unfortunately he dies of an apparent heart attack en route.

Belle flies to his home in Florida and quickly finds out that what she knew about her dad may not have been the truth. She meets his assistant whom she didn't even know existed. She starts asking questions. When she returns home, she and Rosco continue investigating. It appears her father may have been involved in drugs. This is nothing like the scholarly father she knew. They start retracing his steps from Florida to where he was found dead on the train. Miles are missing in the expected path. They follow many dead ends before finding the truth.

Since Rosco used to be a detective he has many ties in the department which can help or hinder him in his investigations. The characters are very believable and well developed. Belle is well described and I felt like I knew her and could feel her strained relationship with her father. With every twist in the story, I felt her frustration and curiosity to find out the truth. The mysterious Woody truly adds to the mystery in this book.

In this series the plot is always very well developed. The story is complex and just when you think you have it all figured out, it takes another turn.

You should read this book. While you're at it, I recommend the whole series.

Belle waits for her father at the train station. When he doesn't show up, she just feels that he forgot to call to say he wasn't able to make it. They have a rather cold relationship. He didn't even make it to her wedding. She finds out that he has died of an apparent heart attack on the train and she ventures to Florida to collect his belongings, papers, etc. She meets his assistant, a young woman who gushes over how wonderful Belle's dad is. Hmmm...this side of him that she never saw! When she returns home, she and her husband Rosco find out many things from his papers that make them question his demise. The story takes us to Princeton University and a strange French female professor.
There are many twists and turns in this novel...why did her father fly to Belize when he was scared to death of flying...what was his relationship with his assistant...why did he visit Princeton before getting on the train to visit her (and where else did he go)?
While there seemed to be a couple of loose ends that were not explained, I really enjoyed the book and read it in 2 days.

Although her father, renowned anthropologist Theodore A. Graham, didn't show up for his daughter's wedding to P.I. Rosco Polycrates, he is on his way to visit them now. When Belle arrives at the Newcastle, Massachusetts train station her father is nowhere to be found. It is only later that she learns he died aboard the train apparently of a heart attack.

When she goes down to Florida to close down her father's condo, she meets an assistant she never knew he had. That assistant is later killed in a hit and run accident but by that time Belle and Roscoe think the deaths were planned hits. There are discrepancies in Theodore's records, a notebook of his has gone missing, and somebody in Mexico is sending them crossword puzzles that imply the professor and his assistant were murdered.

A Nero Blanc mystery is always fun to read because of the two protagonists who are so much in love that they leave the audience feeling clean and refreshed. The story line itself is complex, entertaining and thoroughly thought-provoking, a mystery lover's delight as well as a crossword puzzle fan's pleasure. This book, in fact this series, is highly recommended.

Harriet Klausner

Screen writer Chick Darlessen inherits the estate of his beloved uncle Bartann Welner. Besides one million dollars that the deceased won on the television show Down & Across, Chick also gains a screen play. Apparently his uncle wrote called Anatomy of a Crossword based on a homicide case that Newcastle, Massachusetts resident Belle Graham, a puzzle constructor with syndicated crosswords across the nation, solved using clues from a puzzle that led to the killer. He sells the screen play to Lew Groslier who plans to turn into a TV movie.

After coming up to Newcastle and taking pictures so that they can recreate the pertinent scenery for a Hollywood set, Belle flies to Hollywood to act as a consultant for the film. From the time she arrives in California she senses something is not right. The man supposed to play her husband, P.I. Roscoe Polycrates, is in an automobile accident; one of the actresses is injured by something falling on her; and Chick is murdered with his girlfriend arrested for the crime. Belle and Roscoe take matters into their own hands, navigating the treacherous bogs of Hollywood to catch a killer and expose the wrongdoings connected to the movie.

ANATOMY OF A CROSSWORD is a real puzzler that readers won't be able to figure out until Nero Blanc reveals the happenings. This author consistently creates an engaging cerebral who-done-it for armchair detective. This terrific latest work includes misinformation and red herrings that keep the readers attention at all times. Sprinkled throughout the book are puzzles that the audience will enjoy solving since they relate to the plot by containing clues to the mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Why, I ask, don't the authors and/or editors of mysteries actually read the books they're publishing and weed out the irrelevancies and fix the mistakes? It should be assumed that the audience for these works is alert to all of the clues and details in the book to try to "find the killer" before s/he is unmasked. So, why then does the resolution at the end so often fail to tie up all loose ends?

Here we have the continuing characters transplanted to L.A. to the set of a TV movie based on a previous murder solved by Belle Graham and Rosco Polycrates. An unnerving string of "accidents" plagues the production -- or are they accidents? And why is someone creating new versions of Belle's key crossword puzzle?

The ending wrap-up resolves some, but by no means all, of the mysteries. Many red herrings are left to rot in the L.A. sun, including the set creator's fascination with Sara Briephs. Also, when the identity of the phantom puzzle constructor is revealed, the person COULDN'T have created some of the puzzles, since they show as key players people whom the creator didn't/couldn't/wouldn't have put in the puzzles. In the future, I'm sticking the The Puzzle Lady series, which [so far, at least] seems to be wrapping things up much more neatly.

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 hercrime-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 for a part of the book, 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 pleasant 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.

Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece

This Pocket Essentials entry looks at the career of John Carpenter, following him from his impressive debut with Dark Star all the way to Ghosts of Mars (which is only mentioned as a nearly finished production). With very little written about the man out there, this book should be considered essential for any Carpenter fan. The autuer argument is solidly made and hard to disagree with. The pluses/minuses criticism of each film is mostly fair, although a tad overboard in the enthusiasm department - but who can blame them. This is Carpenter they are talking about! As far as I am concerned, the man can still deliver a solid retro b-movie. Recommended, but it might leave you wishing for an even more in depth and photo illustrated Carpenter film study to read.

There is precious little out there between two covers about John Carpenter. This edition (from the pocket essentials series) is a concise and enthusiastic overall reference for the Carpenter fan or the would-be fan. My one caveat would be that perhaps the authors are a little blind when it comes to some of the movies where Carpenter had less than absolute control (the big studio productions). It really isn't enough to say that Memoirs of an Invisible Man was better than most Hollywood fare (because it wasn't), or to forgive Prince of Darkness by calling it a noble attempt at cerebral horror (because it isn't). But these are informed opinions and they provide food for thought. And that is really the best thing about this book -- it's smart and enthusiastic and it talks about my favorite director. And it made me think.

An interesting book in its own right. The pictures are not bad ( but not that great either). For me, the hightlights of the book are some of the paintings showing people ascending M. Blanc during what seems to be a time period of a century or two ago. ( I wouldn't mind owning a couple of these paintings! ) The text about the history of the discovery of M. Blanc is rather fun to read. However, I thought the book was just a bit overpriced.

I wish there were more books like this on famous mountains. Both the hardened alpinist and lover of mountains will enjoy this book. Fantastic photos, detailed history of climbing on the massif, and great climbers bios are all included in this large format (coffee table) book. Some of the more famous routes are outlined on the photos. A "must have" for anyone who loves the mountains.

This book was OK. I bought the book because of the title and price. It's a good book for the general public, not for someone who has a B.S. in Psychology.

As a mother of an autistic boy I wanted to learn more about what's in store for me as my son grows up.
I was glad to find a lot of information on the effects autism can have on a person during his or her lifetime.
Besides this information there's a lot of information on the symptoms of autism, probable causes and the best interventions.

The 'cliffhanger' serials of the early French cinema are the inspiration for celebrated French illustrator Jacques Tardi's graphic novels. Beginning with "Adieu Brindavoine" in 1972 Tardi depicts a world combining Jules Verne with Emile Zola.

Adele Blanc-Sec suffers from a toothache, the chief of police is suffering from a toy guillotine, and Paris is suffering from a plague of horseshoe crabs. Who is playing the flute in the sewers? What is the meaning of the cryptic rebus sent to the police? And why does that wacky woman think she looks good in leather?

Tardi's intricate plotting, marvellous attention to period detail, and wicked sense of humor make this Adele adventure a LOT of fun!

In this tenth installment in Nero Blanc's Crossword Mystery series, cruciverbalist Belle Graham and her P.I. husband Rosco Polycrates investigate the disappearance of a friend's husband. Dan Tacete, a local dentist and all-around nice guy given to donating his time to treat charity cases, fails to return home one evening after leaving work in his Ford Explorer--the least expensive vehicle in his private fleet. Dan's wife Karen naturally turns for help to her friends Rosco and Belle. While Rosco steals time from his current investigation of a car theft ring to help her, Belle begins to receive a series of crossword puzzles which she suspects may be related to the Tacete case. Certainly the clues in the third puzzle Belle receives seem to refer to one of the primary suspects in Dan's disappearance, the victim's surly business partner Jack Wagner. But Jack isn't alone in attracting the attention of Rosco or his former partner, Newcastle's chief homicide detective Al Lever: among the other suspects in the case are a number of Dan's down-and-out patients, his secretary Bonnie and her wayward brother, and Karen Tacete herself, who is suspiciously hostile to Belle and Rosco after requesting their help and who is unwilling to share everything she knows about the case with the police. Who among these, if any, dunnit? Readers are unlikely to figure that out before the clues--both forensic and linguistic--lead Belle and Rosco to a startling conclusion.

As usual in the Nero Blanc series, a handful of crossword puzzles related to the crime punctuate the book--the very puzzles Belle receives in the course of the story--but the six puzzles included in Another Word for Murder are less intimately connected to the solution of the crime than is usual in the series.

Another Word for Murder is yet another good read from the husband and wife writing team of Cordelia F. Biddle and Steve Zettler, a.k.a. "Nero Blanc." The book's tightly plotted mystery and the surprising twist it offers alone make the book worth the read, and crossword enthusiasts will appreciate the authors' linguistic playfulness and the inclusion of puzzles in the storyline. But I keep coming back to the series for its homey ambiance: the happy, pun-filled relationship of Rosco and Belle themselves, and the clutch of Newcastle denizens who join the couple in holding down a table at Lawson's Coffee Shop every Saturday morning. The murder rate in Newcastle may be startlingly high, but Rosco and Belle's home town is nonetheless a pleasant place to spend one's time.

Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece

Have used this book in undergraduate teaching for many years because there is nothing recent to come near it in psychological coverage. But I wish someone had written a more up to date version or edition in an easier variety of English.

"A Crossworder's Holiday". On vacation with her husband private investigator Roscoe Polycrates in Nantucket are crossword editor Belle Graham are interrupted by antiquarian Sir Brandon Drake who needs her help to solve a puzzle he found in a recent purchase. If he fails, his life may go down.

"Proof of the Pudding". At the Misty Valley Inn, Vermont, Belle and Roscoe enjoy time away together until a guest dies. The answers may be in a hastily developed crossword puzzle that comes across as a recipe for death.

"A Partridge in a Pear Tree". In Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, Roscoe assists a college buddy with solving puzzles from the estate of Steve's deceased aunt in order to interpret the will.

"Mum's the Word". In Philadelphia, mobster Freddie Five sent tips to the Inquirer through professionally developed crossword puzzles that led to many busts. Freddie's dead and the FBI has his last puzzle. They ask Belle and Roscoe to solve the underlying meaning to the answers that inform the police that there will be trouble at the Mummers' Parade.

"Ghost of Christmas Past". In Cotswolds, England, Belle and Roscoe visit friends Angus and Judith who tell them about a haunted house. Belle finds a piece of a crossword puzzle that has clues to the haunted house's past. Now to find the other two segments and solve the house's mystery.

Ignoring the logic of the gimmick, the mixing of puzzles with mystery while the heroes are away from their home takes readers on a cleverly designed holiday anthology that crossword puzzle fans and mystery buffs will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner