Parnell Hall Books In Order

Publication Order of Herbie Fisher Books

Publication Order of Puzzle Lady Books

Publication Order of Stanley Hastings Books

Publication Order of Steve Winslow Books

Publication Order of Teddy Fay Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Cozy Case Files Mystery Sampler Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Parnell Hall is one of the most popular authors from The United States, who has written a number of successful books based on the thriller, crime fiction, and mystery genres. He is particularly famous for writing the Puzzle Lady Mystery series, the Stanley Hastings series, and the Steve Winslow series. Author Hall has written the latter series out the three under the pen name of J.P. Hailey. Apart from writing mystery books, he has also written a screenplay for a Hollywood horror film titled C.H.U.D., which was released in the year 1984. Author Hall started his writing career in the year 1987 with the release of the novel titled Detective. This book also marked the beginning of his Stanley Hastings series. He was born on October 31, 1944 in Culver City, California, United States. Over the course of his writing career, author Hall has collaborated with several other novelists in developing certain specific novels and other written works. On one occasion, he teamed up with Manny Nosowsky for developing crossword puzzles and then with author Will Shortz for writing sudoku puzzles. In addition to these works, author Hall has also collaborated with Stuart Woods in writing the book called Smooth Operator. For writing the books of the private eye series of Stanley Hastings, he took inspiration from the well known detective fiction books written by Robert B. Parker. He was especially blown away by the books of his Spencer series.

Once he had seen one of author Parker’s interviews in which he had said that the readers like his books because they appreciate the way his words sound in the books. With this answer the interviewer was shocked and when author Hall went through his books once again, he found that author Parker was absolutely right. When he read those books for the second time, he found that there was a cadence and a flow of the words as they appeared to jump off the pages. And when author Hall finally decided to write his own book, which was his debut novel, Detective, he wished that his words also spread the magic like author Parker’s. After its release it gained huge success all across the world and went on to be nominated for the Shamus and Edgar Awards. Seeing such positive responses and praises, author Hall thought that his words might have really worked. The reviews that he received subsequently for his work in the novel referred him as a writer skilled in describing zippy, trademark, and witty dialogues. Before deciding to become an author, Hall was associated with a few other career fields. Initially, he used to work as a screen and stage actor. Later, he adopted the role of a singer, songwriter, screenwriter, and then also worked as a private investigator.

After working his way through all these jobs, author Hall feels happy about the way his life has turned out. He considers himself lucky to have become a writer because he thinks that he could not have got so much popularity from any other work. For his immense contribution towards writing private eye books, the Private Eye American Writers Association presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award on the occasion of the Shamus Awards banquet in 2015. Author Hall was very happy to receive this award because the timing coincided with the publication of his 20th book in the Stanley Hastings private eye series. Recently, author Hall has re-published the first 15 out of print Stanley Hastings books in the form of Kindle editions. Author Hall has stated that the original manuscripts of the Puzzle Lady novels had the name of a lady author. It was actually a marketing strategy used by him. But, when he saw that the idea is actually working out, he decided to print the books under his own name. The lead character of this series, Cora Felton, went on to be voted by the Mystery Guild as the Best New Discovery. The books of Steve Winslow were written by author Hall after years of reading Perry Mason. In fact, one of the books of this series, titled The Anonymous Gift, was started as a novel of Perry Mason, but it went on to be completed as a Steve Winslow book. Author Hall had to take such a step because the widow of Stanley Gardener did not agree to give the rights of the book to him after his death. Hall and Stanley had started working on the novel together, but Stanley died before its completion. Author Hall was associated with the Private Eye Writers and has also served as its President. He was also a member of the Sisters in Crime. Currently, author Hall resides in the New York City.

The Puzzle Lady series written by Parnell Hall consists of 18 books in total, which were released between the years 1999 and 2016. All the books in this feature Cora Felton in the lead role. Cora is described by author Hall as a crossword creator, who has a nationally syndicated column in the city of Bakerhaven, Connecticut. The first book of the series is titled as ‘A Clue for the Puzzle Lady’. It was released in 1999 by the Bantam Books. At the beginning of this book, Cora Felton is shown having an irresistible eagerness to poke her nose into difficult matters. A dead body of a teenage girl is discovered from the cemetery in the Bakerhaven town, after which Chief of Police Dale Harper begins his first homicide case investigation. He comes across a baffling clue which leads him to consult the expert puzzle writer of Bakerhaven, Cora Felton. Due to the mischievous and the meddling behavior of Cora, Dale Harper gets distracted. Soon, one more dead body is found and this time the murder takes place very near to the home of Cora. As a result, she thinks that she has to catch the killer as soon as possible in order to avoid becoming his next victim.

The next book in the series is titled as ‘Last Puzzle and Testament’. This book was also released by Bantam in the year 2000. In this story, author Hall has shown that when the rich widow Emma Hurley took her last breath there was no one by her side except the servants. But soon after her death, a number of greedy heirs arrive at her door to stake their claims in her fortune. They get surprised to learn that Emma has not left behind any will. Instead, she wrote her final testament in the form of a puzzle, which was to be given to her heirs. And the first heir who is able to solve the clever puzzle will get the entire estate of Emma. In her testament, Emma has urged Cora Felton to become the referee and take care of the proceedings. Cora knows that it is her niece Sherry Carter, who prepares all her puzzles and so it comes up to her to solve the bizarre riddle of Emma and help the heir who solves it first get the fortune. In this game of riddles, the heirs are required to be careful or else they will end up losing more than they have ever imagined.

One Response to “Parnell Hall”

1. Steve Schwartz: 1 year ago

   I have read all the Stuart Woods books including those with Mr. Hall. He added an element of intrigue and a bit more complexity to the Teddy Faye series. I look forward to reading all Mr. Parnell’s books

   Reply