Withering Heights (Ellie Haskell Mysteries, No. 12)
by Dorothy Cannell
from St. Martin's Paperbacks
Goodbye, Ms. Chips (Ellie Haskell Mysteries, No. 13)
by Dorothy Cannell
from St. Martin's Minotaur
“Ellie, the headmistress wants to see you.”
Words to strike terror in the heart of any inmate of St. Roberta’s boarding school who has failed to turn in her Latin prep, left out London on a map drawn of England, or prowled the ruins of the medieval abbey at dead of night. Ellie has been guilty of all these sins and more.
Fortunately, however, she is no longer a pudgy, insecure adolescent but a happily married interior designer with three lively children and a beautiful home by the sea. The only cloud in the sky on this lovely day in June is the message relayed by her friend Dorcas, who became games mistress at St. Roberta’s when the former coach, Ms. Chips, retired. Having heard of Ellie’s success as an amateur detective, the headmistress, Mrs. Battle, wants Ellie to come and find out who has stolen the Loverly sports trophy and is seeking to bring embarrassment to the school.
Her less than rosy memories of St. Roberta’s notwithstanding, Ellie cannot refuse Dorcas’s entreaties and finds herself in the thick of boarding school life, where an apparent schoolgirl prank soon gives way to murder.
Going back to St. Roberta’s—where she was once a shy, chubby girl who was hopeless at sports--is traumatic enough for Ellie. But when beloved games-mistress Ms. Chips dies unexpectedly, Ellie is convinced that her death is somehow linked to the theft of the school’s prized Loverly Cup. Digging in the past for clues, Ellie makes a few discoveries (welcome and otherwise) about herself as she goes about cracking the case.
How to Murder Your Mother-In-Law
by Dorothy Cannell
from Bantam
God Save the Queen!
by Dorothy Cannell
from Crimeline
Imagine Remains of the Day rewritten by an Agatha Christie with a nasty sense of humor, and you'll get some idea of why Dorothy Cannell's new mystery is such great fun. When Sir Henry Gossinger announces that he intends to leave his stately home to the man who has been his butler for 50 years, all sorts of upper-class stuff begins to hit a variety of fans. The elderly butler is drowned in a toilet, his sharp-witted granddaughter is exiled to London, and greed is only one of the seven deadly sins that go for a romp over the glorious grounds. Cannell displays a similar combination of talents in Femmes Fatal and especially How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams, both available in paperback.
At gloomy Gossinger Hall, where the chill of centuries calls for three sweaters, Sir Henry Gossinger has just dropped a bombshell. After hours of unexplained penance on his knees in the chapel, he has announced to his unwitting relatives that he has announced to his unwitting relatives that he has written a new will...bequeathing everything to his devoted butler, Hutchins. Not since the days of George III, when roguish Sir Rowland Gossinger was accused of stealing the queen's silver tea strainer, has such a scandal threatened the family honor. But worse is yet to come.
For Hutchins is missing, and it soon becomes apparent that the only thing the distinguished butler will inherit is a place in the cemetery. Found head down in the principle fixture of the twelfth-century privy, he may have been the victim of foul play. And what could Hutchins have meant by his dying words, "God save the Queen"?
To Flora, the deceased's sweet young granddaughter, Hutchins' death is a tragic loss. Raised by him in Gossinger Hall, she remembers her grandfather's dedication to the noble Gossingers--including Sir Henry's social climbing wife--and all the stately legends he told her over the silver polish. Only a new life in London, and the kindness of Vivian Gossinger, nephew and former heir to Sir Henry, can ease her pain.
Yet soon Gossinger Hall's history of treachery and intrigue--topped by the ongoing rift with the Royal Family regarding the long-lost tea strainer--casts its shadow over Flora. And suddenly she finds herself caught in a murderously tangled web, where even a familiar face could hide the heart of a cold-blooded killer.
The Importance of Being Ernestine: An Ellie Haskell Mystery
by Dorothy Cannell
from Penguin (Non-Classics)
Ellie must admit that she's been missing Mrs. Malloy since her caustic, corpulent housekeeper began moonlighting at a private detective's office. So when Mrs. M invites her to Detective Jugg's office one night, Ellie is delighted. Just as the ladies have settled into a chat-and a sampling of Jugg's bourbon and Lucky Strikes-a client, Lady Krumley, walks in. Mistaking the two for private eyes, she reveals her tale of woe. Thirty years ago Lady Krumley wrongfully dismissed her parlor maid, Flossie, who died young, swearing vengeance on all Krumleys. Now several Krumleys have had fatal accidents: could Flossie's daughter, Ernestine, be the cause? Feeling magnanimous, Ellie and Mrs. Malloy take on the case. But can they find the killer without killing each other first?
Bridesmaids Revisited: An Ellie Haskell Mystery
by Dorothy Cannell
from Penguin (Non-Classics)
"Rosemary, Thora, and Jane lived at the end of the lane, one was thin, one was fat, and one was very plain." This is how Ellie Haskell remembers her grandmother's three friends, known collectively as "the bridesmaids." She had once asked her mother where the nickname came from and her mother replied, "It's a long story, best forgotten." Every family has its secrets.
Now, thirty years later, a letter from the bridesmaids arrives informing Ellie that her grandmother, Sophia, wishes to make contact. This might have been heartwarming news but for one small detail: Sophia is dead. Ellie sets out to visit the bridesmaids on what becomes a life-changing journey that includes a seance, a hidden diary, and a murder that took place more than fifty years ago.
Fans of Cannell's previous Ellie Haskell mysteries will not be disappointed with this one, which retains the author's sparkling humor and penchant for off-beat characters. Ellie, now a mother of three, sends her family off on holiday so she can finally tend to decorating their castle (the one she inherited, you recall, from her wacky Fester-ish uncle). But before she can pick up a paintbrush, she receives a letter from ""the bridesmaids,"" three ladies who had been friends of her grandmother Sophia's. They claim that Sophia has a message for Ellie--the problem being that Sophia has been dead for half a century. Ellie visits the bridesmaids, and comes to realize that one among the slightly dotty trio may turn out be a murderess. Several of the mystery's plot devices will be familiar to Cannell addicts: old family skeletons come to light, a hilarious gothic-novel-within-a-novel caricatures both ""Jane Eyre"" and ""Rebecca,"" and at least one character turns out to have a long-lost twin. But Cannell also tackles new Spiritualist ground here, undertaking themes of ghostly emanations, seances, and conjurings. (The bridesmaids feel a tad uneasy about invoking Sophia's spirit, and spend one very funny scene wondering if they should enhance their matronly attire with garlic necklaces or crucifixes.) Cannell effectively opens the door to the spirit world, and then gently closes it as the story's supernatural phenomena all turn out to have perfectly natural--albeit unlikely--explanations. She does leave the door just a tad ajar at the novel's close, acknowledging a spiritual intuition that remains unaccounted for. This mystery is rollicking good fun for a dark and stormy night.
How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams
by Dorothy Cannell
from Bantam
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