Ellie Haskell
14 primary works Complete
Book 1
Ellie Simons longs to be thin—and married. But with her single-minded passion for éclairs and clotted cream, her prospects on both counts seem dim. That's why the summons to attend a family reunion at the old ancestral home is about as welcome as a snakebite. How can she show up with her embarrassingly full figure in her humble unmarried state and keep her chins up? Enter Bentley T. Haskell of Eligibility Escorts, a devastatingly attractive writer of smutty novels who also cooks like a dream. With Bentley posing as her besotted beau, Ellie feels brave enough to beard her batty relations in their den. . . .
But mouldering Merlin's Court is nothing like Ellie remembers, and with her wretchedly beautiful cousin Vanessa making eyes at Ben, and her malevolent old uncle Merlin popping up in the most unexpected places, it's enough to put Ellie off her food. And the best—and worst—is yet to come, as the weekend leads to sudden death, unexpected romance, and a treasure hunt that promises epicurean Ellie wealth, hearth, and happiness . . . if she survives.
Praise for The Thin Woman
“[Dorothy] Cannell makes a delicious debut; discriminatory whodunit fans will want more of her inventions.”—Publishers Weekly
“A likable debut—combining fairy-tale romance, treasure hunts, and a homicidal mania.”—Kirkus Reviews
Book 2
Book 3
Divorce can end a marriage. Murder can do it better.
Meet Ellie Haskell, née Simons, thin woman, newlywed, potential murderess. Her life in charming Chitterton Fells promises nothing but endless bliss—until she meets two of the most cunning and unlikely private eyes ever to track down a diabolical killer. Misses Hyacinth and Primrose Tramwell of Flowers Detection Agency have been called in by a major insurance company to investigate the deplorably high incidence of sudden death among the married men of this picturesque municipality. The spinster sleuths soon discover that all the husbands had been unfaithful and their deaths neatly arranged by an enterprising social organization called The Widows Club.
But to find the mastermind behind this insidious ring, the Tramwells need an unhappy and betrayed wife. Enter Ellie, who will endanger life and husband to join The Widows Club and arrange to have her dearly beloved . . . dead.
Book 4
Several pounds heavier—and gaining—blissful mother-to-be Ellie Haskell knows her days as a thin woman are numbered. Time to let out her clothes, put up her feet, and prepare to enjoy the next nine months as pampered wife. But the first pangs of morning sickness have barely passed when Ellie’s handsome husband, Ben, is invited to compete for membership in the world’s most exclusive secret society of chefs, and suddenly Ellie finds herself whisked off to America—to Mud Creek, Illinois—and to a gothic mansion straight out of a horror movie.
Book 5
Once Ellie Haskell's life was a fairy tale: the one about the overweight, underpaid interior designer who falls rapturously in love with a gorgeous prince and lives happily ever after. But now, four months after the birth of her twins, her worst nightmare has come true: the princess has turned into a frog and the bliss has gone out of the bedroom.
Can a course in the sensual arts, featuring naughty nighties and Peach Melba Love Rub, rekindle the romance she and her adored Bentley once shared? It's a question that leads Ellie straight to an organization called Fully Female.
But before she can say "Marriage Makeover," one fellow vamp becomes a sex-crazed zombie and another meets her end in a fatally frothy bubble bath. Then a third victim of amour turns up dead, and Ellie realizes it's more than ill luck. Can Ellie catch a crazed killer before love gets a bad name.
Book 6
Nothing like a live-in mother-in-law to reduce a woman to the role of junior housemaid. That’s what Ellie Haskell discovers when her husband’s parents have a row in the midst of their anniversary dinner, and mother Magdalene seeks refuge in Ellie’s guest bedroom. Suddenly Ellie is being driven round the bend by the woman’s constant demands.
Thank goodness for the other wives who also suffer the age-old mother-in-law curse. A chance meeting down at the Dark Horse pub finds them trading horror stories, and soon they’re mixing gin and tonics with homicidal fantasies—a soupçon of poison here, a broken brake line there. All very therapeutic and no harm intended. At least, that’s what Ellie thinks. . . .
Praise for How to Murder Your Mother-in-Law
“Vintage Cannell. . . . Dorothy Cannell is a master at creating wildly ludicrous characters and hilarious plots. . . . Her latest Ellie Haskell adventure only enhances her reputation.”—Booklist
“Side-splitting!”—Rendezvous
“Toxic and hilarious.”—Publishers Weekly
Book 7
The only positive side of the untimely demise is the arrival of male romance cover model, Karisma, come to town to strut his tawny mane and sun-bronzed muscles for a fund-raiser in the late lamented librarian's name. But when hunky Karisma's entourage is poisoned, and the spouse of a Library League newlywed dies mysteriously, fantasy life careens toward a collision course with reality. Ellie must find a clever killer before she meets a sinister and decidedly unromantic fate! Fizzing with deadly wit and outrageous secrets, How To Murder The Man Of Your Dreams is a mystery to swoon for.
Book 8
Spring cleaning fever has Ellie nearly scrubbing the Merlin's Court chandeliers with a toothbrush. But when yet another member of the Chitteron Fells Charwomen's Association bites the dust, Ellie swaps scrubbing for sleuthing to find out who has more than dust bunnies and dirty dishes to hide. With Ellie and a madcap cast that includes her handsome husband Bentley, her feckless cousin Freddy, and caustic home helper Mrs. Malloy, The Spring Cleaning Murders is Cannell at her best.
Book 9
When Morley loses the urn in a bizarre series of events, Harriet's family is furious, and a bewildered Ellie asks some probing questions: What exactly is in that urn? Is her father a pawn in a deadly game? Is this what the gypsy had foreseen? The answers are hilariously revealed in a caper so charming it could only have come from Dorothy Cannell.
Book 10
Book 11
Book 12
Book 13
Book 14
