The Spring Cleaning Murders


Book Description

Dust mops are deadly in this “irresistible” (Minneapolis Star Tribune) and “wickedly witty” (Chicago Sun-Times) cozy mystery featuring the beloved Ellie Haskell—the signature heroine of Agatha Award nominee Dorothy Cannell. When the ever-scrupulous and ever-caustic Mrs. Roxie Malloy leaves her employ in tears, Ellie Haskell—busy mother of twins—is forced to find another cleaning person. As she searches for someone who can at least aspire to taking Mrs. Malloy’s place, Ellie turns the household topsy-turvy, overcome with spring-cleaning fever. But when members of the Chitterton Fells Charwomen’s Association (C.F.C.W.A.) start biting the dust, Ellie swaps scrubbing for sleuthing to find out what dark secrets have been swept under the rug. With the help of her husband, Ben, her feckless cousin Freddy, and an assortment of homemade cleaning solutions, Ellie joins the C.F.C.W.A.’s roster and embarks on a brief stint as a mercenary maid—just long enough to snoop through her neighbors’ things and find out which one has more than dust bunnies and dirty dishes to hide. Praise for The Spring Cleaning Murders “Irresistible . . . Pick up [The Spring Cleaning Murders] and let the dust bunnies lie where they fall.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune “Wickedly witty . . . outrageous plotting.”—Chicago Sun-Times




Spring Cleaning


Book Description

“Rocco’s fourth case offers a procedural panorama with an abundance of subplots, characters, and lively dialogue” (Kirkus Reviews). Rocco is still reeling from the death of his best friend’s girlfriend, who was murdered as she slept in his bed. There’s no doubt that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time and paid the ultimate price. With the identity of the hitman still unknown, a cloud lingers over Rocco, dulling his judgment and leaving this anti-hero exposed to other threats. For Rocco has stepped on one too many people’s toes over the years, namely the mafia that is still being rooted out in the small Alps town of Aosta. To complicate matters, the kidnapped teenager that Rocco saved has not fully recovered. But all is not as it appears with that family. Her mother, father, and boyfriend are all running some sort of farce that Rocco can’t easily crack. And now he must grapple between these two parallel investigations and find answers once and for all . . . before one too many skeletons come after him.




Withering Heights


Book Description

Heading for her young cousin Ariel's delightfully Gothic mansion on the Yorkshire moors, Ellie Haskell discovers that a mysterious villain is stalking the house's picturesque halls.




The Spring Cleaning Murders


Book Description

'If there's anybody funnier than Dorothy Cannell,? says Nancy Pickard, ?I don't want to meet her until my sides stop aching.' For thirteen years, the award-winning author of The Thin Woman, The Widows? Club, and Down the Garden Path has enchanted readers who relish Nancy Atherton, Carolyn Hart, and Diane Mott Davidson. Now she brings us her inimitable Ellie Haskell'heroine of the weight-loss wars'with her handsome husband, Bentley, and other beloved characters, like the caustic home helper Mrs. Malloy and truculent gardener Jonas Phipps, in a new mystery already selected, sight unseen, by the Mystery Guild.Spring-cleaning fever almost has Ellie scrubbing the Merlin's Court chandeliers with a toothbrush. But when yet another member of the Chitterton Fells Charwomen's Association is found dead, with a duster still clutched in her hand, Ellie must drop everything to discover what secrets the victims had swept under the carpet. Fizzing with deadly wit, an outrageous plot, and a wonderfully dotty cast, The Spring Cleaning Murders is Cannell at her best. ? A Mystery Guild Main Selection ? Penguin will reissue Down the Garden Path in May 1998




Murder at Mullings


Book Description

A 1930s housekeeper stars in “an Agatha Christie–like whodunit with touches of Olde World England and a soupçon of romance” (Booklist). In its three-hundred-year history, there has never once been a scandal at Mullings, ancestral home of the decent but dull Stodmarsh family. Until, that is, Edward Stodmarsh makes an ill-advised second marriage to the scheming Regina Stapleton, who insists on bringing her family's “ornamental hermit” to live on the estate. Suddenly everyone wants to visit Mullings to glimpse this mysterious figure. Strange but harmless, thinks Florence Norris, the family's longstanding housekeeper. But events take a sinister turn with the arrival of sudden, violent death—and suddenly the hermit doesn't seem so harmless after all… “Fans of mannered English mysteries will likely not be disappointed.”—Chicago Tribune “Strong characters…this mix of romance and crime will appeal to a wide range of readers.”—Booklist




How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams


Book Description

Life has been hectic in the Haskell household, but a lull in household affairs should allow Ellie time enough to slim down, pick up the threads of her interior design career, and kick the romance-reading habit that keeps her from her marital boudoir. But murder rears its ugly head when the body of the Chitterdon Fells librarian found sprawled among the library stacks. 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.




How to Murder Your Mother-In-Law


Book Description

The award-winning author of Femmes Fatal and The Thin Woman serves up the ubiquitous mother-in-law joke family style­—with death for the punch line. . . . 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




Spring Cleaning


Book Description

Orpheum Theatre, F.E. Turner, owner, Proctor & Marsh, managers. Louis O. Macloon offers Pauline Frederick in Frederick Lonsdale's successful comedy "Spring Cleaning," a play in three acts staged by Lillian Albertson, after 37 weeks at Eltinge Theatre, New York City, this season




Mystery Women, Volume Two (Revised)


Book Description

Many bibliographers focus on women who write. Lawyer Barnett looks at women who detect, at women as sleuths and at the evolving roles of women in professions and in society. Excellent for all women's studies programs as well as for the mystery hound. Look at the popularity of such reading guides as Willetta Heising's Detecting Women (3rd ed. 0-9644593-7-X) or Amanda Cross' fiction (Honest Doubt 0-345-44011-0 11/00).




Death at Dovecote Hatch


Book Description

“Agatha Christie meets Downton Abbey…a charming reminder of all the country house murders of Britain’s golden age.”—Kirkus Reviews It’s November 1932, and the peaceful village of Dovecote Hatch is still reeling from the recent murder at Mullings, country estate of the wealthy Stodmarsh family. Now it’s about to be rocked by news of another violent demise. When the body of mild-mannered Kenneth Tenneson is found at the foot of the stairs in his home, the coroner’s inquest announces a verdict of accidental death. Florence Norris, however—the quietly observant housekeeper at Mullings—suspects there may be more to the story than a fall. Florence’s suspicions of foul play would appear to be confirmed when a second will turns up revealing details of a dark secret in the Tenneson family’s past. Determined to find the truth about Kenneth’s death, Florence gradually pieces the clues together—but will she be in time to prevent a catastrophic turn of events? “Interesting characters…an intriguing story.”