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Ellie Haskell Mystery book cover 1
Ellie Haskell Mystery book cover 2
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Ellie Haskell Mystery
Series · 13
books · 1984-2009

Books in series

The Thin Woman book cover
#1

The Thin Woman

1984

Reluctant to show up at her family reunion carrying so many extra pounds, unmarried, overweight Ellie Simons hires Bentley T. Haskell to pose as her fiancé, thus beginning a weekend of romance, jealousy, and murder.
The Widows Club book cover
#2

The Widows Club

1988

Ellie Haskell, nee Simons, newly wed and thin in charming Chitterton Fells, helps Misses Hyacinth and Primrose Tramwell of Flowers Detection Agency investigate the high number of dead unfaithful husbands. To uncover the mastermind in the social Widows Club, Ellie poses as an unhappy and betrayed wife.
Mum's the Word book cover
#3

Mum's the Word

1990

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.
Femmes Fatal book cover
#4

Femmes Fatal

1992

Ellie Haskell, her twins four months old, to rejuvenate her marriage, takes a course in the sensual arts. The Fully Female offer naughty nighties and Peach Melba Love Rub. When one student becomes a sex-crazed zombie, another dies in a fatally frothy bubble bath, then a third victim dies, Ellie sets on the trail of a killer. Cover Artist: Tom Hallman
How to Murder Your Mother-In-Law book cover
#5

How to Murder Your Mother-In-Law

1994

The Thin Woman - Ellie Haskell - is back, in the most mischievous, marvelous mystery to hit the marital pike yet. Ellie's mum-in-law Magdalene has moved in permanently and poor Ellie finds herself up to her formerly fat neck in crocheted doilies and cheap statues of Catholic saints. As Magdalene runs her finger over every surface in Merlin's Court (checking, undoubtedly, for dust), Eillie discovers that she isn't the only woman in Chitterdon Fells with the ultimate mother-in-law problem - three others are experiencing the same living hell. One tipsy evening, four imaginary plots to bump off the resident in-laws are hatched and those plots start coming lethally true in real life. Ellie once again plunges into a desperate chase to outwit a killer.
How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams book cover
#6

How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams

1995

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 here 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.
The Spring Cleaning Murders book cover
#7

The Spring Cleaning Murders

1998

Ellie Haskell catches spring cleaning fever when several members of the Chitterton Fells Charwomen’s Association meet decidedly grisly ends . . . Dear old Mrs Malloy, faithful housekeeper for many a year, has only gone and handed in her notice. After much despairing, Ellie employs Mrs Gertrude Large to keep her busy household running smoothly. But a few hours later Mrs Large falls to her death from a ladder. Ellie quickly finds a replacement, only for her to also suffer a fatal fall—this time in the library. These deaths can’t be a coincidence. One dead housekeeper is a misfortune, but two must be murder. Then a third body is found. This time stabbed to death—it was no accident. Ellie must don her best marigolds and go undercover to catch a killer who’s playing very dirty . . .
The Trouble with Harriet book cover
#8

The Trouble with Harriet

1999

Ellie Haskell and husband Ben need a holiday, and France beckons. But a chain-smoking Gypsy warns "Take that trip at your peril!" Ellie loses the funeral urn ashes of her prodigal father Morley's platinum blond lady love, Harriet. Morley is a suspect in another accident, and Ellie questions whether he is a pawn or perpetrator, and the role of the gypsy.
Bridesmaids Revisited book cover
#9

Bridesmaids Revisited

2000

"Rosemary, Thora, and Jane lived at the end of the lane, one was thin, one was fat, and one was very plain." The three "bridesmaids" were best friends to Ellie Haskell's late grandmother Sophia, and hold a seance for Ellie to make contact. The life-changing journey includes a seance, a hidden diary, and a murder that took place more than fifty years ago.
The Importance of Being Ernestine book cover
#10

The Importance of Being Ernestine

2002

The Importance of Being Ernestine: An Ellie Haskell Mystery
Withering Heights book cover
#11

Withering Heights

2007

Ellie Haskell, sleuth and Gothic romance addict, visits Yorkshire moors Cragstone House with her husband Ben and sidekick Mrs Roxie Malloy, on behalf of his young cousin Ariel. The kindly cook Mrs. Cake fell downstairs, a visiting vicar dies drinking tea, and one of the neighbors is a glamorous old flame of Mrs Cake's husband.
Goodbye, Ms. Chips book cover
#12

Goodbye, Ms. Chips

2008

Ellie Haskell is invited back to her old boarding school, St Roberta's by her friend Dorcas, who became games mistress when Ms Chips retired. Headmistress Mrs Battle asks who has stolen the Loverly sports trophy. An apparent schoolgirl prank soon gives way to murder, and Ellie can now be the star pupil.
She Shoots to Conquer book cover
#13

She Shoots to Conquer

2009

On a dark and foggy night, Ellie Haskell, husband Ben, and plucky sidekick Mrs Malloy are stranded at a grand estate on the Yorkshire moors. To save crumbling Mucklesfeld Manor, Lord Belfrey is the prize on a TV reality show Here Comes the Bride. A potential bride is shot during an archery contest, and Ellie investigates.

Author

Dorothy Cannell
Author · 21 books

(from Fantastic Fiction online) Dorothy Cannell was born in London, England, and now lives in Belfast, Maine. Dorothy Cannell writes mysteries featuring Ellie Haskell, interior decorator and Ben Haskell, writer and chef, and Hyacinth and Primrose Tramwell, a pair of dotty sisters and owners of the Flowers Detection Agency. (from Internet Book List) Dorothy Cannell, a mother of four, grandmother of ten, and owner of a King Charles Spaniel, was born in England and moved to the United States when she was twenty. After living in Peoria, Illinois, for years, she and her husband recently moved to Belfast, Maine. Her first Ellie Haskell novel, The Thin Woman, was selected as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Twentieth Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

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