This wickedly funny English whodunit was a Mystery Guild Main Selection. Its spunky heroine, interior decorator Ellie Haskell, aspires to live a perfectly normal life with her husband and children in their lovely old house. But bizarre events and outlandish characters keep landing on her doorstep in Chitterton Fells, the charming little village by the sea. Just when Ellie means to escape her hectic life by taking a vacation in France, her long-lost father shows up with the ashes of his lady love in his suitcase. Ellie becomes suspicious as Daddy recounts the details of his storybook romance with Harriet, the platinum-blonde ideal of English womanhood he met in a German biergarten. You will relish Cannell's keen sense of the absurd as the plot thickens to include a visit from a kleptomaniac aunt, a village production called Murder Most Fowl, and missing relics of the local saint, Ethelwort. Barbara Rosenblat, with her impeccable comic timing and flair for characterization, is the perfect narrator for Cannell's uproarious series.
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"Silly, but of course. Ellie's father visits with the ashes of the second "love of his life" except all is not as it seems, and there's a saintly relic which is the medieval equivalent of Viagra involved.... Funny."
— Lora (4 out of 5 stars)
“Dorothy Cannell creates her screwiest, most memorable story yet. I was constantly laughing at Ellie’s plight and couldnt wait to see what happened next. The chuckleheaded Morley and the dim Vicar are among the most brilliant creations in mystery fiction. You cant help but be charmed by the amazing antics in this tale.”
— RT Book Reviews (4½ stars)" 105h Ellie Haskell -- funny! -- Ellie's long lost father comes to visit w/ an urn carrying the remains of his beloved Harriet. However, the urn is not what it seems, nor is Harriet. "
— Pam, 10/6/2013" Enjoyable little cozy. I love the Ellie Haskell series. "
— colleen, 5/15/2013" I love the Ellie Haskell books - None of them are as fun as the first in the series, The Thin Woman, but they all are quick, snappy reads. Highly recommend the series. "
— Katie, 4/30/2013" I started out really liking this series, but Ellie is starting to irritate me. I have lost patience with this type of heroine - the passive lady who lets all the obnoxious people in her life walk all over her - in this case, I really despise Mrs. Malloy. "
— Kim, 6/13/2012" urns and relics, oh my "
— Helen, 6/5/2012Dorothy Cannell was born in Nottingham, England, and moved to the US in 1963. She married Julian Cannell, and lived in Peoria, Illinois, from 1965 until 2004. They then moved to Maine where they reside today with their dog Teddy and a cat named Killer. They have four children and ten grandchildren. Dorothy enjoys collecting sea glass and beach stones, collecting vintage hats and Apostle Tea spoons, and going on reading binges. Dorothy became an aspiring writer after taking an English class at Illinois Central College and being encouraged to write for publication by the class teacher. Seven years later, she sold her first short story.
Barbara Rosenblat, one of the most awarded narrators in the business, was selected by AudioFile magazine as one of the Golden Voices of the Twentieth Century. She has received the prestigious Audie Award multiple times and has earned more than fifty AudioFile Earphones Awards. She has also appeared in film, television, and theater, both in London’s West End and on Broadway.