The spring cleaning murders /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

'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

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Ellie Haskell and husband Ben live in Chitterton Fells, where he runs a restaurant and she keeps house, tends their three-year-old twins, and occasionally investigates local murder (see, e.g., How To Murder the Man of Your Dreams, LJ 9/1/95). While attending a club meeting, Ellie discovers the fallen body of her new chairwoman, immediately suspects murder, and begins some insistent interrogating. Ben, meanwhile, suffers from picketers at the restaurant. Domestic chit-chat, nifty British surrounds, and a plausible if somewhat hyped-up plot make this a safe bet. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Ellie Haskell dons an apron for cover in her latest adventure (following How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams, 1996). Ellie's stalwart helper, Mrs. Malloy, now a relative since her son married Ellie's cousin, gives notice before she leaves the village of Chitterton Fells for London to look after her granddaughter. As a replacement, Ellie enlists Mrs. Large, a fellow member of C.F.C.W.A. (Chitterton Fells Charwomen's Association), who appears distracted and upset on her first day. The following week, Ellie and a neighbor find the charwoman dead from a fall in the neighbor's library. Ellie lines up the help of another C.F.C.W.A. member, but then this woman and, later, another member of the group are found murdered. Mrs. Malloy, now back from London, and Ellie have to do some sleuthing to stop the rampage. Going undercover as a charwoman, Ellie discovers some secrets among the dust bunnies while searching for clues in their neighbors' homes. The house of Haskell, usually at sixes and sevens with each member skittering off on her own agenda, pulls together so that the team of intrepid amateur detectives, led by the redoubtable Mrs. Malloy, can solve the case. Cannell's lively wit and acute insights into marriage, motherhood and murderous inclinations will delight fans as well as readers new to her high-spirited tales. Mystery Guild main selection; author tour. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

Ellie Haskell loves her home, Merlin Court, where she lives with her handsome restaurateur husband and her precocious three-year-old twins in a vaguely English Neverland set in the past 20 years or so. She's a bit outfoxed by Mrs. Malloy, her cleaning woman, but devastated when Malloy departs to take care of a new grandchild. Malloy's dour replacement meets a fatal accident whilst cleaning at another home; when her replacement is also killed, Ellie begins to suspect all of their mildly eccentric neighbors, from zthe strange sisters Vienna and Madrid to poor Tom Tingle, whose name made him sound like he "lived among the hollyhocks." A bit twee in the arc of its plot but full of adorable cousins, pretty gardens, and daffy grace notes--as wispy and rose-colored as cotton candy. (Reviewed April 15, 1998)0670875716GraceAnne A. DeCandido

Kirkus Book Review

Housekeepers are dropping like flies in Chitterdon Fells, where designer and sleuth Ellie Haskell (God Save the Queen!, 1997, etc.) lives with restaurant-owner husband Ben and three-year-old twins. Roxie Malloy, the family's longtime domestic, is moving to London to care for the newborn daughter of her son George and daughter-in-law Vanessa-a cousin of Ellie's and a famous model with no talent for mothering. Mrs. Malloy has appointed Gertrude Large, a fellow member of the Charwomen's Association, to take over her job. After only one unsatisfactory workday at Ellie's, Mrs. Large is found dead, fallen from a ladder, at Tall Chimneys, home of sister newcomers Vienna and Madrid Miller, during a meeting of the Hearthside Guild. Ellie was there, as were Clarice Whitcombe, also a newcomer, Brigadier Lester-Smith, and Sir Robert and Lady Pomeroy, among others. Mrs. Large's assignments are now undertaken by Trina McKinley, heiress to Large's considerable assets and girlfriend of ne'er-do-well Joe Tollings. Joe and his wife Marilyn become leading suspects when Trina is found stabbed to death in Mrs. Malloy's kitchen. There's yet another victim in this absurd scenario as Ellie's tireless snooping finally brings her face to face with the killer. Over-the-top plotting that gets no help from a torrent of domestic activities, dull dialogues, and an unrelenting air of chirpiness. Strictly for the author's devoted fans. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Dorothy Cannell was born in Nottingham, England and moved to the United States when she was twenty. 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. Besides the Ellie Haskell Mysteries series, her other novels include God Save the Queen!, Naked Came the Farmer, The Sunken Sailor, and Sea Glass Summer. She is also a contributor to the popular Sisters in Crime anthologies.

(Bowker Author Biography)