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Dorothy Cannell Books In Order

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Publication Order of Ellie Haskell Mystery Books

The Thin Woman (1984)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Widow's Club (1988)Description / Buy at Amazon
Mum's the Word (1990)Description / Buy at Amazon
Femmes Fatal (1992)Description / Buy at Amazon
How to Murder Your Mother-In-Law (1994)Description / Buy at Amazon
How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams (1995)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Spring Cleaning Murders (1998)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Trouble with Harriet (1999)Description / Buy at Amazon
Bridesmaids Revisited (2000)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Importance of Being Ernestine (2002)Description / Buy at Amazon
Withering Heights (2007)Description / Buy at Amazon
Goodbye, Ms. Chips (2008)Description / Buy at Amazon
She Shoots to Conquer (2009)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Tessa Fields Books

Down the Garden Path (1985)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Florence Norris Books

Murder at Mullings (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon
Death at Dovecote Hatch (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon
Peril in the Parish (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

God Save the Queen! (1997)Description / Buy at Amazon
Sea Glass Summer (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

The Family Jewels And Other Stories (2001)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

The High Cost of Living (1990)Description / Buy at Amazon
The January Sales Stowaway (1991)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Family Jewels (1994)Description / Buy at Amazon
Cupid’s Arrow (1995)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Anthologies

Sisters in Crime 3(1990)Description / Buy at Amazon
Christmas Stalkings(1991)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Fine Art of Murder: The Mystery Reader's Indispensable Companion(1993)Description / Buy at Amazon
Malice Domestic 3(1994)Description / Buy at Amazon
Funny Bones: 15 New Tales of Murder and Mayhem(1997)Description / Buy at Amazon
Naked Came the Farmer(1998)Description / Buy at Amazon
Crafty Cat Crimes(2000)Description / Buy at Amazon
Malice Domestic 9(2000)Description / Buy at Amazon
The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 2(2000)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Sunken Sailor(2004)Description / Buy at Amazon

One of the most famous authors is Dorothy Cannell. Ms. Cannell is a Briton, who comes from Nottingham in England, though she later on moved to the US in ’63. Dorothy Cannell married Julian Cannell in 1965. They then resided in Peoria, Illinois. Dorothy later on moved to the Maine coast, which she has stayed till now. The two have 4 children, Shana, Jason, Racheal and Warren. Shana resides in Missouri, while the other three are in Central Illinois.

She also owns the King Charles Spaniel, a tiny dog breed, which she stays with, in the Maine Coast. She has written a number of novels. Some of her novels have been rated among the top in the whole world. She took an English 110 course at the Illinois Central College, which is where she developed her writing aspirations. She was advised by her instructor to start writing for publication and after seven years of her course, she published her initial short story. Other than the US and the UK, her books have a number of readers in Germany, Italy, Japan, Ukraine and Russia. Some of the short stories written by Dorothy have been featured in some magazines and anthologies. In addition, some of them have been included in the Agatha Award nomination. In 1994, The Family Jewels novel won her the award. Dorothy Connell is also a member of certain associations of writers like the Sisters in Crime, the American Crime Writers and the Mystery Writers of America.

Her first novel was inspired by the TV series, Phil Donahue. Three of the episodes in the series helped her come up with a plot for her series. One of the plot came from Tony Randal, who was in a movie that covered a family get-together. She says that the inspiration might be as a result of a treasure hunt. She also pictured a butler that was in a house that had its master dead. Since Dorothy was married to a lawyer, she knew that death is mostly linked to a will.

Another inspired plot was from a different episode of Donahue, which was concerning women that hired some male escorts into their house. With the male escorts, they applied some expenditures on their credit cards, which was somewhat an added fee for their services. Here, the woman that was occupied by the male escort couldn’t make it to the family reunion. During this time is when she came up with a name for a character and she named her Ellie. Throughout the Donahue series and some other life experience, Dorothy came up with the series of novels that are amazingly superb.

Her first book, the Thin Woman, was the one that helped her be known by many people. The novel was named by the Association of the Independent Mystery Booksellers as among the top 100 best mysteries of the twentieth century. The Thin Woman was about one woman, who was frightened by the imagination of a weekend with her relatives that are quite snobby. The woman, Ellie Simons, is the main character and is also overweight and she chooses to distract the attention of the relatives. Ellie plans to get to the reunion with a fine boyfriend. The only problem is that she doesn’t know of any boyfriend that is as adorable as the one in her imaginations. As a result, Ellie chooses to hire a super hunk escort, Bentley T. Haskell. The male escort is intended to play the role of a fiancé. The only challenge is that Ellie is forced to pay a very huge fee to the escort. The two, Ellie and Bentley arrive at the family reunion and clearly, everything is affected, including the family members. The weekend with the hot escort is what creates the murder, jealously and romance in the entire novel.

The Widow’s Club, is another novel that was published in 1988. It still revolves around Ellie Haskell, who is just married and is such a murderess in this book. She lives in Chitterton Fells, where she is promised nothing else than infinite fun. This changes when she meets some two private investigators that she has never seen in her life. The two PIs, Primrose Tramwell and Misses Hyacinth are from the Flowers Detection Agency and they have been called to investigate the high death rate of the married men. It is later on discovered that the husbands have been unfaithful, which is why they have been killed. The death of the unfaithful husbands has been organized by the Widow’s Club. The Tramwells require a wife that is betrayed and unhappy, in order for them to know who is behind all the plans. Ellie wishes to enter the club, as a result of having his better half dead. The two investigators are stylish, wicked and quite amusing and they are determined to investigate the club. The members of the club choose to be widowed, rather than divorce their husbands.

The Ellie Haslkell series has a total of 14 novels, which are all quite charming and breathe taking. Some have been rated as among the best among the ones available on the market. Some have also featured on TV, like the She Shoots to Conquer. This novel is relatively a reality TV show. Still talking about Ellie Haskell and she is with Ben, her husband. She also has a sidekick, Mrs. Malloy, who wishes to be with the other spinsters in order to win the prize, Lord Belfry. The novel was developed into a TV reality.

Dorothy Cannell has won many awards and honors during her writing career. Some of the awards that she has won include the Best Novel, which went to The Widows Club. This was in 1988 and in the same year, she won the Agatha Awards and the Anthony Awards. In ’91, she got a nomination for the Short Story Agatha Award. Later on, she received a nomination for the High Costs of Living, the Cupid Arrow and the January Sales Stowaway novels. She earned the Malice Domestic Award in the Lifetime Achievement category, which was in 2014.

Book Series In Order » Authors » Dorothy Cannell

One Response to “Dorothy Cannell”

  1. Prudy N. Riendeau: 2 years ago

    Love Dorothy Cannell. We miss Dorothy and her Tea Parties here in Peoria. Please tell her Jennie B., Mary Ann and Prudy say “Hello”. Thank You.

    Reply

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