Withering Heights: An Ellie Haskell Mystery (Ellie Haskell Mysteries)

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. "Cragstone House lacked a north tower, or the remnants of an ancient keep, so beloved of my heart in fiction. But in other ways it was splendidly suggestive of dark doings, fueled by unbridled passion.... I could picture it gobbling up normal-sized houses for breakfast and, like Oliver Twist, asking for more: just one small cottage...or maybe two...to keep things going until lunch. Ellie Haskell-the formerly plump girl turned Thin Woman and happily married mother of three-is also a sometime sleuth and a Gothic romance addict. When her husband's young cousin, Ariel, turns up unexpectedly and begs Ellis to come to the Yorkshire moors to investigate some strange events at the house that her family has recently bought with their lottery winnings, Ellie can't resist-especially since Cragston House sounds like the delightfully musty manors she reads about in books. And so Ellie and her husband set off for Yorkshire, accompanied by their irrepressible housekeeper and co-conspirator in crime solving, Mrs. Roxie Malloy, who happens to have a long-lost sister in the area. Things at Cragston House are even more dire than Ellie expected. It's bad enough that the kindly cook, Mrs. Cake, has suffered a mysterious fall down the stairs, and a visiting vicar has keeled over dead while drinking a cup of tea, but one of the neighbors turns out to be Ellie's husband's glamorous old flame, whom Ellie finds more menacing than any cold-blooded killer. Ellie has always thought it would be wonderful to be the heroine of a Gothic romance, but now she's beginning to wonder: Will she be able to solve the mystery and get out of Bronte country with her life, and her marriage, intact?"--BOOK JACKET Ellie's precocious 13-year-old niece, Ariel Hopkins, shows up at the Haskells' house, Merlin Court, one stormy night. Ariel, who's read too many gothic novels, has made her way from far-away Yorkshire, where her father, Tom, and stepmother, Betty, after winning the lottery, bought an Elizabethan mansion dubbed by Ariel "Withering Heights." Ariel claims that her wicked stepmom is obsessed with finding the body of Nigel Gallagher, the mansion's previous owner, whom Betty believes was murdered by his wife, Lady Fiona. Meanwhile, Ellie's oddball housekeeper, Mrs. Malloy, has wanted to mend fences with her estranged sister, Melody Tabby, who happens to live in the same town as the Hopkinses. So Ellie, husband Ben and Mrs. Malloy set off for Yorkshire to return Ariel to her parents and do a bit of investigating One dark and stormy night, Ellies precocious thirteen-year-old niece turns up at Merlin Court. Ariel has run away from home and Ellie must take her back to her parents in Yorkshire. But Ariels family live at spooky Withering Heights, a crumbling old mansion home to some rather strange goings-on . . . First, the kindly cook, Mrs Cake, falls down the stairs. Then the visiting vicar dies in the middle of drinking a cup of tea. And there are rumours that a mysterious villain is stalking the halls of Withering Heights, seeking revenge . . . Its up to Gothic romance addict Ellie to get to the bottom of these sinister events before anyone else meets a sticky end. Overview: 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. Amateur Sleuth Ellie Haskell Agrees To Investigate Strange Happenings At Cragstone House, A Manor In Yorkshire, In Part Because Of Her Love Of Gothic Romances. Dorothy Cannell.