Down the Garden Path [Large Print] [Library Binding]

Dorothy Cannell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2002

From the best-selling author of the perennial favorite The Thin Woman comes a deadly game of secrets

One of the most beloved names in the cozy mystery market, Dorothy Cannell has been credited with originating the genre. In this classic display of her talents she tells the story of Tessa Fields, a young orphan determined to uncover her true origins. With the help of the Misses Tramwells, two endearing elderly ladies, and the reluctant assistance of her secret love, Harry Harkness, Tessa hits upon a scheme that finds her feigning amnesia and recovering in the Tramwells's ancestral home. But it isn't long before Tessa smells a rat. Why does the butler creep around in his socks, and what was he doing in her closet? How does the coquettish maid know all about Tessa -- and even more about Harry? And why are these little old ladies so fiendishly good at cards?

It soon becomes apparent that the game being played out in this proper English town isn't poker or whist -- it's murder. And with the deck stacked against her, Tessa must unmask the perpetrator before she's dealt a fatal hand.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cannell's second mystery boasts the effects that made her The Thin Woman a delicious debut. Brimful of surprises, the story related by Tessa Fields gives off whiffs of Restoration comedies, except for the sobering moment when a murder abruptly halts the fun. Until then, the reader is delighted to let the author lead on "down the garden path," where Tessa thinks she's leading her hostesses, elderly Primrose and Hyacinth Tramwell. In collusion with her beloved, Harry Harkness, Tessa pretends amnesia in hopes that the sisters will let her rest in the Cloisters, the Tramwell estate since the days of Henry VIII. Tessa believes the mansion holds the secret of her birth, possibly as the illegitimate infant of an absent Tramwell relation. The young woman's snooping is complicated by her hostesses' butler (named Butler) and housemaid Chantal, an intellectual gypsy. At a neighbors' soiree, Hyacinth and Primrose reveal themselves as card sharks, bringing a good friend of Tessa's to the Cloisters to remonstrate with them. Tessa's suspicions of the sisters seem valid when someone strangles the man and she learns that they have been only pretending to believe in her masquerade. The killing, an unfortunate and unnecessary plot departure, is no real deterrent to enjoying an otherwise robust tale of intrigue and true love. December 26
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 360 pages
• Publisher: Center Point Pub (August 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585472182
• ISBN-13: 978-1585472185
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #723,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very entertaining and funny., October 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Down the Garden Path (Tessa Fields Mystery) (Paperback)

I've read this book a couple of times because I enjoy the story and the way it's written. I also like the Misses Tramwell. I know they have been in Ellie Haskel books and also in "God Save the Queen". I wish Dorothy Cannell would bring back the characters from "Down The Garden Path" in one book, and also the characters from "God Save The Queen" in another. They were interesting and very likeable.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, August 15, 2000

By 

"sarasarah" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down the Garden Path (Tessa Fields Mystery) (Paperback)

I'm not sure what happened here. I actually wanted to rate this two stars and a half, but that's not possible, so I've decided to be generous. For the characters in this book were likable enough but the plot and story was slow and awkward, and frankly, I became very bored halfway through the book and had to put it down for a few days before I could finish it. The strange thing is that when I read Ms. Cannell's next book, a second Ellie Haskell mystery, it was so good, exactly the quality I had been expecting from Down The Garden Path. I think Ms. Cannell's Ellie Haskell books are her best and there her talent shows. But as for the others...quite frankly, God Save the Queen was even worse than this one in it's way.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars when she's good --, October 14, 2001

By 

kellytwo "kellytwo" (cleveland hts, ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down the Garden Path (Tessa Fields Mystery) (Paperback)

she's very good indeed, but sadly, this is not the best example of that! It's still readable, however, at least in my opinion.

A standard device in fiction is that of the baby left on a doorstep, who, upon reaching adulthood, or something reasonably approaching that state, sets out to find the birth parents.

The author hangs a 'Pastoral Mystery" (the sub-title of the book) on this premise. Set in rural modern-day England at a country house, Cloisters, (once a monastery, of course), the past is nearly as important as the present, with generations of the same family and/or townspeople laying the groundwork for the secrecy surrounding the parentage of the heroine, Tessa Fields.

Left on the doorstep of a vicarage, Tessa is told just such an engaging story throughout her life. Her adoptive 'Mum' dies when Tessa is just 11, and she is cared for thereafter by her 'Dad', the vicar, and his housekeeper, Fergy. A short stint in London as a career girl includes time spent at The Heritage, an antique shop run by the large and shambling Angus Hunt. All is for naught, however, in the face of the increasing pressure Tessa puts on herself to discover her real parentage. A closet romantic, she makes frequent references to such unrelated Regency-period staples as highwaymen and Lord Byron.

Cannell is a master (mistress?) at inventing eccentric characters; the Tramwell sisters, Primrose and Hyacinth, loom large in Tessa's story, as does Butler (the not-quite reformed burglar who stays on as the butler); Chantal, the beautiful and clairvoyant young gypsy woman, who is in love with Tessa's own love, Harry, and who supports herself as cook at Cloisters while earning her master's degree; Harry himself, (the missing unidentified heir); Bertie, another adopted youngster who has an imaginary friend, Fred, who nearly gets them all killed, and so on. In other words, your typical English house-party guest list.

At times, Tessa is a bit much, and you may wish for the end of the book to please hurry up and get to you, but overall, this is still an engaging and witty book. It could have used better editing; if misspellings get on your nerves, you'll find yourself becoming more aggravated than most readers. Nevertheless, all does end reasonably well, for Tessa does discover her birth mum and her own real love, almost simultaneously. They also discover a secret treasure which guarantees the continuance--for years to come--of Cloisters, but with the roof finally mended.