The Trouble With Harriet [Large Print] [Paperback]

Dorothy Cannell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2000

Ellie Haskell and her husband, Ben, haven't had a vacation in years. Now their bags are packed, and they're ready to set off for a romantic getaway to France. But things go awry when a chain-smoking gypsy approaches Ellie with a dire prediction: "Take that trip at your peril!" Those ominous words ring true when her prodigal father Morley suddenly appears with an urn containing the remains of his ladylove, Harriet, whose untimely death in a car accident has left him bereft.

When Morley loses the urn in a bizarre series of events, Harriet's family is furious, and a bewildered Ellie asks some probing questions: What exactly is in that urn? Is her father a pawn in a deadly game? Is this what the gypsy had foreseen? The answers are hilariously revealed in a caper so charming it could only have come from Dorothy Cannell.

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

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the beginning of this slapstick sequel to The Spring Cleaning Murders, Ellie Haskell and her husband, Ben, have left their three children with his parents and are about to depart Chitterton Falls, England, for a romantic vacation in France. But before they can get away, Ellie's gallivanting father, Morley, who abandoned her after her mother's death, returns with an urn containing the ashes of his most recent girlfriend, Harriet. Morley is supposed to pass the urn to the deceased's closest relatives, who live near Ellie's home, but he's too distraught to part with the remains. As Ellie hears the tale of her father's short tryst and his beloved's sudden death, she suspects that Harriet may have been involved in some shady business. Her concern mounts when she meets Harriet's brusque relatives. Meanwhile, Ellie's cousin Freddy and her redoubtable housecleaner, Mrs. Malloy, worry over their parts in the upcoming parish play. As Ellie, Ben, Freddie and Mrs. Malloy try to cheer up the inconsolable Morley and convince him to relinquish Harriet's ashes, more people turn up searching for the urn, and Ellie begins to wonder what's really in the shoddy vessel and whether her father was involved in Harriet's demise. A forgetful pastor and Freddy's kleptomaniac mother provide additional humor for this oddball story dominated by daffy characters and physical comedy. The suspense is so slow going, in fact, that die-hard cozy fans may wonder what happened to the mystery in this novel, enjoyable as it is. Mystery Guild selection; author tour.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Delightful series heroine Ellie Haskell (The Spring Cleaning Murders, LJ 5/1/98) returns, this time to help her suddenly reappearing father escape an accusation of murder in Chitterton Fells. Wit, humor, and clear-as-a-bell prose. [Mystery Guild selection.]
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 353 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing (February 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568958331
• ISBN-13: 978-1568958330
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8 x 6.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,111,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's nice to be back with Ellie and Bentley, June 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Trouble with Harriet (Ellie Haskell Mysteries, No. 9) (Hardcover)

I quite enjoyed The Trouble With Harriet.

Dorothy Cannell has given us some new characters with very unique personalities. Some are good and some so annoying you wish Ellie would box their ears. And happily there are the ones we have come to know and love like Mrs. Malloy (still in her black taffeta and heels) and Freddy.

I did not give the book five stars because I felt the pace of the first half of the book was a bit slow. At page 156 I thought "now we're getting interesting"

However, as a tried and true Dorothy Cannell fan I was not disappointed. It is a fun book to read, Ellie is her charming and lovable self, and as always, Ben is a picture perfect husband.

This book also marks the return of kleptomaniac Aunt LuLu which adds even more English humor to the already amusing book.

I would have enjoyed a faster pace but all in all it was an enjoyable read.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Acceptable,, but not memorable., June 23, 2000

By 

Barbara O'Neill - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Trouble with Harriet (Ellie Haskell Mysteries, No. 9) (Hardcover)

Readers of Dorothy Cannell's "The Trouble with Harriet" may be disappointed. After such wonderful stories like "The Thin Woman" and "How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams," "The Trouble With Harriet" drags with little humor and passages more suited to dramatic soliloquies. More time was spent on Ellie's father's bouts of depression and ill-humor than I thought was necessary and the premise of the mystery itself was a bit bland.

I'd really like it if one of these books were to take Ellie and Ben away from Chittendon Falls on a holiday and then shove them headlong into a mystery....but please! Let's get these two together without the kiddies and Freddie lurking about. Frankly, I'd love to read more of Ben.

Although the book was acceptable, I found myself skimming and skipping, a sure sign of boredom with a story.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves, August 6, 2002

By 

TundraVision (o/~ from the Land of Sky Blue Waters o/~) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Trouble with Harriet (Ellie Haskell Mysteries) (Paperback)

This is a fine little British cozy with some escapades in Germany on the side. I was drawn in by the title. I had never read this author or series before, and was pleasantly surprised and entertained. Ellie Haskell (sometime interior decorator, full time Mom, daughter of the prodigal Morley) and her husband Bentley (chef and restaurateur) are confronted and confounded with the remains of the mysterious Harriet. Or are they? This domestic duo reminds me somewhat of a Goldie's Colorado Catering (the series by Diane Mott Davidson) Goes Across "the Pond." But the Haskells are more witty and their children far better behaved.

It is a fun frolic with some Saints, sinners, relics and characters endearing and quirky.