The Spring Cleaning Murders

Rating:
Summary: Simply terrific
Review: It is Spring and Ellie Haskell's nesting instincts are in full bloom. She cannot wait to get started, along with the help of her trusted cleaning woman Mrs. Malloy, to whip Merlin's Court into tip top shape. There is only one problem with her plan. Mrs. Malloy is leaving her to become a full time nanny to her newborn grandchild. However, she has arranged for Mrs. Large to replace her as the cleaning woman on the staff.

Ellie feels that her new employee will work out until she is found dead, a victim of an accident, in the home of the Miller sisters. When her next helper is also found dead in her own home and a third corpse is found inside her missing car, Ellie finds herself working another murder mystery. She intends to solve the case so she can keep her help a little bit longer.

Dorothy Cannell, author of the classic THE THIN WOMAN is in fine form with another extraordinary Ellie Haskell mystery. The cast of eccentric characters that readers have loved for years are all present in THE SPRING CLEANING MURDERS, which is one of Ms. Cannell's most humorous novels to date. Anyone who needs an uplifting experience should try this series that hopefully will have another entry soon.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Mom Needs a Break
Review: Maybe Ellie needs a break from the twins. This book plods rather than waltzes. Cannell's usual sparkle is missing, and Ellie's character is somewhat anemic, showing little of her usual goofy charm. The ending is Victorian mush, which may appeal to some, but seemed overdone to me. Spring tonic? Vacation in Mazatlan? Let's hope that the next Cannell outing shows more spunk. In this one, Roxie rules.

Rating:
Summary: Mom Needs a Break
Review: Maybe Ellie needs a break from the twins. This book plods rather than waltzes. Cannell's usual sparkle is missing, and Ellie's character is somewhat anemic, showing little of her usual goofy charm. The ending is Victorian mush, which may appeal to some, but seemed overdone to me. Spring tonic? Vacation in Mazatlan? Let's hope that the next Cannell outing shows more spunk. In this one, Roxie rules.

Rating:
Summary: Another winner in the Ellie Haskell series
Review: The opening of this entry is as funny as the opening to *The Thin Woman* [first in the series], which I recently reread. The rest of the book is delightful. One of the things that I like about this series is that Ellie is among the handful of female mystery solvers who is permitted to be happily married. I'm so glad that Ms. Cannell hasn't broken up said marriage or bumped off Ben. The end of the book made me wonder if Mrs. Cannell was thinking of Louisa May Alcott when she wrote it. The atmosphere reminded me of *Little Women*, the book that taught me that book friends are never lost. (You just turn the pages back to the beginning and your friend is alive again.) Then again, perhaps I felt that way because Vanessa's daughter, Rose, made me think of Ms. Alcott's Rose in *Eight Cousins* and *Rose in Bloom*. I look forward to my next stay at Merlin's Court. Ann E. Nichols