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Rating: 
Summary: Dorothy Cannell Hasn't Lost Her Touch
Review: Although I seldom read Gothics anymore, I read my share of them when I was young. Ms. Cannell serves up the standards: deep dark family secrets (one was easy to guess, but the others took me completely by surprise), great wrongs from the past that need to be set right, people being killed because they either KNOW TOO MUCH or could unwittingly REVEAL ALL. She didn't leave out the less-than-warm welcome the villagers give the innocent heroine. There's a seance! There's a governess who wanted her master who had the invalid wife. Ellie's life is mysteriously threatened. There's even a certain architectural feature no Gothic romance should be without. Of course, Ellie isn't the usual Gothic heroine because she's a wife and mother, but our author handles this trifling problem by packing Bentley and the kiddies off to camp. Mrs. Malloy and the faithful Tobias are similarly disposed of, leaving poor Ellie on her own. To trust or not to trust? Not only is that the question, but the answer could mean life or death to Ellie. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that it's the best spoof of Gothics since Jane Austen's NORTHANGER ABBEY, but it's certainly a lot of fun. RANDOM COMMENTS: If you take 100 years as the human life span, then ages 34 through 65 are the middle, so yes, you are middle aged if you're in your forties (I will be 46 this year). Laughed at Mrs. Malloy's reaction to the reason Ellie has never spoken of her maternal grandmother. The chapter decorations are pretty. For someone who reads Gothics, Ellie took a bit long to become suspicious. I'd never heard the phrase "a friend of Dorothy" before -- what a polite way to explain. My instinctive reaction to the mentions of meat puddings and fish pie was YUCK! Then I remembered the teasing I gave a friend who refused to try chicken pot pie because "pies are dessert!" and decided to keep an open mind. With all the revelations in this book, Ellie and her kin are going to have to rethink their precise degree of relationship. I, for one, hope that Ms. Cannell doesn't fail to give us vain Vanessa's reaction in the next book. I'm sorry that Yan Nascimbene chose to give us a dustjacket illustration that's in keeping with the punny title. This book cries out for a traditional Gothic cover, preferably a nightgowned Ellie fleeing the Old Rectory in the pitch dark; with one window mysteriously lit in the forbidding house.
Rating:
Summary: Dorothy Cannell Hasn't Lost Her Touch
Review: Although I seldom read Gothics anymore, I read my share of them when I was young. Ms. Cannell serves up the standards: deep dark family secrets (one was easy to guess, but the others took me completely by surprise), great wrongs from the past that need to be set right, people being killed because they either KNOW TOO MUCH or could unwittingly REVEAL ALL. She didn't leave out the less-than-warm welcome the villagers give the innocent heroine. There's a seance! There's a governess who wanted her master who had the invalid wife. Ellie's life is mysteriously threatened. There's even a certain architectural feature no Gothic romance should be without. Of course, Ellie isn't the usual Gothic heroine because she's a wife and mother, but our author handles this trifling problem by packing Bentley and the kiddies off to camp. Mrs. Malloy and the faithful Tobias are similarly disposed of, leaving poor Ellie on her own. To trust or not to trust? Not only is that the question, but the answer could mean life or death to Ellie. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that it's the best spoof of Gothics since Jane Austen's NORTHANGER ABBEY, but it's certainly a lot of fun. RANDOM COMMENTS: If you take 100 years as the human life span, then ages 34 through 65 are the middle, so yes, you are middle aged if you're in your forties (I will be 46 this year). Laughed at Mrs. Malloy's reaction to the reason Ellie has never spoken of her maternal grandmother. The chapter decorations are pretty. For someone who reads Gothics, Ellie took a bit long to become suspicious. I'd never heard the phrase "a friend of Dorothy" before -- what a polite way to explain. My instinctive reaction to the mentions of meat puddings and fish pie was YUCK! Then I remembered the teasing I gave a friend who refused to try chicken pot pie because "pies are dessert!" and decided to keep an open mind. With all the revelations in this book, Ellie and her kin are going to have to rethink their precise degree of relationship. I, for one, hope that Ms. Cannell doesn't fail to give us vain Vanessa's reaction in the next book. I'm sorry that Yan Nascimbene chose to give us a dustjacket illustration that's in keeping with the punny title. This book cries out for a traditional Gothic cover, preferably a nightgowned Ellie fleeing the Old Rectory in the pitch dark; with one window mysteriously lit in the forbidding house.
Rating:
Summary: Ellie Haskell peels away another layer of family mysteries.
Review: In the latest Dorothy Cannell mystery, Ellie Haskell is summoned by 3 of her grandmother's old friends to solve another family mystery. Another trio of bizarre characters join the cast, as each of the bridesmaids is just a little bit off. Cannell's mysteries are always alot of fun in addition to the mystery,and this one is no exception. Hopefully, the next novel will bring back the Flowers Detection Agency. I miss them.
Rating: 
Summary: A tongue-in-cheek mystery having fun with gothic novels
Review: This mystery is also a farce that pokes fun at a lot of conventional ingredients of gothic mysteries -- strange villagers, an old house straight out of Clue, missionaries in the Belgian Congo, the lifelong household servants, old trunks in attics, and surly gardeners. Cannell makes fun of all these conventions even as she uses them in her mystery -- and has her detective, Ellie Haskell, reading an old gothic novel (leatherbound, of course), that one of the other characters has given her.THe mystery begins with a letter to Ellie from ROsemary, who was a friend of her grandmother's -- Ellie is asked to come visit because her grandmother has something to tell her -- only the grandmother died in the Congo many years ago. ROsemary is living in the Old Rectory with two other friend. These three friends had apparently been "bridesmaids" at her grandmother's wedding and that's why Ellie's deceased mother had called them the bridesmaids -- hence the book's title. Ellie hasn't seen them since childhood and decides to go see what this is about. Ellie's charwoman, Mrs. Malloy, decides to go along for the ride, but she'll be staying nearby with a childhood friend who is a cousin of a lifelong servant at the Old Rectory... you get the picture. THere's a clue or a red herring about every paragraph, and lots of colorful characters and humor. The pleasure of this book isn't so much in the clever plotting (which is why I only gave it 4 stars instead of 5) but in the madcap humor of the book and the many colorful characters. This was my first book by Cannell but it won't be my last. This book was great fun to read.
Rating:
Summary: A magical cozy
Review: With her family away on vacation, interior decorator Ellie Haskell planned to redo their home. However, a letter from Rosemary Maywood shakes Ellie to her inner core. Rosemary claims that she is in contact with Ellie's deceased grandmother Sophia who desperately needs to speak with her. Rosemary, along with Thora and Jane, were called the bridesmaids when Ellie was a child, but no one would explain why they were nicknamed as such. Feeling a bit foolish, Ellie travels to see Rosemary to learn what the woman is talking about. Her housekeeper Mrs. Malloy insists on coming too. Ellie and Mrs. Malloy go the Knells where she learns that a developer plans to turn the village into a theme park because he was mistreated as a youth. As she begins to unravel what the three bridesmaids want to tell her, Ellie begins investigating a half of a century old murder that could end up with a present day homicide, namely Ellie. BRIDESMAID REVISITED is an interesting tale that reads like a well-written gothic who-done-it. The main characters are fully developed and the support cast brings the brooding atmosphere of the Knells to life. The mystery is humorously and enjoyably weird as expected from a Dorothy Cannel tale. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Willy Nilly Cozy
Review: With the witty title, strong opening and some occasionally inspired dialogue, I really expected the best from my first chapter or two of this cozy mystery. But the tale quickly disintegrates into a soup with too many contrasting ingredients, way too much seasoning, and not enough simmering. Too many characters are introduced but never fully developed, the lovely British setting is not fully integrated, the gardens and interesting or fabulous homes are barely sketched in - but the action can only be described as willy nilly and inplausible. This would have been a lovely book for a location map, and some charming English country scenes, and a lot more characterization. I was disappointed and wondered if this book had been rushed to publication.
Rating:
Summary: Willy Nilly Cozy
Review: With the witty title, strong opening and some occasionally inspired dialogue, I really expected the best from my first chapter or two of this cozy mystery. But the tale quickly disintegrates into a soup with too many contrasting ingredients, way too much seasoning, and not enough simmering. Too many characters are introduced but never fully developed, the lovely British setting is not fully integrated, the gardens and interesting or fabulous homes are barely sketched in - but the action can only be described as willy nilly and inplausible. This would have been a lovely book for a location map, and some charming English country scenes, and a lot more characterization. I was disappointed and wondered if this book had been rushed to publication.
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