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Ellie Haskell Mystery #1
The Thin Woman
Reluctant to show up at her family reunion carrying so many extra pounds, unmarried, overweight Ellie Simons hires Bentley T. Haskell to pose as her fiance, thus beginning a weekend of romance, jealousy, and murder.
273 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
About the author
Dorothy Cannell
57 books245 followers(from Fantastic Fiction online)
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.
(from Internet Book List)
Dorothy Cannell, a mother of four, grandmother of ten, and owner of a King Charles Spaniel, was born in England and moved to the United States when she was twenty. After living in Peoria, Illinois, for years, she and her husband recently moved to Belfast, Maine. Her first Ellie Haskell novel, The Thin Woman, was selected as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Twentieth Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.
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.
(from Internet Book List)
Dorothy Cannell, a mother of four, grandmother of ten, and owner of a King Charles Spaniel, was born in England and moved to the United States when she was twenty. After living in Peoria, Illinois, for years, she and her husband recently moved to Belfast, Maine. Her first Ellie Haskell novel, The Thin Woman, was selected as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Twentieth Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 480 reviews
January 25, 2011
Ellie Haskell is a hapless young woman who is too chubby, too old, and too clumsy for life to take her seriously and bring her a man. Now, I am not a romance reader and this book is no typical romance......., you will not find here a long drawn out scene in which the main character experiences "flutterings" and "butterflies". Instead, you will find a thwarted Ellie eating an entire box of eclaires on her own (which we all know is the real story behind heartache and longing), or buying an outfit, reccomended by well meaning friends, that only seems to expand her already expanded figure. No, what we have here is one of the most believeable female characters in modern literature. She is funny, endearing, realistic and completely loveable. This story is also a fine mystery novel..., it's not a mind bender or crime buster sort, just a fun romp through the English countryside with a fun old story to uncover along with Ellie. It is well written, and an easy book to pick up and get right back to if life demands that you leave off reading for a bit. It's also a good book to binge on if you can cuddle in bed and read the night through (which is my m.o. when it comes to a good book). Enjoy!
June 22, 2016
Plot wasn't fascinating, except one aspect. Don't know what UK company the author uses to get remodeling done, but I want to hire them: she described her Heroine getting a complete kitchen makeover (Aga and all), complete antique-house electrical permitting and rewiring, a bedroom or two, and at least a drawing room, all done in 5-6 months, no delays, nothing in the wrong size.
August 19, 2008
An enjoyable, humorous and very cozy mystery. The first half of the book got off a bit slow for me--we didn't seem to be making any progress, or finding many clues, to the "mystery." However, I enjoyed the cozy and easygoing writing style, all the details and little character traits (especially of Ellie). I found the second half much more exciting as we finally got a mystery to start working out--I admit that a few of the clues were too obvious, and though I had worked out most of the "whodunit" essentials, I still received a few good surprises when all was revealed. On the downside, I did not find our romantic leading man all that romantic or appealling, and Ellie seemed a bit too old (especially in the beginning); she was supposed to be 27
t seemed at least mid-thirties in mindset. However, the romance was only a sidebar to the overall story, anyway, and the story had a minimum of violence while still being suspenseful so three cheers for that!
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I decided to stay with the British estate mystery theme, though this protagonist is considerably different than Lord Peter, being a twenty-seven year old "plus size" woman living in the early 1980s... So far, it's very amusing and delightfully written. I'm hoping for a fun, cozy and suspenseful read.
t seemed at least mid-thirties in mindset. However, the romance was only a sidebar to the overall story, anyway, and the story had a minimum of violence while still being suspenseful so three cheers for that!
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I decided to stay with the British estate mystery theme, though this protagonist is considerably different than Lord Peter, being a twenty-seven year old "plus size" woman living in the early 1980s... So far, it's very amusing and delightfully written. I'm hoping for a fun, cozy and suspenseful read.
April 25, 2017
This is the first book in the Ellie Haskell series. It is more of a novel with hunt of a mystery. It is an easy and relaxing read with no sex or graphics volience.
Ellie Simons looked at the letter on violet green stationary in voting her to Berlin's Court for a reunion of the family. Ellie was not sure she want to go and hear all the negative comments about herself. She hired Bentley T. Haskell to escort to the affair. After some unfavourable comments Ellie informs the group that Ben his her fiancee. A few months later, Uncle Merlin dies. At the funeral and will reading, Ellie and Ben find themselves inheriting the estate provided the accomplish the following Ellie needs to lose 63 pounds and Ben must write a book without sex and foul language. They must live at Merlin Court for six months and find the treasure. If they fail to do so, the estate will be divided into equal to the rest of the
family. Will Ellie and Ben complete their tasks in the time frame?
Ellie Simons looked at the letter on violet green stationary in voting her to Berlin's Court for a reunion of the family. Ellie was not sure she want to go and hear all the negative comments about herself. She hired Bentley T. Haskell to escort to the affair. After some unfavourable comments Ellie informs the group that Ben his her fiancee. A few months later, Uncle Merlin dies. At the funeral and will reading, Ellie and Ben find themselves inheriting the estate provided the accomplish the following Ellie needs to lose 63 pounds and Ben must write a book without sex and foul language. They must live at Merlin Court for six months and find the treasure. If they fail to do so, the estate will be divided into equal to the rest of the
family. Will Ellie and Ben complete their tasks in the time frame?
October 10, 2012
What a bloody mess. Cannell adopts a 1930s, Agatha Christie-like style for her debut novel, which is a pleasant enough mystery for about two-thirds of its length. But then the author loses all sense of reality.
The heroine-narrator, an interior decorator obsessed with food, utters howler after howler (“I desired a roast beef sandwich with horse-radish and pickled onions with a wanton savagery that I had never felt for any man”), and her romance with an oddball male escort almost –- but not quite -–plunges the book into “so bad it’s good” territory:
Ben: “This is how it could have been if only I had confessed my love before you went and got so skinny.”
Ellie: “Part of me will always hunger for the wrong foods but I have to tell you that I am not prepared to eat myself back to my old proportions so you can prove the integrity of your love.”
The biggest head-scratcher of all is that, somehow, this amateurish junk food was included by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association as one of its “100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century.”
The heroine-narrator, an interior decorator obsessed with food, utters howler after howler (“I desired a roast beef sandwich with horse-radish and pickled onions with a wanton savagery that I had never felt for any man”), and her romance with an oddball male escort almost –- but not quite -–plunges the book into “so bad it’s good” territory:
Ben: “This is how it could have been if only I had confessed my love before you went and got so skinny.”
Ellie: “Part of me will always hunger for the wrong foods but I have to tell you that I am not prepared to eat myself back to my old proportions so you can prove the integrity of your love.”
The biggest head-scratcher of all is that, somehow, this amateurish junk food was included by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association as one of its “100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century.”
February 25, 2019
Ellie, overweight and unhappy, hires Ben to pretend to be her boyfriend for a family reunion.
You know how sometimes you finish a book and you're glad that's done? Yep, this was one of those. I definitely wouldn't have made it through if it weren't for the fact that I read this along with my 87-year old mom (she didn't like it, either). Ellie is shrill and her 'relationship' with Ben is painful. Every interaction they have is a series of sniping and confidence busters yet it turns out that they both love one another. Yuck - hard pass on the other 12 books in the series.
You know how sometimes you finish a book and you're glad that's done? Yep, this was one of those. I definitely wouldn't have made it through if it weren't for the fact that I read this along with my 87-year old mom (she didn't like it, either). Ellie is shrill and her 'relationship' with Ben is painful. Every interaction they have is a series of sniping and confidence busters yet it turns out that they both love one another. Yuck - hard pass on the other 12 books in the series.
November 18, 2016
Jan 1, 1993
Cannell appeals to the sides of me that like mash-ups. You've got a standard Romance premise combined with a cozy mystery plot, and the whole thing cracks me up.
***
Oct 27, 2016
I really dislike the whole fat-to-thin story line, since it assumes that A. skinny is better than fat B. fat is the fault of individuals lacking willpower and C. fat people don’t have happy love lives. But a woman gets to spend six months cleaning and decorating a Victorian faux castle on a huge budget, and who doesn’t dream of that? Probably just us folks who moved frequently, subscribed to multiple home magazines, and always went to The Parade of Homes, mostly to talk about all the unappealing features of modern homebuilding.
Oh, and the girl gets a guy who’s a really good cook. And a chummy housekeeper and a sweet old gardener. Staff to do the bits one doesn’t like? So much win.
Personal copy
Cannell appeals to the sides of me that like mash-ups. You've got a standard Romance premise combined with a cozy mystery plot, and the whole thing cracks me up.
***
Oct 27, 2016
I really dislike the whole fat-to-thin story line, since it assumes that A. skinny is better than fat B. fat is the fault of individuals lacking willpower and C. fat people don’t have happy love lives. But a woman gets to spend six months cleaning and decorating a Victorian faux castle on a huge budget, and who doesn’t dream of that? Probably just us folks who moved frequently, subscribed to multiple home magazines, and always went to The Parade of Homes, mostly to talk about all the unappealing features of modern homebuilding.
Oh, and the girl gets a guy who’s a really good cook. And a chummy housekeeper and a sweet old gardener. Staff to do the bits one doesn’t like? So much win.
Personal copy
April 1, 2023
This is one of my all-time favorites. Overweight Ellie Simons hires Bentley T. Haskell to pose as her boyfriend for a weekend visit to her uncle's estate. He dies and leaves the estate to them if Ellie can loose weight and Bentley write clean and decent book and they both can solve the mystery. It was such a zany idea especially when the protagonists become attracted to each other. Ellie, especially, is a very well developed character and the action in the book is zany and fun. All in all, it's a pleasant way to spend a few hours.
March 7, 2011
Don't waste your time with this book. It is extremely slow moving and the author uses a TON of adjectives, (like the white, fluffy, slow moving, yet dainty clouds), in an effort to make the book long enough to publish I think. It seems as if the story was created to make a fool out of a heavyset character and it is focused on slandering her do to her weight. However, since it is written from that characters point of view I guess that makes it okay? Hmmm, I was sadly disappointed by this book.
September 8, 2008
THE THIN WOMAN - G
Cannell, Dorothy - 1st in Ellie Haskell series
Overweight and unmarried, Ellie Simons balks at the prospect of attending her family reunion. But with a hired escort in tow--posing as husband--she summons the courage to go, little realizing that the weekend will lead to unexpected romance, a treasure hunt--and murder.
The story was quite light and I wasn't taken with the protagonist. It was good but definitely not great.
Cannell, Dorothy - 1st in Ellie Haskell series
Overweight and unmarried, Ellie Simons balks at the prospect of attending her family reunion. But with a hired escort in tow--posing as husband--she summons the courage to go, little realizing that the weekend will lead to unexpected romance, a treasure hunt--and murder.
The story was quite light and I wasn't taken with the protagonist. It was good but definitely not great.
September 5, 2022
Quirky, endearing characters, a wild mix of romance, gothic mystery, and madcap adventure - The Thin Woman is a treasure, as is the author, Dorothy Cannell.
May 13, 2018
Wonderful. I loved the plot, the characters, and the mystery. I will read the next one!
October 12, 2014
Ellie is the perfect main character. I laugh every time I think of her in the giant purple dress. She is unmarried and way overweight. She hires a male escort to accompany her to a family gathering. The obvious happens many times, but this is one of those great light-reads.
This is one of my very favorites for the light reading category. I have read my paperback version so many times that the cover has fallen off and has been re-taped numerous times. I was feeling sad tonight and really wanted something that would make me laugh and would be well written (I just finished evaluating 45 not well done research papers and would like something that is well done). This fit the bill perfectly.
Just finished (for the hundredth time). This is a nice escape fiction with some mystery thrown in.
HOWEVER, DO NOT READ ANY OF THE OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES!!!!! They are trite and horrible. ONLY READ THIS ONE.
This is one of my very favorites for the light reading category. I have read my paperback version so many times that the cover has fallen off and has been re-taped numerous times. I was feeling sad tonight and really wanted something that would make me laugh and would be well written (I just finished evaluating 45 not well done research papers and would like something that is well done). This fit the bill perfectly.
Just finished (for the hundredth time). This is a nice escape fiction with some mystery thrown in.
HOWEVER, DO NOT READ ANY OF THE OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES!!!!! They are trite and horrible. ONLY READ THIS ONE.
April 14, 2020
Ellie is bright, talented and charismatic. Ellie is also overweight and insecure. She's so afraid of her relatives' scorn when invited to a reunion that she hires an escort to pretend to be her boyfriend. And Ben Haskell comes into her life, an astonishingly handsome writer. The weekend ends, and she's sure that she'll never see him again, until her Uncle Merlin (really her mother's second cousin) dies, and his will leaves his estate jointly to Ellie and Ben--under certain conditions. As they work to clean up Merlin's neglected house and fulfill the other conditions, they become aware that certain people, who will benefit if they fail, may be working against them. A delightful opener to this series.
August 5, 2015
Hysterical.One of the funniest books I've read.Ellie Simmons hires an escort to pretend to be her fiancé for a family reunion.After the reunion her Uncle Merlin dies and they are all brought together again for the reading of the will.Merlin bequeaths Merlin's Court to her and Ben if they meet certain conditions within six months.The first one is that Ellie lose 63 lbs.Ben must write a book with no smut in it and they must find the treasure at Merlin's Court,or else everything goes to the remaining relatives.Someone is trying to stop them and they find out all these delicious secrets along the way,as well as falling in love.Someone knows the secrets of Merlin's Court and will go to any lengths to protect them and hilarity ensues along the way.
August 7, 2010
This book was Fantastic! It kept me smiling and sometimes laughing out loud the whole way through - very witty. I LOVED all of the characters; the plot was swift-moving but the descriptions gave me enough 'time' to imagine I was really there. This is by far the best of her books. In fact, I have reread it so often it is falling to shreds! A wonderful cozy book - any time I'm feeling down or nervous or moody, I can pick this up and be instantly swept up into Ellie's crazy life. Really really a great book, one of my favorites.
April 27, 2009
This is a serious "Twinkie" book, by which I mean it was yummy but I wouldn't want to subsist on a diet of it. A super fast read (less than 2 days) that combines Miss Marple with Moonlighting. Would be a perfect book to read on a long flight. Lighthearted mystery book with funny characters; somewhat predictable, but I didn't guess the big twist. Summer reading at its best. Yay me for reading something!
April 7, 2023
Was hesitant to even admit to reading this but honestly fuck this fat-phobic hot mess of a novel that glorifies fucked up men as romantic partners -- but not in the sexy way of Heathcliff, just in the fuckboi way of its the 21st century it should be a crime to be this much of a fucking asshole and not only suffer no consequences but actually be rewarded for it.
Holy fuck this book raised my blood pressure.
Holy fuck this book raised my blood pressure.
May 21, 2012
Toll, toll, toll! Dieses Buch hat mir von Anfang bis Ende sehr viel Freude bereitet! Ich liebe den Sarkasmus der etwas schrulligen Charaktere, ich mag die Idee, auf der die Geschichte aufbaut, das Rätselraten und schließlich die für mich sehr überraschende Auflösung des Falles.
Absolut empfehlenswert! Ich werde mir auf jeden Fall auch die anderen Bücher der Autorin anschauen.
Absolut empfehlenswert! Ich werde mir auf jeden Fall auch die anderen Bücher der Autorin anschauen.
January 28, 2010
I read this book a long time ago, and really enjoyed the wit...a lot of tongue in cheek humor...mystery, romance, and humor...my kind of book...Cannell has several more in this series...her last is one I just got to read, and am looking forward to it.
February 7, 2015
What a fantastic read! One of the absolute best books I've ever read. And the ending! Really well done.
October 31, 2018
Reading this book felt like drinking a brisk cup of tea. Every time I put it down I felt the desire to do something practical and efficient. Initially I nearly gave up as soon as I started because the overweight heroine and her predilection for eating her feelings turned me off. However, I'm a sucker for the fake boyfriend/fiance/husband trope so as soon as she called up the agency for a fake boyfriend to bring to her family reunion, I was sold.
But then the mystery didn't seem to go anywhere. By this point, I felt emotionally engaged with the heroine and her adventures but confused. In fact, looking back now, I'm not sure when the mystery starts. I suppose with the reading of the will but the suspense doesn't really come till the climax.
I guess my problem was I expected a whodunnit and this is more of a...mystery/romance/adventure. Very British.
The mystery was both predictable and not. I think the author does a wonderful job leaving it open. Some things are obvious, others less. Motivations are a bit dramatic but that is the nature of this kind of book.
The one thing that did drive me crazy THROUGHOUT the book was trying to figure out the year it was set in. My Kindle edition says it was published in 2012. I see now it actually was published in 1984 which makes so much more sense. The problem was, references to Victorians and Edwardians made me think this book took place a generation or so after the turn of the century. Yet then the heroine references jeans and computers. But no one has a cell phone? But the 1980s...that makes more sense. And also kind of explains the 'you're a woman get married' tone of the book.
I don't sound very enthusiastic, do I? I did enjoy this one! Quite a bit, in fact. I can't wait to locate more by Dorothy Cannell. This book was clever and interesting and had really well developed characters. But it isn't the sort of book you sit down and read cover to cover. It is the sort of book you take on vacation and enjoy between sight seeing because you can politely set it down and know you can pick it up and the plot will all still be there, brisk and friendly and ready to get things going.
But then the mystery didn't seem to go anywhere. By this point, I felt emotionally engaged with the heroine and her adventures but confused. In fact, looking back now, I'm not sure when the mystery starts. I suppose with the reading of the will but the suspense doesn't really come till the climax.
I guess my problem was I expected a whodunnit and this is more of a...mystery/romance/adventure. Very British.
The mystery was both predictable and not. I think the author does a wonderful job leaving it open. Some things are obvious, others less. Motivations are a bit dramatic but that is the nature of this kind of book.
The one thing that did drive me crazy THROUGHOUT the book was trying to figure out the year it was set in. My Kindle edition says it was published in 2012. I see now it actually was published in 1984 which makes so much more sense. The problem was, references to Victorians and Edwardians made me think this book took place a generation or so after the turn of the century. Yet then the heroine references jeans and computers. But no one has a cell phone? But the 1980s...that makes more sense. And also kind of explains the 'you're a woman get married' tone of the book.
I don't sound very enthusiastic, do I? I did enjoy this one! Quite a bit, in fact. I can't wait to locate more by Dorothy Cannell. This book was clever and interesting and had really well developed characters. But it isn't the sort of book you sit down and read cover to cover. It is the sort of book you take on vacation and enjoy between sight seeing because you can politely set it down and know you can pick it up and the plot will all still be there, brisk and friendly and ready to get things going.
July 19, 2022
Ellie Simons (real name Giselle) is invited to a family gathering at her relative's old house, which has obviously not had much spent on it or much care taken with it). She dreads meeting the carping, venomous relatives and answers an ad for an escort service to have someone go down with her as her boyfriend. He suggests they go down by his car which is an old convertible and the top doesn't go up - there are not good feelings as they head down to the old house in a snowstorm. Things don't get much better when they arrive. Her aunt as housekeeper is a terrible one. Ellie is an interior decorator and cannot stand the mess, so she ends up cleaning up the kitchen as well as awful meals and noxious relatives. She announces that Ben is her fiancee during a fuss at the get-together. Afterwards, she returns home and goes to Italy on a buy excursion for a customer. On her return, Ben is calling her to tell her the old relative died and they have to go down for the funeral. When the will is read after the funeral, he has left his house to her and Ben provided they stay in it for 6 months and find the treasure. If they don't, the house and such will be divided among the other relatives except for an Aunt who has been left the cottage and some money. Also, Ellie needs to lose a certain amount of weight and Ben must right the book he said he was working on with no profanity. They move in and hire a housekeeper who becomes a good friend and Ben starts on his book and Ellie starts her diet with Ben's help (he trained as a chef) and begins to fix up the house. Then things start to happen. The housekeeper is drugged, the cat is thrown in the moat, and other sabotage. So which of the relatives is trying to be sure they inherit?
June 25, 2018
A great Cozy book!
I loved the story! Being a slightly overweight person, I liked the idea that Ellie had to lose weight in order to get her hands on Uncle Merlin’s millions.
The book was very well written and I enjoyed being in England at the time the book was written. I liked how some of the everyday names of things we have here in the USA are named differently from some of the English counterparts.
It is an enchanting story and fun at times. Not your original cozy to say he least, but good!
A litle more entrige than most cozies I have read, but still very good and worth the time to read and worth my recommendations to my family and friends.
I loved the story! Being a slightly overweight person, I liked the idea that Ellie had to lose weight in order to get her hands on Uncle Merlin’s millions.
The book was very well written and I enjoyed being in England at the time the book was written. I liked how some of the everyday names of things we have here in the USA are named differently from some of the English counterparts.
It is an enchanting story and fun at times. Not your original cozy to say he least, but good!
A litle more entrige than most cozies I have read, but still very good and worth the time to read and worth my recommendations to my family and friends.
January 16, 2021
This was slow but enjoyable. I liked it and would like to read more. There is a bit of spice missing but there was lots of fun and some laugh out loud wittiness to the banter between Ellie and Ben.
There wasn't really a mystery apart from searching for the treasure which they didn't do much of except near the end where more nastier things started happening. Characters were fun either likeable or comically unlikeable.
There wasn't really a mystery apart from searching for the treasure which they didn't do much of except near the end where more nastier things started happening. Characters were fun either likeable or comically unlikeable.
June 9, 2017
When I listened to this first book in the series of Ellie Haskell stories I laughed out loud. I have enjoyed all of the mysteries and am re-reading The Importance of Being Earnestine. The freshness diminish after you get used to the author's style. However, Ellie provides light entertainment and humor in a nice package
November 21, 2019
I really liked this funny, quirky mystery, and especially the twist at the end. I think it was a good introduction to the main character who struggles with weight issues and self esteem, even though she is a highly regarded interior designer. I will see how #2 strikes me.
August 28, 2020
Very cleverly written! An enchanting narrator, a cozy mystery, and a touch of romance. Just lovely. I might be interested in reading the rest of the series, but I'm worried the newer entries would ruin it.
June 23, 2024
Ooof. There's a disclaimer at the start of the ebook that "social attitudes were quite different" when this was written in the '80s. But the fat phobia and proliferation of the stereotypes around fat people in it were still more than I was prepared to, uh, stomach. DNFed at 26%
August 24, 2018
Four stars for making me laugh out loud.
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