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Dorothy Cannell

Author of The Thin Woman

36+ Works 4,294 Members 72 Reviews 16 Favorited

About the Author

Dorothy Cannell was born in Nottingham, England and moved to the United States when she was twenty. 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. Besides the Ellie Haskell show more Mysteries series, her other novels include God Save the Queen!, Naked Came the Farmer, The Sunken Sailor, and Sea Glass Summer. She is also a contributor to the popular Sisters in Crime anthologies. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Series

Works by Dorothy Cannell

The Thin Woman (1984) 641 copies
The Widows Club (1988) 340 copies
Mum's the Word (1990) 272 copies
The Trouble with Harriet (1999) 271 copies
The Spring Cleaning Murders (1998) 263 copies
Femmes Fatal (1992) 253 copies
Down the Garden Path (1985) 251 copies
God Save the Queen! (1997) 241 copies
Withering Heights (2007) 239 copies
Bridesmaids Revisited (2000) 230 copies
Goodbye, Ms. Chips (2008) 144 copies
She Shoots to Conquer (2009) 135 copies
Murder at Mullings (2014) 90 copies
Death at Dovecote Hatch (2015) 43 copies
Sea Glass Summer (2012) 35 copies
Peril in the Parish (2022) 7 copies

Associated Works

Christmas Stalkings (1991) — Contributor — 198 copies
Crafty Cat Crimes: 100 Tiny Cat Tale Mysteries (2000) — Contributor — 142 copies
Sisters in Crime (1990) — Contributor — 125 copies
Midnight Louie's Pet Detectives (1998) — Contributor — 108 copies
Malice Domestic 6 (1997) — Contributor — 92 copies
Sisters in Crime 3 (1990) — Contributor — 79 copies
Malice Domestic 3 (1994) — Contributor — 73 copies
Murder for Halloween: Tales of Suspense (1994) — Contributor — 53 copies
Cat Crimes Takes a Vacation (1995) — Contributor — 34 copies
The Sunken Sailor (2004) — Contributor — 31 copies
Love and Death (2000) — Contributor — 31 copies
Crimes of Passion: Twenty-Three Tales of Love and Hate (1993) — Contributor — 8 copies
First Cases [Unabridged Audiobook] (2002) — Contributor — 3 copies

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Members

Reviews

The Thin Woman by Dorothy Cannell is a 1984 Bantam publication.

Many years ago, I read a few books in this series and thought they were hilarious. When I realized they were in digital format, I started slowly gathering them together so I could read the whole series start to finish.

This first book was published in 1984- which makes the series much older than I remembered, and one will have to keep that in mind on occasion.

The plot follows a familiar mystery format to some extent. We have a relative die- a will that stipulates the inheritor performs certain tasks within a specific timeframe or else the other relatives get a piece of the fortune. This setup means family secrets are unveiled, and perhaps a few upset relatives who might resort to sabotage… or murder.

In this instance, we have Ellie Simmons, a woman who struggles with her weight, and Ben Haskell, her fake fiancé, attempting to lose weight, write a book, and find a hidden treasure within a six-month time frame amid various attempts to prevent them from achieving those goals.

As with many cozies, the mystery part of the story was not the primary focus, and things didn’t really get interesting on that front until deep into the book. In the meantime, we are entertained by Ellie’s decorating chores, the sharp, often biting banter between Ellie and Ben, and the charming Dorcus, hired to help Ellie around the house, as well Ben’s delicious culinary skills.

While some of the situations were far-fetched-and expert mystery readers will probably have a good idea whodunit- for a first in a series book, written over thirty years ago, this one is pretty good. It is slightly dated with some insensitive remarks here and there- but overall, I thought it aged well.

This is a fun and entertaining cozy, and I enjoyed getting reacquainted with Ellie again- and look forward to reading through this delightfully funny series.
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gpangel | 11 other reviews | Mar 4, 2024 |
Ellie begins by telling us about her invitation to a family reunion at Merlin's Court, why she doesn't want to attend and how she came to hire Bentley to act as her escort to the event. I did enjoy reading about her dysfunctional family, the unusual will and the quest it set up. I might give Cannell another try although I'm a little ambiguous about the type of humor she writes.
 
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hailelib | 11 other reviews | Jun 16, 2023 |
After reading some of the reviews, I was skeptical that I would not like this book. I have not read this series before and it is always difficult to start in the middle. While there were references I'm sure would have made more sense had i read the rest of the books, I was still able to thoroughly enjoy this cozy mystery. I will agree with others that the mystery part is not a large part of the book, however the humorous tone of the book more than makes up for the lack of mystery throughout. I enjoyed the main character, Ellie, and will definitely start at the beginning of this charming series. I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.… (more)
 
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McBeezie | 5 other reviews | Jul 27, 2022 |
couldn't get into it and didn't finish it.
 
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kathp | 3 other reviews | Jun 10, 2022 |

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Statistics

Works
36
Also by
16
Members
4,294
Popularity
#5,847
Rating
½ 3.5
Reviews
72
ISBNs
161
Languages
3
Favorited
16

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