The Trouble with Harriet

Very, very funny. Ellie's romantic trip to France is interrupted when her long lost father turns up with his new girlfriend. Only one thing wrong with the woman--she's dead. Add in her kleptomaniac aunt and stressed out cousin, a bewildered vicar who wanders in and out of homes at will, a story that resembles Anna Nicole Smith gone bad, and it can only be a Dorothy Cannell book.

The Trouble with Harriet
By: Dorothy Cannell

I received an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is a very fun, frothy kind of cozy mystery. Don't come looking for anything deep or meaningful but just enjoy it as a tasty piece of candy.

Characters:
The main protagonist is Ellie Haskell. She is married to her true love Ben and they have three adorable children (who don't play a part in this story). They have a rather idealized life and their relationship is as sticky sweet as a piece of pink taffy. They are surrounded by a whole slew of quirky (if rather typecast) characters: Mrs. Malloy, the snarky housekeeper; the absentminded vicar; the ruthlessly organized vicar's wife; the doddering rich man up at the "big house"; show more his young ex-starlet beautiful wife; the secretary of aforementioned rich man who is, of course, in love with the wife; a kleptomaniac aunt; a fortune telling gypsy. Aaah, I think you get the point. Don't go looking for character development or depth here. The repartee between characters is clever and fun and I did very much enjoy looking for all the tidbits.

Plot:
Ellie's dad visits her bringing with him the remains of his new "true love" Harriet. He has been instructed to hand over Harriet's urn to three oddly dysfunctional cousins. The mystery appears when Ellie realizes that nefarious characters are after the urn (or rather the urn's contents). The solution (if not all the details) becomes clear well before the book's conclusion. However, I did enjoy the continuous mayhem, the penultimate scene where the crooks are caught, and the final scene where Ellie fills in all the details.

Grumps and Complaints:
I love Ms. Cannell and her clever mind but there were some bits that I found very annoying.
In the first book in this series, "The Thin Woman", the author actually tackles some pretty important body image issues. I appreciated a real life trouble core inside the fluffy body of the story. In this book, no such base to the storytelling. I found this truly vexing because some serious topics are hinted at - "daddy" deserting her at age 17 to survive on her own after the death of her mother. This is hinted at, it seems important to Ellie, but those emotions aren't dealt with. Ellie just shrugs them off as part of who he is and how he copes with life. She just deals with "daddy" as he is now. She even feels sad when he leaves at the end.

Daddy, in general, is a source of irritation for me. He spends the whole book displaying overly dramatic sorrow for the death of Harriet. Agreed, death is sad, but he is portrayed almost as an overacting player in some Shakespearean melodrama. Also, everyone, especially Ellie, plays right along with him. This is exhausting for the reader. So, all through this book, he is prostrate with sorrow, even in the face of Harriet's perfidy. Then, at the end, he goes off with another woman, ready to start a new chapter. What?

My final grump is with the ending. It all felt a little like the author was just trying to wrap things up. It seemed rushed. (Spoiler). Harriet was actually killed way at the beginnng of the book and and was more to be pitied than censured. The whole ending feels less like it fits with the clues and more like a way to finish the story neatly.

Okay, grumpiness aside, this isn't a perfect book but it is fun. Read it for easy, breezy summer relaxation. Just don't let "Daddy" annoy you too much. show less

This cozy mystery series is usually long on humor, but sort of short on the mystery part. But, this one was the opposite. The mystery took center stage, and the humor took a backseat.
Ellie and Ben planned a vacation but had to cancel when Ellie's long lost father shows up unannounced.
This was not the best in the series. While still enjoyable, it was not as funny as some of her other books. I liked the mystery being more prominent, but I wish we could have a balance of mystery and humor. Still about average. Don't pass up any Dorothy Cannell.

Ellie is planning a trip with her husband, until a Gypsy warns her not to go. Her Dad shows up with his old girlfriends ashes, and many strange events happen.

Listened as I took down Christmas decorations.