From Publishers Weekly
In her dozenth delight, Agatha nominee Cannell dishes up a dizzy spoof of American hard-boiled private-eye fiction (after 2001's Bridesmaids Revisited). Ellie Haskell attempts a surprise for her husband, Ben, by redecorating his study, but when her gift seemingly bombs, she seeks comfort and wisdom from her worldly daily, Mrs. Roxy Malloy. Mrs. Malloy has been moonlighting as Girl Friday to a local PI, "Milk" Jugg, and Ellie's nocturnal visit to Jugg's office coincides with the appearance of a new client, Lady Krumley. Mrs. Malloy graciously allows Ellie to act as her assistant in Jugg's absence, and they plunge fearlessly and fecklessly into Lady Krumley's case. Many years widowed, Lady Krumley once sacked a parlor maid, Flossie, whom she suspected of having stolen a valuable brooch. Flossie also managed to get herself in the family way while at Moultty Towers, and later expired from tuberculosis while trying to care for herself and her daughter, Ernestine. With her dying breath, Flossie cursed the Krumley family, and various Krumleys have recently shuffled off the mortal coil in amusingly eccentric ways. Lady Krumley wants to find the missing Ernestine and right ancient wrongs, hoping to avert any further mysterious accidents. Using Ellie's cover as an interior designer, the two gumshoes besiege the denizens of Moultty Towers, and the game is afoot. Cannell orchestrates plenty of laughs along with a clever plot, merrily winking at readers as she pokes fun at numerous genre conventions.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Series sleuth Ellie Haskell (Bridesmaids Revisited) teams up with Mrs. Malloy, her housekeeper, when they bump into a private detective's intended client. Wealthy old Lady Krumley believes that the illegitimate daughter of a parlor maid wrongfully dismissed 30 years ago has begun killing members of the Krumley family in revenge. Totally charming. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Ellie Haskell, Cannell's sleuth, is part Miss Marple, part modern British mum with an interior decorating business on the side. Here she is teamed with her gloriously low housekeeper, Mrs. Malloy, who also has a part-time gig--at a detective agency. When Lady Krumely comes to the agency looking for help (the detective is conveniently on holiday), Ellie and Mrs. Malloy take the case. Is someone really killing off Lady Krumely's elderly relatives or are they just, well . . . old? Or could the deaths have something to with the curse Flossie the parlor maid put on the family for tossing her out after she got pregnant by Lady Krumely's husband? As in previous installments of this popular series, Cannell pushes the British cozy into the contemporary world but without sacrificing such dear conventions as gathering the suspects in the drawing room before the murderer is revealed. This one's got it all, wit, charm, a pair of sprightly sleuths. Carolyn Mulac
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
The Importance of Being Ernestine brings one of Dorothy Cannell's splendidly dotty characters to front stage. Ellie Haskell has had her ups and downs with housekeeper Mrs. Malloy, but she misses her when the corpulent, caustic cleaning lady starts moonlighting in a private detective's office-nosing into his files as she dusts them. But when she summons Ellie there one evening for a woman-to-woman chat laced with her boss's bourbon and unfiltered cigarettes, they hardly expect the belated arrival of his afternoon client.
Lady Krumley, a hawk-nosed matriarch clad in modish mourning sixty years out of date, tells them a tale that goes back thirty years-to when she wrongfully dismissed her parlor maid, Flossie, secretly in the family way by the undergardener. Flossie died of tuberculosis soon after childbirth while striving to support herself and her child, Ernestine-but not before vowing vengeance from beyond the grave on the rich Krumleys at Moultty Towers. Now, family members have started meeting with fatal accidents. . . . Ernestine, Lady Krumley fears, is carrying out her mother's dying curse.
Can Ellie and Mrs. Malloy, the newly formed but unlikely detective duo, find Ernestine and prevent more Krumleys from crumbling in the churchyard without killing each other first?
About the Author
This is Dorothy Cannell's twelfth mystery. Her others include Bridesmaids Revisited, The Trouble with Harriet, The Spring Cleaning Murders, The Thin Woman, Down the Garden Path, and the Agatha Award nominee The Widows' Club.
Importance of Being Ernestine FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Ellie Haskell has had her ups and downs with housekeeper Mrs. Malloy, but she can't help missing her when the corpulent, caustic cleaning lady starts moonlighting in a private detective's office - nosing into his files as she dusts them. So Ellie is quite pleased when "Mrs M.," as she is affectionately known, summons her to Detective Jugg's office one evening for a woman-to-woman chat - though she's a bit surprised when Mrs. M. offers her one of Mr. Jugg's Lucky Strikes and a swig out of his bottle of bourbon. The room is just beginning to spin and the conversation to grow more lively when in walks detective Jugg's no-show afternoon client, Lady Krumley." "Before the two ladies can explain they are not detectives, the hawk-nosed matriarch clad in modish mourning sixty years out of date tells them a tale that goes back thirty years - to when she wrongfully dismissed her parlor maid, Flossie, who was secretly in the family way courtesy of the under gardener. Tragically, Flossie soon died of tuberculosis, while striving to support herself and her child, Ernestine - but not before vowing vengeance from beyond the grave on the rich Krumleys at Moultty Towers. Now, Krumley family members have started meeting with fatal accidents ... The curse, Lady Krumley fears, is being fulfilled." Feeling both generous and confident, Ellie and Mrs. Malloy decide they like Lady Krumley and want to take on her case. Can this newly formed but unlikely detective duo find Ernestine and prevent more Krumleys from crumbling in the churchyard without killing each other first?
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
In her dozenth delight, Agatha nominee Cannell dishes up a dizzy spoof of American hard-boiled private-eye fiction (after 2001's Bridesmaids Revisited). Ellie Haskell attempts a surprise for her husband, Ben, by redecorating his study, but when her gift seemingly bombs, she seeks comfort and wisdom from her worldly daily, Mrs. Roxy Malloy. Mrs. Malloy has been moonlighting as Girl Friday to a local PI, "Milk" Jugg, and Ellie's nocturnal visit to Jugg's office coincides with the appearance of a new client, Lady Krumley. Mrs. Malloy graciously allows Ellie to act as her assistant in Jugg's absence, and they plunge fearlessly and fecklessly into Lady Krumley's case. Many years widowed, Lady Krumley once sacked a parlor maid, Flossie, whom she suspected of having stolen a valuable brooch. Flossie also managed to get herself in the family way while at Moultty Towers, and later expired from tuberculosis while trying to care for herself and her daughter, Ernestine. With her dying breath, Flossie cursed the Krumley family, and various Krumleys have recently shuffled off the mortal coil in amusingly eccentric ways. Lady Krumley wants to find the missing Ernestine and right ancient wrongs, hoping to avert any further mysterious accidents. Using Ellie's cover as an interior designer, the two gumshoes besiege the denizens of Moultty Towers, and the game is afoot. Cannell orchestrates plenty of laughs along with a clever plot, merrily winking at readers as she pokes fun at numerous genre conventions. (June 10) Forecast: It's no coincidence that the artwork resembles that of Penguin's redesigned P.G. Wodehouse series. Handselling to Jeeves and Wooster fans not already Cannell converts could provide a boost. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Series sleuth Ellie Haskell (Bridesmaids Revisited) teams up with Mrs. Malloy, her housekeeper, when they bump into a private detective's intended client. Wealthy old Lady Krumley believes that the illegitimate daughter of a parlor maid wrongfully dismissed 30 years ago has begun killing members of the Krumley family in revenge. Totally charming. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
When Ellie Haskell (Bridesmaids Revisited, 2000, etc.) finds her husband Ben less than pleased with her makeover of his study, she does what any true-blue mental case would do. On the pretext of returning a lost tube of lipstick, she rushes out to visit Roxie Malloy, her housekeeper, who's moonlighting as a cleaner-upper at Mr. Jugg's detective agency. After they proceed to punish her employer's obligatory stash of bourbon, a late-arriving client mistakes the tipsy matrons for detectives, and they soon find themselves engaged by Lady Krumley of Moultty Towers, Biddlington-by-Water, to find Ernestine, the daughter of her late housemaid Flossie Jones, unjustly fired 30 years ago on suspicion of stealing Lady Krumley's emerald brooch. Wimpy nephew Niles Edmonds and her shrewish wife Cynthia are useless, Cousin Alphonse is too eccentric to care, and Cousin Vincent is no help at all, having fallen into a well and died the week before trying to find his missing dog. But Mrs. Beetle, the cook, thinks Mrs. Hasty, the former housekeeper who's retired to a cottage on the grounds, might know something, and indeed she might-if overprotective lady's maid Laureen Phillips would just let her share her wisdom. So might Constable Thatcher's ten-year-old son Ronald, if he'd only leave off chucking flowerpots at passing cars long enough to tell. It takes a lot of legwork-Roxie's in four-inch heels-for the two sleuths to crack the case before the Krumleys crumble. A painfully arch but amusing tale of upstairs, downstairs, and inside-out.
Art & Photography
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