How to Murder Your Mother-in-Law (Ellie Haskell)

by Dorothy Cannell

Book Overview

The award-winning author of Femmes Fatal and The Thin Woman serves up the ubiquitous mother-in-law joke family style­--with death for the punch line. . . . Nothing like a live-in mother-in-law to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553569511
• Release Date: April 1995
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.9" x 0.6" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Teetering on the Brink of Caricature

A rollicking, slapstick story of four absurdly awful mother-in-laws and four put upon wives. On an evening of low spirits and hard liquor, the ladies conspire to "accidentally on purpose" knock off the old girls. The delightful Ellie Haskell, loving wife to the handsome Ben, mama to the darling twins Tam and Abby, and mistress of Merlin's Court gets the action going when she plans an anniversary celebration for the in-laws -- only to find out that the actual wedding never happened. Set in the charming English seaside town of Chitteron Falls, this story is action packed, completely over-the-top, full of delightfully eccentric characters and wickedly witty dialogue. Accidents begin to befall the mother-in-laws, and when one of them dies exactly as dreamed up by the quartet, the saga goes into high gear. A delightfully far-fetched cozy mystery sure to charm.

Silly yet fun!

Well, darn; bought this book hoping for ideas! Kidding; however they did come up with some goodies with naughty results.This mystery cozy is set in England and has the funny sign-song style I love. When four "ticked-off" daughters-in-law, get together, they find they have much in common and chat about ways to get rid of their acquired Mothers-in-law. The end result is funny, but has a scary moment or two. Plus I was guessing up to the end, which is pretty unusual, as I'm really Sherlock Nose in disguise!

Side Splitting

Absolutely the funniest book I have read in a long time. If anyone has had to deal with a Mother-in-law then this has to stike a cord. Even if your mother-in-law was one of the best. An excellent book, one you can recommend to anyone.

Lesson: never plan your mother-in-law's murder in public

The elder Mrs. Haskell is back, only we've just discovered that legally she has no claim to the name, having never actually married Ben's Jewish father due to religious differences. Now she's determined to stay with her son, Ellie's husband Ben, until the elder Mr. Haskell makes up with her - which doesn't seem to be about to happen in a hurry. Ellie is neigh driven to distraction by Ben's martyred mother and finds out to her surprise that she isn't the only one suffering from a severe affliction of Mother-in-law. Three other women in the town have similar problems and when they meet up (quite by accident) at a local pub after Ellie had stormed from husband and home, they fantasize over how to murder their mother-in-laws to let out the tension that had built up within them. When they finish their make-believe plotting they disperse, feeling the better for it, though somewhat guilty. However, when not long afterwards the first mother-in-law dies by the method determined safest by the bitter daughter-in-laws, they are guiltily horrified. Worse, relations between Ellie and the senior Mrs. Haskell had just begun to show promise when her life is suddenly endangered! More fun with Ms. Cannell! This is another great Ellie Haskell book.

Obnoxious mother-in-laws nearly become extinct.

A smart and funny cross between a comedy of manners and a murder mystery, Dorothy Cannell's How To Murder Your Mother-in-Law is a true delight. The heroine Ellie Haskell has a sensual and handsome husband, adorable two-year-old twins, a fashion disaster for a housekeeper who is well-meaning albeit always slightly tipsy, and a cousin who enters through the windows -- never the doors -- of their English mansion quaintly named "Merlin's Castle." Into this charming mix arrives her straight-laced mother-in-law and mostly deaf father-in-law who have their own surprises in store for Ellie and her husband. After one extremely frazzled dinner party that goes awry, Ellie marches down to the pub where she comes upon the local rector, the daughter-in-law of the local patroness of the arts, and another friend who are all having mother-in-law problems. Their fantasies of "doing the old girl in" begin to be realized much to these ladies' horror. Ellie must move swiftly to unravel the mysteries of these deaths to save her own mother-in-law