Readers of Dorothy Cannell's "The Trouble with Harriet" may be disappointed. After such wonderful stories like "The Thin Woman" and "How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams," "The Trouble With Harriet" drags with little humor and passages more suited to dramatic soliloquies. More time was spent on Ellie's father's bouts of depression and ill-humor than I thought was necessary and the premise of the mystery itself was a bit bland.

I'd really like it if one of these books were to take Ellie and Ben away from Chittendon Falls on a holiday and then shove them headlong into a mystery....but please! Let's get these two together without the kiddies and Freddie lurking about. Frankly, I'd love to read more of Ben.

Although the book was acceptable, I found myself skimming and skipping, a sure sign of boredom with a story.

This is a fine little British cozy with some escapades in Germany on the side. I was drawn in by the title. I had never read this author or series before, and was pleasantly surprised and entertained. Ellie Haskell (sometime interior decorator, full time Mom, daughter of the prodigal Morley) and her husband Bentley (chef and restaurateur) are confronted and confounded with the remains of the mysterious Harriet. Or are they? This domestic duo reminds me somewhat of a Goldie's Colorado Catering (the series by Diane Mott Davidson) Goes Across "the Pond." But the Haskells are more witty and their children far better behaved.

It is a fun frolic with some Saints, sinners, relics and characters endearing and quirky.

Cannell's fans will no doubt agree that Ellie needs a good vacation away from the twins and the most interesting residents of Chittendon Falls. . Understandable then is the reader's frustration, surely shared by our heroine, that yet again that her plans are hijacked by her dramatic and high maintenance family. Instead of jaunting off to a well earned rest and recreate exploring the epicuriously rich France we are delighted to have another Ellie Haskell adventure even if the poor woman must stay at home at Merlon Court.

Readers are again held hostage to Cannell's British wit as seen through her characters old and new. Delightful was the creation of new characters, annoying as they may be, and comforting was the venerable Mrs. Malloy to dazzle us with her adventures, sage advice, and forked but witty tongue.

A slow start but a dazzling finish brings the reader to a delightful and smiling close that seems to never fail to disappoint this devoted fan of the author, leaving me, and I'm sure other readers, hungry for more adventures. In agreement with some of the other reviews, I'd certainly like to see Ellie and Ben on holiday without the Kids. Someplace far from the family and relatives that often bring Ellie to her wits end, Perhaps a cruise to Australia or an African Safari, or even an adventure in the Scottish Highlands. Would it still be the same however, without the family antics that keep our heroine busy and readers in stitches?

Don't miss this witty adventure, excellently written, very amusing continuation of the misadventures Ellie Haskell, her accidental partner and husband, Ben and the usual witty characters of Chittendon Falls.

Philip Jose Farmer makes an excelent job as always. Farmer known primarily for his Science Fiction, but has produced two Fantasy series World of Tiers and Riverworld, the latter an afterlife fantasy in the tradition of John Kendrick Bangs. Farmer words flow as easy as ever and this novel is a work of art. It aint as sexy or shocking as 'An exorcism: ritual one/two' or as deeply involving as 'The river world saga', but he builds his story up as the SF/horror/fantasy master he is. God fun, and with a nice climax as always.

The Widow's Club itself is a very interesting and unique plot idea. The most interesting part of the book was learning about how the Widow's Club worked, the exact arrangements, etc. The rest of the book was fairly slow and I found myself skimming and just plain skipping a lot of it that was repetitive. I hated the frequenty Ellie whining about "what if Ben finds out" -- when it comes to Ben she is so wimpy and illogical and it is plain boring and disappointing to read those parts.

I really liked this book. At first, I thought it wasn't going to be as good as The Thin Woman, but once I got into it, my interest was held completely. The wedding and honeymoon were very funny and Ben's parents were, for lack of a better word, interesting. All of this, combined with the Tramwell sisters getting Ellie involved in solving the murders, made for a fun read.

Does Agatha Christy bore you to tears? Do British Mysteries make you constipated? Well, drop what you're doing and if you like clever witty mystery's mixed with British wit and humor, you'll love this book! You will hopefully never encounter a grief support group anything like the "Sisters in Sorrow" but you may find amusement in considering the possibilities! Especially if your spouse gets on your nerves a bit.

This, the book that started the Ellie Haskel series is highly recommended by this reader and like me you will no doubt crave to read more of Ms. Cannell. I recommend that you buy this paperback and at least the next two in the series as you won't be able to wait for the postman to bring the next one once you've finished this one.

This novel reads very much like a Hollywood movie. Not that that is a totally bad thing, sometimes all people want is a mindless book to read. The characters are interesting and there are enough plot twists to keep me reading. I'm currently pecking my way through Final Victim. 3.5 stars.

The fact that what took place in this novel could happen in real life is mind-boggling. I enjoyed this action-packed thriller because it came so close to the truth as we know it. It causes one to stop and think about previous elections of officials and how the media paints them depending on how much clout and money they possess. The characters can almost be matched with some of those well-known to us that hold high office today. This book kept be awake because it was one that you could not put down in the middle of a chapter. I will be looking for Stephen Cannell's books when I am bored with the usual shootem-ups.

I loved this book and have been turned on to other Cannell books. The characters were fascinating, unique and well thought out. I keep waiting for the movie. The plot extends a broad range will a masterfully told and frightening reality.

I think Stephen J. Cannell is wonderful, however, this is a real "snoozer".

Stephen J. Cannell, while one of the most prestigious writers and producers in the television industry, is quickly making a mark for himself as a novelist. In his newest book, THE DEVIL'S WORKSHOP, he takes the reader into the world of microbiology and the apparent dangers a bio-weapon can represent in the hands of the wrong people. The story deals with Stacey Richardson, a graduate student in the field of microbiology at USC. When her husband, Max, supposedly commits suicide while on a sabbatical at Fort Detrick, Maryland, to do research with the famous Dr. Dexter Demille, she doesn't buy it for one moment. In fact, Stacey believes that her husband was murdered to cover up something at Fort Detrick, and that Admiral James Zoll(the man in charge of the military facility) and Dr. Demille were behind it. She's determined to get to the bottom of her huband's death and punish the people responsible for it. This leads her to Vanishing Lake, Texas, where Zoll and Demille are conducting experiments on prisoners. An error on Demille's part leads to the accidental release of the deadly bio-agent into the air around the nearby town, thereby infecting, not only Zoll's men, but the town's people as well. Zoll quickly decides to destroy to town in a futile effort to downsize the mistake. Stacey and two hobos manage to escape before the soldiers surround the town. One of the hobos is Chris "Lucky" Cunningham, a former Recon Marine who experienced tragedy several years before when he returned from the Gulf War with a deadly bug in his system that had been created year's earlier by Dr. Demille..a bug that would eventually be passed on to his baby daughter and kill her. Chris and Stacey decide to join forces in an attempt to stop Zoll and Demille from killing anymore people, but the challenge they face intensifies when they realize that the fanatic hobo priest, the Reverend Fannon Kincaid, and his small army of zealous followers were also at Vanishing Lake, and now they want the bio-agent for themselves so that they can do a little ethnic cleansing around the country. All that I've described so far is just the tip of the iceberg and doesn't even begin to cover the complexity of the plot and the large number of characters moving in and out of the story. Mr. Cannell does offer the reader a good bit of information regarding the subjects of mircobiology and the art of being a hobo, as well as how to ride the train rails. Though THE DEVIL's WORKSHOP is a "fun" book to read, at no point did I ever buy the premise of the story. This, however, isn't necessarily bad. I would call this type of novel a "Saturday-morning" read. It's fast and entertaining, but it does require a large suspension of belief. Think of a made-for-television movie, or a two-part mini-series and you get the idea of what I'm talking about. Still, I've enjoyed other of Mr. Cannell's books and have just recently purchased KING CON in paperback. If you know what to expect, I don't feel you'll be disappointed with this book. Simply take the novel for what it is and have some fun.

Ok, I feel like I should apologize, but I absolutely love Stephen J. Cannell. I can't wait for The Tin Collectors to come out! He writes easy to pick up, hard to put down, good ol' fiction! What I appreciate is the way he writes his books all on vastly different subjects, like Michael Crichton does. He doesn't follow just one template and re-vamp it for every novel.

The Devil's Workshop is a novel of biological threats, a mad scientist, a beautiful woman, and Trains! I loved the train part! I was suprised by the revelation about our rail-riding friend in the book, but I'm sure not everyone was. Plot twists, engaging dialogue, and action from start to finish make this a book I highly recommend for an entertaining weekend read.

It always get me mad when a author deciding to use a foreign language doesn't even bother to verify the spelling and grammar. The correct title should be Femmes Fatales for plural or Femme Fatale for singular

Not as good IMHO as the first three, this Ellie Haskell mystery is still a funny and enchanting diversion. With moments of warmth, hilarity and suspicion, this book has the same winning blend that makes Ms. Cannell so popular. When the Chitterton Falls women sign up to join a club that promises to bring the passion back into marriage, with its helpful counseling and incredibly funny handbook of hints, things don't go as well as they should. Not all husbands seem thrilled with the change in their wives. And sudden deaths halt the fun and games when murder makes its dramatic appearance. I must say that a character I had long found irritating and dislikable dies in this book and I wasn't a bit sorry (though I did experience a moment of terror when I feared the evil deed had in fact not gone through). Anyway, this book was entertaining and worth several laughs as well as some puzzled thought as to whom the murderer might be, and how many of the deaths were caused by him/her? A nice addition to the series.

I just wanted to point out to the reader who thought the title was misspelled, that I'm sure the publisher and the author are aware of the correct spelling. However, I think that the title is supposed to be a play on words. Therefore, the spelling of FATAL is a representation of murder, in order to create a more dramatic effect for the book. I enjoy all of Ms. Cannell's books. I particularly enjoy the humorous aspects. I hope that she continues to delight her readers. Keep up the good work!

P.S. Keep those originals titles coming! :-)

Final Victim grabs the reader on the first page, by putting us right inside the mind/world of the killer. A great start. Maybe that's why it's such a jolt when we're introduced to the main character (think Bruce Willis) and all action stops as we're given seemingly endless detail about his career in Customs.

This book was an improvement over his first novel, The Plan. The killer was a truly scary guy. The book was most interesting when it dealt with the killer and his motivations. This could have been a 4 or even 5 star book if Cannell had just concentrated on the killer and the investigation. The "chase and capture" scenes were well-done; and there's even a nice little twist at the end of the chase. As always, Cannell knows how to write an action scene.

The biggest problem with this book is that it takes far too much time examining the three main investigators and their interrelationships. The fact is, they're just not very interesting, and there's not a whole lot to examine. One is a 'rogue' Customs Agent - your basic guy who won't play by the rules, etc. One is a woman genius - she's brilliant, she's beautiful, she's lonely/vulnerable, etc. One is a convict released to help with the investigation. The convict turns out to be the most realistic character, since he's pretty much just out for himself.

These fairly two-dimensional characters are given far too much time and attention. At perhaps the lowest point in the book, this female genius attempts to examine her feelings about the convict. Just a painful, poorly-written little interlude that might belong on a soap, but not in the middle of a thriller.

Overall, a decent thriller. The killer is sufficiently interesting to keep up interest; and the action scenes keep you turning the pages. With a little more fine-tuning, this would have been a very good book.

Three disparate characters with emotional baggage screwing up their lives team up to catch a ghoulish serial killer who uses his computer hacking skills to find and kill his victims. Final Victim is fairly entertaining and fast-paced with well-developed characters, but its plot is predictable: heroes run around and try to capture elusive villain and you know well before you crack open the book whether they will succeed or not. But my biggest criticism with the book--and this may not be fair since it's not a horror book--is it wasn't scary. I was hoping for some frightening and spine-chilling scenes but there weren't any. Despites its shortcomings, I still recommend it. It was fun to read most of the time.

I thought this was an excellent thriller book. I have never read any other books by Stephen J. Cannell, a friend leant me this to read and I absolutely loved it, could not put the book down. If you are into computers a little you will enjoy this book as it adds a bit of a twist to the novel that you don't see in other thrillers. I read Patricia Cornwall & James Patterson as well, most of their books are great but I found this one to be alot more scary, I actually screamed in one section.

I must admit that the ending was not the best, it really didn't finish with the thrill you normally receive. Overall this book is worth picking up.

This is a cozy-style mystery: written about the happenings in a small village, with a lot of emphasis on the characters. It has a good deal of dry humor - sometimes so dry you almost miss it. I managed to slog thru the whole book, hoping it would get better, but it really didn't. The pacing of the story was very slow, and there was no real sense of suspense or building towards a climax. The high point was barely a bump in the road. There were just too many subplots and points that distracted my attention, most of which didn't have enough of a payoff in the end when the threads tried to come together (and many of them didn't link at all) I suppose some of the plotlines were intended to be red herrings, but it is overkill when you're completely distracted and bored by long tangents that have no satisfactory resolution.

I've read four books by this author, three of them about Ellie Haskell, resident of Chitterton Fells and member of the Library League. In some ways I thought this was the best of them all -- Mrs. Malloy is hysterical here and the premise revolving around romance fiction is funny as well. But there are also minor problems. The mystery itself is confusing -- lots of people die, but not necessarily of unnatural causes, and the tension never really builds; the depiction of the village's two librarians is lazy and stereotypical; and two of Cannell's best characters, Freddy and Jonas, are not here -- they are away on a camping trip!

Despite the problems this is a fun book. I would recommend it if you are a fan of the author, but not if you are mainly interested in reading a challenging mystery.

Dorothy has done it again! Even though my spouse looked at the book on nightstand and then promptly announced he'll be sleeping on the couch it was worthwhile! It permitted me to stay up late into the night reading like you will laughing out loud as Elie stumbles across a librarian mysteriously and meeting her demise in the city library, then finds herself vis-a-vis with "Karisma" the hunk of hunks from her favorite romance novels coming to town. Karisma becomes endangered by possibly the same entity that caused the librarian to have a meeting with the grim reaper and Elie finds her own life endangered unless she finds the mysterious presence of Chitterton Fells Library. Don't miss this especially if you're a Dorothy Cannell fan!

In THE VIKING FUNERAL, Stephen J. Cannell continues the story of Sergeant Shane Scully. In THE TIN COLLECTORS, Scully's first appearance, he brings down a group of corrupt cops, the Chief of Police and the mayor of California. The LAPD is in turmoil and now trying to come back from the ashes. Scully has a better relationship with his son and is happily dating Alexa Hamilton, an ally from the previous novel. His life drastically changes one day when he sees his 'dead' friend driving on the highway.

He learns that several policemen have faked their own deaths to form part of a team called the Vikings. Shane, Scully, and the new Chief of Police set up a plan to infiltrate the group. As the plan takes place, Scully is forced to kill Alexa and run for his life while working with the Vikings.

Once the reader learns the Vikings true mission, the novel starts to go downhill. The Vikings are involved in a complicated and bit convoluted money-laundering scheme. The principals of this caper are all caricatures and stereotypes who do not have any personality, just role in the play. It is hard to identify with the criminals and it gets to the point that one does not really care. There is no smooth flow in the reading and there were times that I had to reread specific chapters. I have read other Cannell novels that I enjoyed. I prefer that he continues writing stand-alone novels instead of continuing a series with Scully. I feel the sergeant lacked a focus in the novel.

Although I probably haven't read a novel in the past year or so, I have to commend Stephen J. Cannell for bringing the joy of reading a thriller back to me.

Shane Scully is a cop on the verge of a nervous breakdown due to his childhood friend commiting suicide and his girlfriend getting all the recognition for his work on a huge case he just cracked showing corruption in the L.A. Police dept., when he's driving down the highway one day and sees his supposedly dead friend driving next to him. After doing some investigative work he discovers that there is a rogue group of cops that have all faked their suicides so they could work off the books. Shane decides to infiltrate the group and delve into the shaddy underground known as the parallel market. In a wonderfully spun web of intrigue and suspense written by Stephen J. Cannell the reader is taken on an adventure that you won't soon forget.

I found the book imposible to put down for the 2 heart pounding days that it took me to read it. The book is very well written and easy to read. 2 thumbs up for Stephen J. Cannell on writing this soon to be best seller!!

Stephen J. Cannell brings back Shane Scully from his previous adventure in ‘The Tin Collectors’.

Scully lost his best friend and co-worker a couple years ago to an apparent suicide and it hit him pretty hard mentally. He is now suspended from the LAPD. While driving down the freeway, he has no doubt that who he sees is his dead best friend Jody Dean. Scully’s fiancée, Alexa, who happens to also be with the LAPD and is a recent Medal of Valor recipient, thinks Scully has lost his mind. Soon more evidence comes into play and it turns out that Scully was right. There is a group of rogue policemen, some of whom have faked there deaths, that are taking the law into there own hands, as well as making there own laws. Scully infiltrates this group. On the outside, Alexa is handling things.

Cannell takes you into the world of money laundering, drugs, and murder, while taking you into the deadly locales of South America. It was an entertaining and easy book to read. It’s not hard to picture a movie out of this story (obviously due to Cannell’s scriptwriting abilities). Good entertainment.

Recommended

I found this book almost impossible to read:the characters were either weird for weird's sake or just silly. The "heroine" was forever speculating on people's characters without a clue as to what makes people do what they do; she kept doing stupid things to further the (nearly non-existent) plot. I read and rather enjoyed The Thin Woman, but this book was not only a terrible mystery; it was a terrible book. For really excellent British mysteries read anything by Elizabeth George or Martha Grimes.

she's very good indeed, but sadly, this is not the best example of that! It's still readable, however, at least in my opinion.

A standard device in fiction is that of the baby left on a doorstep, who, upon reaching adulthood, or something reasonably approaching that state, sets out to find the birth parents.

The author hangs a 'Pastoral Mystery" (the sub-title of the book) on this premise. Set in rural modern-day England at a country house, Cloisters, (once a monastery, of course), the past is nearly as important as the present, with generations of the same family and/or townspeople laying the groundwork for the secrecy surrounding the parentage of the heroine, Tessa Fields.

Left on the doorstep of a vicarage, Tessa is told just such an engaging story throughout her life. Her adoptive 'Mum' dies when Tessa is just 11, and she is cared for thereafter by her 'Dad', the vicar, and his housekeeper, Fergy. A short stint in London as a career girl includes time spent at The Heritage, an antique shop run by the large and shambling Angus Hunt. All is for naught, however, in the face of the increasing pressure Tessa puts on herself to discover her real parentage. A closet romantic, she makes frequent references to such unrelated Regency-period staples as highwaymen and Lord Byron.

Cannell is a master (mistress?) at inventing eccentric characters; the Tramwell sisters, Primrose and Hyacinth, loom large in Tessa's story, as does Butler (the not-quite reformed burglar who stays on as the butler); Chantal, the beautiful and clairvoyant young gypsy woman, who is in love with Tessa's own love, Harry, and who supports herself as cook at Cloisters while earning her master's degree; Harry himself, (the missing unidentified heir); Bertie, another adopted youngster who has an imaginary friend, Fred, who nearly gets them all killed, and so on. In other words, your typical English house-party guest list.

At times, Tessa is a bit much, and you may wish for the end of the book to please hurry up and get to you, but overall, this is still an engaging and witty book. It could have used better editing; if misspellings get on your nerves, you'll find yourself becoming more aggravated than most readers. Nevertheless, all does end reasonably well, for Tessa does discover her birth mum and her own real love, almost simultaneously. They also discover a secret treasure which guarantees the continuance--for years to come--of Cloisters, but with the roof finally mended.

I'm not sure what happened here. I actually wanted to rate this two stars and a half, but that's not possible, so I've decided to be generous. For the characters in this book were likable enough but the plot and story was slow and awkward, and frankly, I became very bored halfway through the book and had to put it down for a few days before I could finish it. The strange thing is that when I read Ms. Cannell's next book, a second Ellie Haskell mystery, it was so good, exactly the quality I had been expecting from Down The Garden Path. I think Ms. Cannell's Ellie Haskell books are her best and there her talent shows. But as for the others...quite frankly, God Save the Queen was even worse than this one in it's way.