From Publishers Weekly
A spectral summons leads to family secrets in Cannell's 11th beguiling outing (after The Trouble with Harriet) for British interior decorator Ellie Haskell. Ellie hasn't thought about her late grandmother Sophia's three bridesmaidsARosemary, Thora and JaneAin years. Then she receives a letter from Rosemary telling her that Sophia is trying to contact her from beyond the grave. With her saucy, uninvited helper, Mrs. Malloy, in tow, Ellie travels to the ancient Cambridgeshire village of Knells to investigate. She finds the people of Knells abuzz over the plans of social upstart Sir Clifford Heath, a rapacious financier, to buy up the town in order to turn it into a theme parkAapparently because he has a grudge against the community that snubbed him as a poor lad. From local gossip, Ellie learns that Sir Clifford has links to her own family, in particular the untimely, mysterious death of her mother. With its ancient setting, complicated story, mysterious old houses, hidden diaries, simmering passions, spooky emanations and love matches gone awry, the tale sometimes reads like Wuthering Heights on steroids. Still, Cannell's smooth narration and her appealing, smart-mouthed characters charm you into suspending disbelief. The result is a thoroughly delightful puzzle. Mystery Guild selection; 11-city tour. (June 15)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
For fifteen years the award-winning author of
The Thin Woman,
The Widow's Club, and
Down the Garden Path has enchanted readers across the country. Her latest,
Bridemaids Revisited, secures her place as the doyenne of malice domestic. With handsome husband Bentley spending quality father-and-twins time away at a jolly holiday camp, Ellie Haskell plans on some quiet redecorating at Merlin's Court. But she's spooked by a letter from three friends of her maternal grandmother, Sophia--half remembered as "the bridesmaids"--who say her grandmother is anxious to get in touch with her. The only problem is that Sophia has been dead for decades. Ellie sets off for the village where these old ladies all live together: a hearty outdoorswoman, a mousy veteran of three marriages, and the bosom pal who abetted Sophia's secret trysts with an unsuitable gentleman.
There, the bridesmaids hold a seance that spurs Ellie into piecing together Sophia's romantic entanglements, their tragic outcome, and a dark and deadly truth surrounding Ellie's own origins. Cannell adds to her "wonderfully dotty cast of characters" (
The Denver Post) in a mystery to die for.
