Murder in Mind (Ellie Quicke Series #13)

by Veronica Heley

Overview

In the new Ellie Quicke mystery, Ellie is forced to think the unthinkable about her own daughter, Diana . . . Could she be a murderer?

Ellie has always disliked the local big estate agent, aka Great White Shark, and is distressed when her daughter Diana announces that she is carrying his child and about to become his fourth wife. But Ellie is soon drawn into the family circle when one of the Hooper children dies in their private gym and another succumbs to a peanut allergy.

The police want to write off the deaths as accident and misadventure, but Ellie believes someone is targeting members of the Hooper family. Surely Diana wouldn't . . . or would she?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780102894
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	09/01/2012
Series:	Ellie Quicke Series , #13
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	519 KB

About the Author

Veronica Heley is actively involved in her local church and community affairs. She lives in Ealing, West London. Veronica is the creator of the ever-popular Ellie Quicke mysteries, as well as the Abbot Agency series. For more information, or to sign up for the author’s monthly newsletter, please go to: www.veronicaheley.com

Editorial Reviews

In Heley’s engaging 13th Ellie Quicke whodunit (after 2011’s Murder My Neighbour), widowed Ellie must deal with a ragtag bunch of guests under her London roof. The trouble starts after her irresponsible daughter, Diana, announces that she’s pregnant by ruthless local real estate magnate Evan Hooper. Though upset by the prospect of the thrice-married man she calls “the Great White Shark” becoming her son-in-law, Ellie finds herself helping the Hooper family after a suspicious fire consumes their house. She takes in Evan’s spurned daughter, Freya, and soon-to-be ex-wife, Angelika, but, as one disaster after another strikes the Hoopers, finds herself torn between the instinctive desire to protect Diana and the suspicion that she may be the culprit. Ellie is as spirited as ever, and her daughter as detestable, in this entertaining entry. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Heley’s latest, despite its Miss Marple–like heroine and British cozy style, is full of contemporary drama, suspense, and surprises

Booklist

"Heley's latest, despite its Miss Marple-like heroine and British cozy style, is full of contemporary drama, suspense, and surprises"

Booklist

Ellie Quicke (Murder My Neighbor, 2011, etc.) takes a break from redecorating to help the family of her daughter's fiance escape death. Now that her husband Thomas' family is due to arrive from Canada in a scant two weeks, Ellie dithers over how to house them in the rambling mansion she inherited from her Aunt Drusilla. But her musings over whether to mend or replace the dining room drapes are interrupted by her daughter Diana's announcement that she's pregnant with Evan Hooper's child and plans to wed the real estate mogul as soon as he can shake loose of his third wife, 20-something underwear model Angelika. The divorce has been delayed by the deaths of Fiona, Evan's daughter by his second wife, in a treadmill accident, and of Evan and Angelika's toddler Abigail, who was stricken by anaphylaxis after gobbling down a peanut-laced treat. Ellie worries that the two are connected, but of course the police pooh-pooh her fears. Even when Evan's second wife, Fern, dies of an insulin overdose, they insist all three deaths are accidents, leaving Ellie to take matters into her own hands. She swoops Angelika and Evan's remaining daughter, Freya, into her protective custody and asks former housekeeper Vera to come on board, behavior-disordered son Mikey in tow, to ride herd on the grieving brood. And when the Hoopers' house burns down, sending a concussed Evan to the hospital, Ellie feels time running out before a killer strikes again. Ellie's 12th is right on the money, with the heroine giving as good as she gets in her tangles with the boneheaded local constabulary.

Kirkus Reviews