On the HahaFiction shelf
The Thin Woman
Ellie Haskell · Book 1 · 1984
Audiobook available
Ellie Simons hires Ben Haskell to play her boyfriend at a family reunion. By the end of the visit, she has promoted him to fiancé. When Uncle Merlin later dies, his will offers the pair a country-house inheritance with awkward conditions, a hidden treasure to find and relatives who would prefer them to fail.
From the author’s blurb
“She stepped onto the page and included me in her adventures.”Read the full description at Dorothy Cannell on creating Ellie, Maine Crime Writers interview
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What makes it funny?
A boyfriend hired for one weekend becomes a partner in a six-month project. Ellie must lose weight, while Ben has to produce a novel without a single swear word. Her attempt to give the family a convincing success story has left both of them with some very literal homework.
The comedy at work
The will turns other people’s ideas of how Ellie ought to improve herself into rules with a fortune attached. Her invented engagement is suddenly difficult to abandon. An observant, self-deprecating narrator has to navigate that arrangement while her disappointed relations add their own complications.
Try this if…
For readers who enjoy English country-house mysteries, eccentric wills, hidden treasure and a romance developing amid family interference. Ellie’s dry commentary and hopes for a different life are substantial pleasures alongside the puzzle.
Good to know
The inheritance depends on weight loss, and Ellie’s relatives and self-image link her size with her chances of marriage. That pressure is central to the story.
A few distinguishing details
- A rented boyfriend becomes an inconvenient fiancé
- A country-house inheritance requires an unusually clean novel
More funny cozy mystery
Sources & further reading
- Nancy Eady review
Review
- Critical overview
Review
- Library catalog
Library catalog
- Publisher
Publisher
- Reader report
Reader discussion
- Author interview
Author commentary
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