Murder by Suspicion

August 24, 2015
At the start of Heley’s intricate 16th Ellie Quicke mystery (after 2014’s False Impression), Ellie returns from an extended visit to America to find chaos at her suburban West London home. The house is cold, furniture has been rearranged, and, worst of all, her aging housekeeper, Rose, is much weaker than she was before Ellie left. Claire, the hired woman who was supposed to care for Rose in Ellie’s absence, has overstepped her authority and wants Rose and Ellie to support the Vision, a fundamentalist sect run by a charismatic pastor. In the course of a week, Ellie investigates the Vision, sets Rose’s situation to rights, and helps the police solve a couple of missing persons cases, putting her own life on the line in the process—all while suffering from jet lag. While minor characters aren’t fully developed, Ellie remains a formidable heroine, despite her rather slapdash and impulsive habits. Ellie’s own strong religious convictions, warm heart, and good intentions carry the day.

August 1, 2015
British minister's wife Ellie Quicke (Murder in Time, 2014, etc.) struggles to keep her housekeeper safe from a religious cult. Ellie's beloved housekeeper, Rose, is clearly nearing the end of her life. Relieved of her duties, she sleeps most of the day in her comfortable room off Ellie's kitchen. When Ellie goes to the U.S. with her husband, Thomas, who's attending a conference, she needs a caregiver to keep Rose going in her absence. But Claire Bonner, who failed as a nanny for Ellie's toddler granddaughter, is hardly any better with Rose. She restricts the frail housekeeper to a vegetarian diet, turns the heat in the house dangerously low, and spikes Rose's food with something that makes her disoriented. Ellie comes back to find her furniture rearranged in accord with Claire's peculiar religious beliefs. (All beds, for example, must face east.) Claire also has convinced Rose to make out a new will leaving the substantial fortune she inherited from her former employer, Ellie's Aunt Drusilla, to the church of the Vision, run by the flamboyant Pastor Ambrose. Knowing that Drusilla also left a sizable sum to her niece, Ambrose is quick to put in an uninvited appearance at Ellie's to tout the good works of the Vision and ask for a grant from her foundation to buy a house in Ealing. But no one is as quick as Ellie. Not only does she put the pastor out, she helps plainclothes officer Lesley Milburn connect the dots between the recent vanishing of Gail, a teenage neighbor of Claire's, and the earlier case of Jenna, who left Claire's former town of Perivale without a trace. When a third teenager vanishes, time is of the essence both for Rose and for Ellie. Heley offers another solid outing for Ellie, who isn't slowed down a bit by the passage of time.

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September 1, 2015

In her 16th mystery (after Murder in Time), Ellie returns home early from the States because she's worried about her retired and ailing housekeeper, Rose. It's a good thing, too. The hired caregiver, a member of a charismatic church, has been drugging Rose and had gotten her to sign a new will. Ellie is up to her ears in trouble, trying to undo the damage.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2015
When Ellie Quicke has the opportunity to travel to America with her husband while he attends a conference, she leaps at the chance. The only problem is that she can't leave her elderly housekeeper, Rose, who's nearly a member of the family. Ellie's daughter, Diana, offers a solution: hire her former nanny, Claire, who wants a position as a caregiver. But when Ellie returns from America, Claire has made a number of bold changesmoving furniture, denying Rose the food she loves, discarding some of Ellie's possessions. Ellie is naturally incensed, especially after learning that Claire is a member of a cultlike church called the Vision and is in thrall to its charismatic pastor. But when murder enters the picture, Ellie realizes that she and Rose could be in real danger. The latest in Heley's long-running series again draws its appeal from the mix of suspense, gentle humor, an unpredictable plot, and a brave and engaging amateur sleuth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)