CANR
WORK TITLE: TWISTED AT THE ROOT
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 8/10/1949
WEBSITE: http://www.ellenhart.com/
CITY: Eden Prairie
STATE: MN
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: CANR 313
http://us.macmillan.com/takenbythewind/EllenHart http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2013/10/fresh-meat-taken-by-the-wind-by-ellen-hart-amy-eller-lewis-detective-cozy-traditional-jane-lawless-kidnapping-suffer-the-children
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born Patricia Ellen Boehnhardt, August 10, 1949, in Minneapolis, MN; daughter of Herman C. and Marjory Boehnhardt; married Kathleen Kruger; children: Shawna Kruger Gibson, Bethany Kruger.
EDUCATION:Ambassador College, B.A., 1971.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and educator. Ambassador College, Pasadena, CA, teaching assistant, c. 1972-75; worked as kitchen manager at sorority house at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, MN, mystery writing teacher, c. 1995—. Also teaches in Compleat Scholar Program at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and at Hamline University, St. Paul, MN. Co-creator of the Minnesota Crime Wave television show.
AVOCATIONS:Cooking and crosswords.
MEMBER:Writers Union of Canada, Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada.
AWARDS:Lambda Literary Award, 1994, for A Small Sacrifice, 1997, for Robber’s Wine, 2000, for Hunting the Witch, 2002, for Merchant of Venus, 2003, for Immaculate Midnight, and for The Old Deep and Dark; Minnesota Book Award for fiction, 1995, for A Small Sacrifice, 1996, for Faint Praise, and 2005, for The Iron Girl; Golden Crown Literary Award, 2005, for An Intimate Ghost, and 2008, for The Mortal Groove; Golden Crown Literary Society Trailblazer Award, 2010; Alice B. Medal; named Grand Master, Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Awards, 2017.
WRITINGS
Contributor to books, including Murder, They Wrote, 1997.
SIDELIGHTS
Ellen Hart writes of two amateur detectives in her mystery novels; some books feature the smart, savvy restaurateur and lesbian detective Jane Lawless, while others revolve around Sophie Greenway, a newspaper restaurant critic. Hart draws on her background in the food service business in both series.
Hart has said she always loved reading a variety of books, including crime novels, but she came to a writing career in a roundabout way, after a disillusioning experience at a fundamentalist Christian college and working as a kitchen manager at a University of Minnesota sorority house. “What does a woman do when she has a degree in theology from a fundamentalist church?” Hart said in an interview published on her home page. “She marries a minister. Since that wasn’t an option for me, I finally decided to go to school to become a chef.” After twelve years at the sorority house, according to a biography on the Minnesota Crime Wave website, “she decided it was necessary to either do the real thing or commit murder on paper.” In a less tongue-in-cheek explanation, Hart told Lambda Book Report interviewer Andrea L.T. Peterson that she had wanted for some time to write. “I’d come to the conclusion that if I didn’t get down to it, actually try to write a novel, that I’d come to the end of my life with a major regret,” Hart said. So in 1987 she began working on a novel, and in 1989, readers were introduced to Jane Lawless in Hallowed Murder.
Hallowed Murder revolves around the drowning death of a University of Minnesota sorority girl; the police deem it suicide, but her sorority sisters suspect murder. Lawless, an alumnae advisor, comes in to investigate, aided by longtime friend Cordelia Thorn. The interplay between these contrasting characters became a popular aspect of the series; Jane is intellectual and emotionally reserved, while Cordelia, a theatrical professional, is outspoken and flamboyant. In Hart’s second Lawless novel, Vital Lies, Jane and Cordelia try to solve both recent and long-ago murders at a friend’s inn.
The series quickly found favor with reviewers. Of Vital Lies, a Publishers Weekly reviewer commented: “This compelling whodunit has the psychological maze of a Barbara Vine mystery and the feel of Agatha Christie.” This combination, according to some reviewers, could describe most of Hart’s novels. She invariably has Lawless unraveling the complicated relationships among a host of characters. In Stage Fright, for example, Lawless investigates a theatrical family when the young heir is found murdered on stage and an actor claims to be a long-lost grandson of the family’s founder. In A Killing Cure, Lawless looks into the machinations at a Minneapolis women’s club after two prominent members are found murdered. A Library Journal contributor noted that the latter book contains “strong characters, setting, and investigation.” Marie Kuda, writing in Booklist, called A Killing Cure a “top-notch” mystery upholding “the venerable whodunit tradition of maximal suspense and character development but minimal gore.”
A Small Sacrifice concerns a reunion among a group of college friends who band together to help one member, an alcoholic actress. The appearance of a male classmate causes tension among members of the group, and his subsequent mysterious demise prompts Cordelia to request Lawless’s help. A Publishers Weekly reviewer described the “absorbing” action as “driven by romantic and competitive connections that convincingly cross genders.”
Faint Praise, Hart’s sixth Lawless mystery, “is the best caper yet for the lesbian restaurateur and amateur sleuth,” according to Whitney Scott in Booklist. The events focus on the unexplained death of a television personality and an apparently coincidental series of security breaches, assaults, and murders at his apartment house. Writing in Publishers Weekly, Sybil Steinberg described the residents of Linden Lofts as “an appealing hodge-podge of eccentrics, lost souls, closeted gays, homophobes, cross-dressers and yuppies brought convincingly to life.”
Wicked Games finds Lawless investigating odd goings-on in her own household. After renting a room to a psychic, Lawless finds that the man’s sister has also moved into the neighborhood and is being questioned about the supposed suicide of her former fiancé. Then she discovers that the house she lives in was once owned by the siblings’ family; at this house, their brother fell from the roof in a crippling accident. Meanwhile, the bones of a young girl are unearthed in Lawless’s backyard.
Wicked Games brought Hart further critical praise. Scott, writing again in Booklist, described the plot as containing “eerie games of deceit, half-truths, secret pasts, and hidden bodies.” “Hart adeptly wraps up the puzzles,” noted a contributor to Publishers Weekly, “and she also keeps questions about Lawless’s private life sufficiently unresolved to lure fans back for the next installment.” Scott concluded: “This jewel of a lesbian detective series continues to flourish.”
The tenth book in the “Jane Lawless” series, Merchant of Venus, was published in 2001. Having broken up with her partner and while healing from injuries, Jane accompanies Cordelia to her family’s Connecticut estate to visit her sister, Octavia, who is, strangely, about to marry eighty-year-old Lester. What’s more, the sisters do not get along. When Lester and the wedding videographer are found murdered, Jane begins her investigation of the wedding’s peculiar guests. Harriet Klausner, writing for BookReview.com, described the author as “a genius when it comes to plotting a complex multi-layered story line in which each of the many subplots effortlessly” reconnect to the main theme. Klausner called the novel “a great mystery.”
In Immaculate Midnight, Jane Lawless finds that she and her father, attorney Ray Lawless, are targets for murder after a suspected arsonist and murderer whom Ray was defending commits suicide in jail. When Jane investigates, she soon discovers that the man may have been innocent and that the notorious Midnight Man may still be committing murder. Lynne Maxwell, writing in the Lambda Book Report, commented: “With numerous twists of plot, Immaculate Midnight chronicles Jane Lawless’s clever unveiling of the Midnight Man’s true identity.”
Lawless returns in An Intimate Ghost, this time trying to find out who spiked the food and drinks at a wedding party she catered. The drugs caused the guests to hallucinate and behave shabbily, and the groom dived into an empty pool and died from his injuries. Booklist contributor Scott wrote: “Hart keeps us turning the pages as she cleverly shows past sins contaminating current lives.”
The Iron Girl sets Lawless off on a new case when she discovers a gun among the belongings of her late partner, Christine. Lawless recalls that the night before her partner died, three people were murdered in a house that Christine was selling as a real estate agent. Suspicious, Lawless decides to look into the matter and soon is haunted by her dead lover: her investigation leads her to a woman who looks exactly like Christine. Although warned by her friend Cordelia not to hire the woman to work for her, Lawless ignores the advice “much to the gladdening of established and new Lawless fans everywhere,” noted Scott in Booklist. Klausner, writing on BookReview.com, praised the author, noting that with this novel, “Hart has written one of the best novels of her career.”
Hart continued the series in 2006, publishing the fourteenth novel, Night Vision. When former movie star Joanna Kasimir agrees to work in a theatrical production with Cordelia, she brings along a bunch of obsessed fans, including Gordon, who served eight years in jail for stalking her. Eventually Jane realizes she is in over her head and calls the police for assistance.
The novel, like its predecessors, received substantial praise. Stephanie Schneider, writing for RT Book Reviews, found that Night Vision “will definitely leave readers wanting to follow Jane and Cordelia on more adventures.” Booklist contributor Scott observed that “pitting sib against sib … gets highly dramatic.” Judith Markowitz, reviewing the novel in the Lambda Book Report, noted that regarding Jane’s relationship with private inspector A.J. Nolan, “it will be interesting to see whether, in future books, this relationship transforms Jane into a savvier investigator.” A Kirkus Reviews commentator noted that “Jane’s got a new girlfriend, and Cordelia’s been snookered by her sister Octavia once again,” but other than that, this novel “finds them little matured in their middle years.” Sharon Wheeler, writing for ReviewingtheEvidence.com, remarked that “if you’ve enjoyed the series to date, note that this isn’t the best by a long way. And if you are new to Hart, don’t start here.” A contributor to Publishers Weekly hoped that “Jane’s long-distance relationship with girlfriend Kenzie … will receive more attention in the next installment.” The reviewer called the novel both “entertaining” and “unpredictable.”
The following year, Hart published The Mortal Groove. When Jane’s father is convinced to run for governor of Minnesota, Jane, Cordelia, and their associates find themselves being targeted as Cordelia’s girlfriend is killed.
Several reviewers had positive words for the novel, but some also had reservations. A Kirkus Reviews critic commented that “Hart swings wildly from farce to thriller in this densely plotted family saga that pulls out perhaps one stop too many.” Booklist contributor Scott called the book “another solid entry” in the series, adding that “loyalty, fairness, and the law are compellingly probed in this increasingly thoughtful series.” A Publishers Weekly commentator objected to Hart’s inclusion of herself in the novel and also thought Jane’s girlfriend had too small a role. Nevertheless, the reviewer called the book “engrossing,” adding that “those are minor quibbles with an otherwise fun whodunit.” A contributor to the Mysterious Reviews website remarked that the location in northern Minnesota “seems out of place and somewhat inconsistent with the way the rest of the book is constructed” but conceded: “This minor point aside, The Mortal Groove is an outstanding example of amateur detective fiction.”
In Sweet Poison, Jane’s father’s run for governor is complicated by the appearance of one of his former clients, a convicted rapist, as a campaign volunteer. He becomes a suspect in the murder of another volunteer, but the victim was also having difficulties with her ex-boyfriend, who may have been involved in an antigay hate crime. Amid all this, Jane is having problems in her long-distance relationship with a Nebraska college professor, and then Julia Martinsen, Jane’s untrustworthy ex-lover, shows up unexpectedly in Minneapolis.
Some reviewers thought Sweet Poison would please readers simply looking for a good mystery but found that the novel also demonstrated Hart’s growth as a writer. In this “solidly satisfying entry,” Scott wrote in Booklist, Hart “plumbs deeper into the convoluted hearts and minds of her fascinating characters.” Noted a Publishers Weekly contributor: “Hart fans will enjoy the many twists, both personal and criminal.”
In The Mirror and the Mask, Jane’s new bartender, Annie Andrews, has come to Minneapolis from Colorado to look for her stepfather, who she believes was responsible for her mother’s death. Soon the man’s second wife is found murdered, and Jane and Cordelia find themselves involved in a complex mystery. Meanwhile, Jane becomes attracted to Annie, who is bisexual, although Jane still has feelings for an ex-partner as well. Cordelia is also going through emotional troubles, having lost custody of a beloved niece.
Several reviewers praised this entry for exploring the character’s inner lives while providing an action-filled plot. The novel contains “shifting family alliances, and deepening levels of literary finesse sure to please readers,” observed Scott in Booklist. The book’s mysteries, related a Publishers Weekly contributor, “explode in a grand finale with disturbing consequences.”
The Cruel Ever After finds Jane’s ex-husband, antiquities dealer Chester “Chess” Garrity, a suspect in the murder of a collector. He seeks Jane’s assistance; further complicating matters, he is trying to sell a valuable piece to Jane’s onetime lover Julia. Reviewers found this a worthwhile addition to the series, with a Publishers Weekly critic calling it “delightful” and noting that “the well-constructed plot builds to a satisfying conclusion.” Minneapolis Star Tribune commentator Carole E. Barrowman stated: “The rich details about food, family and place never undermine the swift pacing.”
The “Jane Lawless” series as a whole has received praise for its nonstereotypical portrayal of a lesbian protagonist. Hart’s characters, observed Liberty Press contributor Sheryl LeSage, are “just people … rounded and flawed human beings,” whether they are gay or straight. In the interview on her website, Hart remarked: “The gay community has been starving to see itself reflected in popular culture,” going on to say she hopes Lawless and other gay characters can further society’s “understanding of what’s it like to be something other than mainstream.”
In the 2011 installment, The Lost Women of Lost Lake, Jane and Cordelia head to a family cabin in Lost Lake, Minnesota, for some much-needed downtime. They also aim to help care for longtime friend, playwright Tessa Cornell, while her sprained ankle heals. However, they find that much more is troubling Tessa, though she will not say what. It is soon revealed that she is disturbed by the appearance of a mysterious man who says he is looking for a woman named Judy Clark. All too soon, Jane must solve a murder.
Reviewers noted more melancholy in this volume than is typical of the series. A Kirkus Reviews critic wrote: “A distinct improvement in this series, this tale is more coherent than its most recent predecessors … but also more somber in tone.” Booklist contributor Whitney Scott observed that “secrets within secrets ratchet up tension for new readers and devoted fans alike.” “This engrossing, thought-provoking entry … proves that long-running series don’t have to lose steam,” asserted Terry Jacobsen in a review for Library Journal.
Rest for the Wicked, Hart’s 2012 installment, finds Jane no longer an amateur but a newly licensed professional private investigator. Her first case involves carrying out an investigation for her partner, A.J. Nolan, as an old gunshot wound has flared up and landed him in the hospital. The case is a personal one for Nolan—his nephew was knifed outside a Minneapolis strip club. Although club dishwasher Elvio Ramos soon confesses, Jane suspects there is more to the story. Bartender Avi helps her solve the case and stirs romantic feelings in Jane. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that the cast of “complex characters—all living full, rich, and dangerous lives—bolsters the brisk, suspenseful story.” “Giving Jane more spark than readers have seen in a while, Hart … brings new life to an aging series and hope for future installments,” stated a Kirkus Reviews contributor.
In Taken by the Wind, Jane’s friends Eric and Andrew hire her to help find their twelve-year-old son, Jack, who went missing along with his cousin after a backyard sleepover. To their dismay, the police suggest they may have run away and thus slow their investigation into the kidnapping. Jane’s investigation—and tenuous new romance with Avi—are interrupted by the arrival of her discontented ex, Dr. Julia Martinsen. “A judicious balance of long-term development and short-term storytelling; even readers who come for the ongoing characters will stay for the mystery,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Whitney Scott, in a review for Booklist, called Taken by the Wind “a compelling addition to Hart’s always entertaining series.” A Publishers Weekly critic predicted that “some unexpected twists and turns will keep the reader guessing.”
The Old Deep and Dark, released in 2014, is the twenty-second Lawless mystery. In this entry, Lawless works with her lawyer father to uncover who killed country singer Jordan Deere, who just wrote a tell-all autobiography. Meanwhile, Cordelia has found three skeletons in the walls of the old theater and former speakeasy she is renovating. When a forensic exam shows that the three bodies from the theater were killed with the same weapon as Jordan, Jane sets out to unravel both cases.
In a review for the Curve website, Allison Fradkin had this to say about The Old Deep and Dark: “Plausibly plotted and sufficiently suspenseful, with a cast that presents plenty of stage presence, this book enters from and exits stage right.” “Hart’s theatrical milieu … has brought this long-running … series up to a new level,” remarked David Marshall James on his website Book Reviews by David Marshall James. “Brava to one of the best mystery novels of the season,” added James. However, a Kirkus Reviews contributor was less impressed with the novel, asserting that the Deere family carries “much of the weight of the narrative. That’s great for readers who buy into their family gossip but less great for those who’ll miss the sharp wit Cordelia displays” in other entries of the series.
The next installment in the series is The Grave Soul, which was released in 2015. Teahouse owner Guthrie Hewitt is concerned about his girlfriend, Kira Adler, who has had recurring nightmares about her mother, Delia, since she was a little girl. When Kira was five years old, her mother drowned in a ravine behind their house. While her family has always maintained her mother’s death was an accident, Guthrie begins to suspect foul play when Kira tells him that her mother is strangled by a family member in her dreams. Guthrie enlists Lawless to investigate Kira’s past, and before long, she gets in over her head with the Adler family secrets.
“All of Hart’s writing strengths are on view here, especially her full-bodied character development on behalf of nearly every person involved in the action, however tangentially,” claimed Cathy Ritchie in a review for the GLBT Reviews website. “Hart’s writing, story evolution, and character development are always top notch, and this book is no exception,” commended Rosi Hollinbeck in a review for the Manhattan Book Review website. And a Kirkus Reviews contributor felt that “the newly playful way Hart fleshes out familiar characters could help hook readers just coming to the series.”
In Fever in the Dark, Lawless and Cordelia work together to solve a mystery involving a coworker of Cordelia’s at the Thorn Lester Playhouse. The coworker, Fiona McGuy, who is the theatre’s stage manager, wants to know how a throng of strangers has learned of her proposal to her wife and come to their home to voice their opinions on it. It becomes clear that their proposal video has gone viral. Fiona’s wife, Annie, becomes worried about the situation and is horrified when her estranged family gets back in contact with her. Lawless must get to the bottom of Annie’s dark family history and find the persons who have been threatening them. Meanwhile, she deals with a persistent old flame.
Scott, the Booklist critic, described Fever in the Dark as “a tightly plotted, exceptionally engrossing mystery, one of the strongest in a popular series.” “Series fans will best appreciate Hart’s twenty-fourth Jane Lawless mystery,” asserted a contributor to Publishers Weekly.
Lawless helps a professor named Britt Ickles learn more about the cousin she is sure she remembers in A Whisper of Bones. Britt has asked her aunts, Eleanor and Lena, about her cousin, Timmy, but they tell her that he never existed. She hopes Lawless can uncover the truth about Timmy. Eleanor and Lena rent out rooms in their large house, so Lawless goes undercover to learn more about the family. Soon after, an arson occurs on the property. During the aftermath, human remains are found. Lawless and the authorities must find out if the bones belong to Timmy.
A reviewer on the Publishers Weekly website suggested: “Some neat misdirection, an engrossing plot, and the outsize presence of … Cordelia Thorn ensure reader attention to the end.” Doreen Sheridan, contributor to the Criminal Element website, commented: “A Whisper of Bones is a quietly nuanced exploration of love, guilt, and culpability as well as the push-pull of need between people who care for one another—whether they be family or lovers. It can be frightening and humorous in turn … but above all, it’s a compassionate exploration of the human heart in all its capacity for good and evil.”
Twisted at the Root finds Lawless working on a case of apparent wrongful conviction alongside her father, a defense attorney. When Gideon Wise was killed, his husband, Rashad May, was imprisoned for the murder, but new evidence shows that Rashad was not the killer. Lawless must find the real killer among a large group of suspects, one of whom is her troubled brother.
A Kirkus Reviews writer noted: “Hart uses the characters introduced in this installment of her long-running series to ramp up the creepiness.” “Distinctive characters and solid plotting underscore the strength of this long-running series,” commented a reviewer on the Publishers Weekly website.
Adding a second series to her work, Hart related on her website, “offers the opportunity of moving back and forth between two different though equally interesting worlds.” Hart began the second series with This Little Piggy Went to Murder, introducing amateur detective Sophie Greenway, a food critic, who, unlike Lawless, is heterosexual. Sophie’s old friend Amanda faces a crisis when mysterious events, including murder, suddenly affect her and her family. Maria Simson commented in Publishers Weekly that “there are some good, nail-bitingly tense scenes and lots of red herrings.”
In the fourth book in the “Sophie Greenway” series, Murder in the Air, Sophie’s husband, Bram, finds the radio station where he works bought by Heda Bloom, a wealthy woman whose son was accused of murdering his girlfriend years ago but then disappeared. Heda revives an old radio serial and fashions it to retell the story of her son and prove his innocence, while the others involved in the crime get agitated at the newfound interest in the case. Klausner, again writing on BookReview.com, observed that “there are plenty of red herrings, double identities, and sleight of the hand incidents to keep readers fully absorbed in Murder in the Air. ”
In 2000, Hart continued the “Sophie Greenaway” series with Slice and Dice. The Buckridge culinary empire is in trouble when a scandal dating back to 1963 is threatened to be released to the public. George Gildemeister, a staunch critic of the Buckridge family and its cooking, is found dead, and Sophie steps in to investigate. Klausner, writing on BookReview.com, commented that “while there are too many characters to keep up with … most are fully developed with their motives understandable.”
In Dial M for Meat Loaf, handyman Kirby Runbeck is blown up in his truck, and the mayor, who suffered a stroke the day after, confesses to the murder when he awakes. Skeptical, Sophie investigates and finds that the case is more complex than the police believed. Dawn Dowdle, writing on the Best Reviews website, remarked: “This story was well crafted. [Hart] had enough people involved to keep you wondering which one did it. I wasn’t disappointed with the ending, nor could I figure it out too early.”
The seventh book in the series, Death on a Silver Platter, finds Sophie’s friend Elaine distraught when her daughter attempts suicide. The pair take her to Millie, Elaine’s mother, to recover. After Millie announces that she is selling the family business, everyone becomes upset. Millie is later found murdered, and with others dying as well, Sophie becomes concerned about her own safety. Klausner, writing on the Best Reviews website, reported that “Hart can always be counted on to write a good mystery but Death on a Silver Platter goes one step further.”
In No Reservations Required, Valerie Fabian dies in a car accident with Ken Loy. Bob, her husband, blames Ken, even though Valerie was the one who ran through the stop sign. Valerie’s brother, Sonny, kills Ken in revenge, but then he also kills Bob when he threatens to call the police after finding out what Sonny had done. Sophie, who works with Bob at the newspaper, tries to find the link between the two murders. Klausner, writing on BookReview.com, stated that “readers will want to make reservations for this fabulous amateur sleuth thriller that provides strong twists that the reader will never see coming.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Children’s Literature Review, Volume 21, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1990.
Twentieth-Century Children’s Writers, 4th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1995.
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 15, 1993, Marie Kuda, review of A Killing Cure, p. 131; October 15, 1995, Whitney Scott, review of Faint Praise, p. 388; September 1, 1996, review of Robber’s Wine, p. 67; August, 1998, Whitney Scott, review of Wicked Games, p. 1974; September 1, 1999, Whitney Scott, review of Hunting the Witch, p. 72; July, 2002, Whitney Scott, review of Immaculate Midnight, p. 1826; March 1, 2004, Whitney Scott, review of An Intimate Ghost, p. 1133; August, 2005, Whitney Scott, review of The Iron Girl, p. 1999; November 1, 2006, Whitney Scott, review of Night Vision, p. 32; October 15, 2007, Whitney Scott, review of The Mortal Groove, p. 36; November 1, 2011, Whitney Scott, review of The Lost Women of Lost Lake, p. 27; October 1, 2013, Whitney Scott, review of Taken by the Wind, p. 40; October 1, 2014, Whitney Scott, review of The Old Deep and Dark, p. 40; December 15, 2016, Whitney Scott, review of Fever in the Dark, p. 24.
Books, November 15, 2008, Whitney Scott, review of Sweet Poison, p. 21; October 15, 2009, Whitney Scott, review of The Mirror and the Mask, p. 24.
Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2004, review of An Intimate Ghost, p. 63; October 1, 2006, review of Night Vision, p. 990; September 15, 2007, review of The Mortal Groove; October 1, 2009, review of The Mirror and the Mask; September 15, 2011, review of The Lost Women of Lost Lake; September 1, 2012, review of Rest for the Wicked; September 15, 2013, review of Taken by the Wind; October 15, 2014, review of The Old Deep and Dark; August 1, 2015, review of The Grave Soul; November 15, 2016, review of Fever in the Dark; June 15, 2019, review of Twisted at the Root.
Lambda Book Report, March, 2001, R.D. Zimmerman, author interview, p. 11; November-December, 2002, Lynne Maxwell, review of Immaculate Midnight, p. 31; spring, 2007, Judith Markowitz, review of Night Vision, p. 38; spring, 2009, Andrea L.T. Peterson, author interview, p. 8.
Liberty Press, February, 2010, Sheryl LeSage, review of The Mirror and the Mask and Sweet Poison, p. 19.
Library Journal, September 1, 1993, review of A Killing Cure, p. 225; August, 1998, Rex E. Klett, review of Wicked Games, p. 139; July, 2002, Rex E. Klett, review of Immaculate Midnight, p. 126; March 1, 2004, Rex E. Klett, review of An Intimate Ghost, p. 112; August 1, 2005, Rex E. Klett, review of The Iron Girl, p. 59; October 1, 2009, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of The Mirror and the Mask, p. 60; December, 2010, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of The Cruel Ever After, p. 91; October 15, 2011, Terry Jacobsen, review of The Lost Women of Lost Lake, p. 79.
Publishers Weekly, February 22, 1991, review of Vital Lies, p. 214; September 7, 1992, review of Stage Fright, pp. 91-92; August 9, 1993, review of A Killing Cure, p. 468; August 1, 1994, review of A Small Sacrifice, p. 73; November 7, 1994, Maria Simson, review of This Little Piggy Went to Murder, p. 70; October 16, 1995, Sybil Steinberg, review of Faint Praise, p. 45; August 5, 1996, review of Robber’s Wine, p. 434; November 18, 1996, review of The Oldest Sin, p. 70; June 15, 1998, review of Wicked Games, p. 46; August 23, 1999, review of Hunting the Witch, p. 52; October 2, 2006, review of Night Vision, p. 42; October 1, 2007, review of The Mortal Groove, p. 40; September 15, 2008, review of Sweet Poison, p. 48; September 7, 2009, review of The Mirror and the Mask, p. 31; October 25, 2010, review of The Cruel Ever After, p. 33; September 12, 2011, review of The Lost Women of Lost Lake, p. 60; August 13, 2012, review of Rest for the Wicked, p. 43; August 19, 2013, review of Taken by the Wind, p. 45; August 11, 2014, review of The Old Deep and Dark, p. 45; August 10, 2015, review of The Grave Soul, p. 39; November 7, 2016, review of Fever in the Dark, p. 40.
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), December 21, 2008, Kathe Connair, “‘Poison’ Is Puzzle of Many Passions,” review of Sweet Poison, p. E18; December 26, 2010, Carole E. Barrowman, “Mysterious Reads: A Plethora of Mysteries to Warm Your Winter Nights—and Keep You Awake Far Past Midnight,” review of The Cruel Ever After.
Women’s Review of Books, July, 1998, Kathy Phillips, review of Robber’s Wine, p. 32.
ONLINE
Best Reviews, http://thebestreviews.com/ (August 8, 2003), Harriet Klausner, review of Death on a Silver Platter; (September 4, 2003), Dawn Dowdle, review of Dial M for Meat Loaf; (September 6, 2003), Dawn Dowdle, review of Death on a Silver Platter.
BookReview.com, http://www.bookreview.com/ (August 18, 2008), Harriet Klausner, reviews of No Reservations Required, Dial M for Meat Loaf, The Merchant of Venus, Slice and Dice, Murder in the Air, and The Iron Girls.
Book Reviews by David Marshall James, http://bookreviewsbydavidmarshalljames.blogspot.my/ (September 18, 2014), David Marshall James, review of The Old Deep and Dark.
Booked on a Feeling, http://samsbookblog.blogspot.com/ (February 27, 2018), review of A Whisper of Bones.
Criminal Element, http://www.criminalelement.com/ (October 1, 2013), Amy Eller Lewis, review of Taken by the Wind; (February 26, 2018), Doreen Sheridan, review of A Whisper of Bones.
Curve Online, http://www.curvemag.com/ (April 22, 2015), Allison Fradkin, review of The Old Deep and Dark.
Ellen Hart website, http://www.ellenhart.com (July 24, 2019).
GLBTQ, http://www.glbtq.com/ (May 25, 2006), author profile.
GLBT Reviews, http://www.glbtrt.ala.org/ (June 17, 2016), Cathy Ritchie, review of The Grave Soul.
Katherine Kuzma-Beck website, https://katherinekb.com/ (May 29, 2019), Katherine Kuzma-Beck Hart, review of Twisted at the Root.
Kings River Life Online, http://kingsriverlife.com/ (March 17, 2018), review of A Whisper of Bones.
Manhattan Book Review, http://manhattanbookreview.com/ (January 13, 2016), Rosi Hollinbeck, review of The Grave Soul.
Minnesota Crime Wave, http://www.minnesotacrimewave.org/ (April 23, 2011), author profile.
Mysterious Reviews, http://www.mysteriousreviews.com/ (August 18, 2008), review of The Mortal Groove.
Mystery Guide, http://www.mysteryguide.com/ (May 25, 2006), review of Hallowed Murder.
Publishers Weekly Online, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (January 29, 2018), review of A Whisper of Bones; (June 14, 2019), review of Twisted at the Root.
Reviewed by Liz, http://reviewedbyliz.com/ (August 18, 2008), review of Death on a Silver Platter.
ReviewingtheEvidence.com, http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/ (August 18, 2008), Sharon Wheeler, review of Night Vision.
RT Book Reviews, http://www.rtbookreviews.com/ (August 18, 2008), Toby Bromberg, review of Dial M for Meat Loaf; Toby Bromberg, review of Slice and Dice; Robyn Glazer, review of Death on a Silver Platter; Stephanie Schneider, review of Night Vision.
Ellen Hart is the author of over thirty crime novels in two different series. She is a six-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery, a three-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Best Popular Fiction, a three-time winner of the Golden Crown Literary Award in several categories, a recipient of the Alice B Medal, and was made an official GLBT Literary Saint at the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans in 2005. In 2010, Ellen received the GCLS Trailblazer Award for lifetime achievement in the field of lesbian literature. In 2016, she was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America (read her acceptance speech). The award "represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as for a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality."
For many years, Ellen has taught "An Introduction to Writing the Modern Mystery" through the The Loft Literary Center, the largest independent writing community in the nation. Ellen's latest Sophie Greenway mystery is No Reservations Required (Ballantine). A Whisper of Bones, the twenty-fifth Jane Lawless mystery, was published by St. Martin's/Minotaur in 2018. Bywater Books hsa been releasing Ellen's latest titles in paperback, starting in October 2013 with The Mirror and the Mask and The Cruel Ever After. Also, Audible.com has been releasing all of the Jane Lawless mysteries as audiobooks. Ellen recently married her partner of thirty-seven years, Kathleen Kruger. They live in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Books by Ellen Hart:
The Jane Lawless Mystery Series:
Hallowed Murder
Vital Lies
Stage Fright
A Killing Cure
A Small Sacrifice
Faint Praise
Robber's Wine
Wicked Games
Hunting the Witch
The Merchant of Venus
Immaculate Midnight
An Intimate Ghost
The Iron Girl
Night Vision
The Mortal Grove
Sweet Poison
The Mirror and the Mask
The Cruel Ever After
The Lost Women of Lost Lake
Rest for the Wicked
Taken By the Wind
The Old Deep and Dark
The Grave Soul
Fever in the Dark
A Whisper of Bones
The Sophie Greenway Mystery Series:
This Little Piggy Went to Murder
For Every Evil
The Oldest Sin
Murder in the Air
Slice and Dice
Dial M for Meat Loaf
Death on a Silver Platter
No Reservations Required
Awards:
Named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America (2017)
Hallowed Murder
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
Minnesota Book Award Nominee
Stage Fright
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
A Killing Cure
Minnesota Book Award Nominee
A Small Sacrifice
Lambda Literary Award Winner
Minnesota Book Award Winner
Faint Praise
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
Minnesota Book Award Winner
The Oldest Sin
Minnesota Book Award Nominee
Wicked Games
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
Hunting the Witch
Lambda Literary Award Winner
The Merchant of Venus
Lambda Literary Award Winner
Minnesota Book Award Nominee
Immaculate Midnight
Lambda Literary Award Winner
An Intimate Ghost
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
Golden Crown Literary Award Winner
The Iron Girl
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
Minnesota Book Award Winner
Golden Crown Literary Award Wiinner
Night Vision
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
The Mortal Groove
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
Golden Crown Literary Award Winner
Sweet Poison
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
The Mirror and the Mask
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
The Cruel Ever After
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
Rest For the Wicked
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
Golden Crown Literary Award Nominee
The Old Deep and Dark
Lambda Literary Award Winner
The Grave Soul
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
Minnesota Book Award Winner
Fever in the Dark
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
A Whisper of Bones
Lambda Literary Award Nominee
Ellen Hart Bio
Ellen Hart is the author of over thirty crime novels in two different series. She is a six-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery, a three-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Best Popular Fiction, a three-time winner of the Golden Crown Literary Award in several categories, a recipient of the Alice B Medal, and was made an official GLBT Literary Saint at the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans in 2005. In 2010, Ellen received the GCLS Trailblazer Award for lifetime achievement in the field of lesbian literature. In 2016, she was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America (read her acceptance speech). The award "represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as for a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality."
For many years, Ellen has taught "An Introduction to Writing the Modern Mystery" through the The Loft Literary Center, the largest independent writing community in the nation. Ellen's latest Sophie Greenway mystery is No Reservations Required (Ballantine). A Whisper of Bones, the twenty-fifth Jane Lawless mystery, was published by St. Martin's/Minotaur in 2018. Bywater Books hsa been releasing Ellen's latest titles in paperback, starting in October 2013 with The Mirror and the Mask and The Cruel Ever After. Also, Audible.com has been releasing all of the Jane Lawless mysteries as audiobooks. Ellen recently married her partner of thirty-seven years, Kathleen Kruger. They live in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Q: Can you tell me when you first met Jane Lawless? Was she initially based on someone you knew? Of is she purely fiction?
A: In 1987, with my summers free because I was on University of Minnesota time, I began work on my first novel. Before that, I'd been someone who loved to read—and read widely—with a secret desire to someday write something myself. I'd come to the conclusion that if I didn't get down to it, actually try to write a novel, that I'd come to the end of my life with a major regret. Enter Jane Lawless. For developing character, I think a writer either mines her own life, or she creates the character out of whole cloth. Jane was a bit of both.
When the series started, I was thirty-eight. Jane was about the same age. We had many of the same instincts about life, although over the course of eighteen novels, she's moved away from me in many respects. She's richer than I am, better looking, and she's aged far better. I'm sixty-one now and she's forty-six. Ah, fiction. What we have in common besides those fundamental instincts which come, I believe, from midwest roots, is that we're both introverts. Jane was a hard nut to crack for me. She's been one of the toughest characters I've ever written. She's heroic, often courageous and generous, but she has her demons, which sometimes cause her to drink too much. I think Jane doesn't really understand herself all that well. She's buried many of her emotions in order to look and act as if she's strong, which is very important to her, as is the feeling that she's in control, but this lack of perspective leaves her with huge blind spots. She's complex. That's one of her appeals to me as a writer—she's constantly revealing new, sometimes unforeseen, aspects of her personality. Cordelia, the other main character in the series, I nailed immediately. She was always more available to me. She's flat out who she is. You either like her or you hate her. Jane fascinates me far more now than she did when I started writing her twenty years ago.
Q: What is it about the human psyche that draws us to the mysterious?
A: That's a rather large question, one that's been the subject of entire books. As Albert Einstein once said, "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all art and science."
More specific to the mystery genre, I believe human beings are innately curious. Since the element of mystery is the quality that keeps us reading any book, when you give it center stage in a novel, you get a step up in grabbing a reader's attention. That's one reason why we find so many mysteries and suspense novels on the bestseller lists. They are entertaining, compelling stories, but in a strange way, they're also comforting. When you enter the novel, you come upon a world in chaos. There's often been a murder or a significant crime. People's lives have been turned upside down. The story might not move from sadness to happiness, but you know that there will be a resolution. We all live in a world where resolution is hard to find. Thus, in a sense, mysteries give us something CNN can't.
Q: Once I was at a panel listening to Margaret Maron describe her plotting process, which seemed to be that she went where the narrative took her, though to me Maron is one of the better plotters around. I think you share a similar gift—there are always several threads, a red herring or two, and a shocker at the end of some kind. Are you as casual as Ms. Maron—is it a "gift" as Julia Spencer-Fleming explained it to me—or do you meticulously outline?
A: This is a conversation that I've had with so many writers. I'm not sure if anyone does it exactly the same way, but I'm far more in the Maron camp than I am in the school that outlines. I've never outlined any of my books. I start with the crime, the motives—I cast the book around that. I write to a title, so for me, the title becomes something I riff off of, something that helps me thematically. I usually need to think about a book for a month or two, sometimes longer, before I can begin. I seem to reach a place in my mind, where the book comes together enough for me to begin. I don't know how I do it. I need a clear idea of the hook, the first chapter, and the next few chapters as well. Beyond that, it's all a dark road. I sometimes know the end, but never how I'll get there. In a way, I put the characters on stage and watch them behave. I know generally what needs to happen, but the book unfolds as I write it. If I outlined, I don't think I'd be all that interested in writing the book. I remember reading about Alfred Hitchcock. (I love reading about directors. They seem to do many of the same things writers do to create a story.) He'd get all his shots lined up, do the story board, nail everything down, and then he'd lose interest. Shooting the film was anti-climactic. That's how I'd feel if I outlined. There would be no surprises. The surprises, the twists and turns, make me want to get up every morning and write. If I'm surprised, I hope my readers will be, too. On the other hand, writing process is completely idiosyncratic. Students often come to my classes looking for concrete answers. I can help them with craft, but I can't teach them to write. They have to do that themselves—by writing.
Q: How do you work? Writing a few hours every day? Wait for inspiration? Write until you run dry and then pick up the next day?
A: I guess the answer is, it depends on where I am in a book. If I'm just starting out, just beginning to feel my way into the story, I only write an hour or two a day. As the story starts to pick up steam, as I begin to see where I need to go, I work longer hours. I don't always write every day, especially when I'm out of town doing publicity events, but certainly I try not to let more than a few days go by without writing. If you give yourself lots of time off, you run the risk of loosing the story threads, and that can spell disaster. It's one reason why young writers, who quit working on a book because they don't feel inspired, or they can't find the time, so often drift away from the book and never come back.
I only know two ways to write. You either decide you're going to spend "x" number of hours a day sitting at your computer, or you decide to write until you've done a thousand, two thousand—or whatever—words. If it takes three hours to get that many words written, great. You're done. If it takes you until midnight, well, then you work until midnight. I write relatively short chapters. That's stylistic, simply the way I like to structure scenes. When I'm into the book and everything is cooking, I try to do a chapter a day. That could be anywhere from a thousand to two thousand words. Writing much beyond that usually doesn't get me anywhere I truly want to go. And no, I don't wait for inspiration. As a working writer, you have to sit down and write whether you're feeling inspired or not. You hope, you may even pray, for inspiration. Some days it comes, some days it doesn't. On the days it does come, you better be sitting down at your laptop when it hits. But you have to make progress either way.
Q: How do you stay focused and disciplined?
A: I think if you're passionate about what you're writing, if you love words, working with them, shaping and crafting a story, it's not all that difficult to stay focused. But here's the deal. I'm a normally disciplined person when it comes to most things. I've been teaching a class called "Writing the Modern Mystery" for fourteen years. During that time I've come across many wonderful writers. What I don't know about those people is—do they have the discipline to actually spend the time to finish the book. It may sound simplistic, but it's the people who finish books who ultimately get published, not people who work erratically on a story year after year. You have to be a self-starter. In my opinion, you have to take the decision—to write or not to write—off the table. You make a commitment: Every Monday and Thursday evening I will write for two hours. Or every Saturday afternoon I will spend four hours working on my book. No excuses. Now, of course, life doesn't always work like that, but the more you can do to take the decision away from yourself, the better off you'll be if you have trouble with discipline.
Q: As a most appreciative reader, I feel like your characters are people I know. Sometimes in the middle of the book a scene from the book comes back and its like it really happened to someone I know. You must feel like you live with these people/characters. Does that sometimes feel a bit schizophrenic? Living in your world one day/hour/minute and living in Jane's the next?
A: No, not schizophrenic. When I'm working on a book, I never feel lonely. Those characters are real to me, as real as I hope they feel to my readers. It feels very much like I'm involved in a conversation all day. I go to bed thinking about my characters. I don't want to get all mystical, but characters do take on a certain life of their own. Books aren't written by magic, of course, but magic is certainly part of the equation. While we're on that subject, let me just say that I've always felt that some books do have a piece of magic in them—they're more than the sum of their parts. I don't know how that magic happens. I've written twenty-six novels. Some of the books have that x-quality, some don't. Part of it is the set-up. When you're writing commercial fiction, you don't get years for ideas to percolate, so you grab the set-up that appeals to you the most and go with it. Sometimes you're able to realize the initial idea better than others. Mostly, however, I think it has to do with the emotion of the characters--making your readers feel something fundamental, something real and personal. Mysteries are entertainment, but books feed us in different ways. I guess, with my novels, I hope my reader comes away feeling they've been on a great ride, that they've had a few laughs along the way, but also I'd like to think that, long after they put the book down, that they'll continue to think about a character or a situation—about what it is to be human.
Q: You don't have to answer this one, but do ever feel your books are marginalized a bit because Jane is gay? Or is it an advantage to have that extra "niche"? I feel your books are as strong, if not stronger, than some better known authors who write what I think of as kind of "half" cozies—kind of a cozy setting, but the outlook and character development is complex and layered, more thoughtful by far than a light read.
A: I agree with your description of my books. They're not cozy, but not hard-boiled either. Maybe they're soft-boiled. And yes, the Jane Lawless series has been marginalized because the main character is gay. Many people won't read them because of that. In fact, I do a lot of traveling with two other authors. William Kent Krueger and Carl Brookins. When we give a presentation, it's always interesting to watch the people who come up afterwards. Some of them won't even touch my books. It's like they're made of plutonium. Had I written the same stories with a straight character, I would probably be making a lot more money and be far better known. On the other hand, it's what I wanted to write. The novels themselves don't generally tackle a subject of direct interest to the gay community—and there are no sex scenes. I get slammed for that, too, from the other side. I seem to be either too gay or not gay enough. It's frustrating when all you want to be is a writer—a writer who doesn't want to write her own life out of the story, but who also wants to live in the largest world possible.
Q: Can you share a craft tip that has worked for you? This could be how you develop your characters on the page, or how you plot your book, or a tip for creating dialog, etc.
A: My best advice? Read, read read. And write every day, even if it's only five hundred words. That way you stay connected to the story. I think one of the biggest problems young writers have is their lack of continued connection to their story. Believe me, you can get disconnected very easily—in a matter of a day or two. That makes it harder to get back into it, which makes it easier to put it off. If you write every day, you keep the ideas flowing.
Ellen Hart
(b.1949)
Ellen Hart is the award-winning mystery author of the Jane Lawless and Sophie Greenaway series. She was born in Minneapolis, MN in August 1949. Hart is a lesbian, and deals with related issues in her works.
Genres: Mystery
New Books
August 2019
(hardback)
Twisted at the Root
(Jane Lawless, book 26)
Series
Jane Lawless
1. Hallowed Murder (1989)
2. Vital Lies (1991)
3. Stage Fright (1993)
4. A Killing Cure (1993)
5. A Small Sacrifice (1994)
6. Faint Praise (1995)
7. Robber's Wine (1996)
8. Wicked Games (1998)
9. Hunting The Witch (1999)
10. The Merchant of Venus (2001)
11. Immaculate Midnight (2002)
12. An Intimate Ghost (2004)
13. The Iron Girl (2005)
14. Night Vision (2006)
15. The Mortal Groove (2007)
16. Sweet Poison (2008)
17. The Mirror and the Mask (2009)
18. The Cruel Ever After (2010)
19. The Lost Women of Lost Lake (2011)
20. Rest for the Wicked (2012)
21. Taken by the Wind (2013)
22. The Old Deep and Dark (2014)
23. The Grave Soul (2015)
24. Fever in the Dark (2017)
25. A Whisper of Bones (2018)
26. Twisted at the Root (2019)
Sophie Greenway
1. This Little Piggy Went to Murder (1994)
2. For Every Evil (1995)
3. The Oldest Sin (1995)
4. Murder in the Air (1997)
5. Slice and Dice (2000)
6. Dial M For Meat Loaf (2001)
7. Death on a Silver Platter (2003)
8. No Reservations Required (2005)
Collections
Murder, They Wrote (1997) (with Mary Daheim, Jane Dentinger, Marjorie Eccles, Sally Gunning, Jean Hager, Kate Kingsbury, Janet Laurence, Marlys Millhiser and Nancy Pickard)
Ellen Hart
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Not to be confused with Ellen Hart Peña.
"Jane Lawless" redirects here. For the installation artist, see Jayne Lawless.
Ellen Hart (born August 10, 1949) is the award-winning mystery author of the Jane Lawless and Sophie Greenaway series. She was born in Maine in August 1949. A professional chef for 14 years, Hart's mysteries include culinary elements similar to those of Diane Mott Davidson.[1]
Contents
1
Life and career
2
Series
2.1
Jane Lawless
2.2
Sophie Greenway
3
References
4
External links
Life and career[edit]
The author says of her work, "I don't write about the Mean Streets. I don't live there .... I don't do lots of blood and gore. I don't do sex scenes in any great detail. I'd never kill a dog or a cat. I guess you could call my style, maximal suspense and minimal gore."[2] Hart is openly lesbian.[3] Her Jane Lawless series features a lesbian restaurateur and her smart mouth best friend, Cordelia Thorn. The Jane Lawless series began in 1989 and is an early post-Stonewall example of the mystery genre in lesbian literature. Hart's novels deal with LGBT issues and five of the Lawless series have won Lambda Literary Awards.[4]
Dubbed the "lesbian answer to Agatha Christie,[5] " for her Jane Lawless series, Hart also pens the culinary Sophie Greenway mystery series. She frequently tours[6] and lectures on the craft of mystery writing. She has contributed to numerous crime writer anthologies including Resort to Murder: Thirteen More Tales of Mystery by Minnesota's Premier Writers.
In 2005, Hart was inducted into the Saints and Sinners Hall of Fame, joining literary greats such as Dorothy Allison, Felice Picano, Katherine V. Forrest, and others. At the 2007 annual meeting of the Golden Crown Literary Society, Hart was the keynote speaker.
In 2010, Hart was awarded the coveted Trailblazer Award from the Golden Crown Literary Society, an award given to other lesbian luminaries such as Ann Bannon, Jane Rule, and Lee Lynch. In 2017, she became the first openly LGBT writer to be named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.[7]
She is a founding member of The Minnesota Crime Wave along with local Twin Cities crime fiction writers Carl Brookins and William Kent Krueger. The Minnesota Crime Wave's TV show about mysteries and writing airs on CTV-15 in the Twin Cities or episodes can be seen at MinnesotaCrimeWave.org.
Hart has taught introductory classes for mystery writers at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis for many years. She and Kathy, her partner of over thirty years, lived in Minneapolis[3] until 2012 when they downsized and now live in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Series[edit]
Jane Lawless[edit]
Hallowed Murder (1989) – Lambda Literary Award finalist
Vital Lies (1991)
Stage Fright (1992) – Lambda Literary Award finalist
A Killing Cure (1993)
A Small Sacrifice (1994) – Lambda Literary Award Winner, Minnesota Book Awards Winner
Faint Praise (1995) – Minnesota Book Awards Winner, Lambda Literary Award finalist
Robber's Wine (1996) – Lambda Literary Award Winner
Wicked Games (1998) – Lambda Literary Award finalist
Hunting The Witch (1999) –Lambda Literary Award Winner
The Merchant of Venus (2001) – Lambda Literary Award Winner
Immaculate Midnight (2001) – Lambda Literary Award finalist
An Intimate Ghost (2004) – Golden Crown Literary Society Award, Lambda Literary Award finalist
The Iron Girl (2005) – Golden Crown Literary Society Award, Minnesota Book Awards Winner, Lambda Literary Award finalist
Night Vision (2006) – Lambda Literary Award finalist
The Mortal Groove (2007) – Golden Crown Literary Society Award, Lambda Literary Award finalist
Sweet Poison (2008) – Lambda Literary Award finalist
The Mirror and the Mask (2009) – Lambda Literary Award finalist
The Cruel Ever After (2010) – Lambda Literary Award finalist
The Lost Women of Lost Lake (2011)
Rest for the Wicked (2012) – Lambda Literary Award finalist
Taken by the Wind (2013) – Lambda Literary Award finalist
The Old Deep and Dark (2014) – Lambda Literary Award Winner
The Grave Soul (2015)
Fever in the Dark (2017)
A Whisper of Bones (2018)
Twisted at the Root (2019)
Sophie Greenway[edit]
This Little Piggy Went to Murder (1994)
For Every Evil (1995)
The Oldest Sin (1996)
Murder in the Air (1997)
Slice and Dice (2000)
Dial M For Meat Loaf (2001)
Death on a Silver Platter (2003)
No Reservations Required (2005)
QUOTED: "Hart uses the characters introduced in this installment of her long-running series to ramp up the creepiness."
Hart, Ellen: TWISTED AT THE ROOT
Kirkus Reviews. (June 15, 2019):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Hart, Ellen TWISTED AT THE ROOT Minotaur (Adult Fiction) $26.99 8, 13 ISBN: 978-1-250-30842-9
An inquiry into a miscarriage of justice links Jane Lawless' brother to a seedy crew.
Four years after the murder of Gideon Wise, his husband, Rashad May, is still in prison for Gideon's death. When restaurateur/investigator Jane Lawless (A Whisper of Bones, 2014, etc.) agrees to help her father reopen the case, she doesn't expect to develop her own stake in the findings. It becomes clear to her almost immediately that Rashad had little motive to murder Gideon, but it doesn't become correspondingly clear who did until a surprise visit from Jane's brother Peter leads to a break in the case. Peter is connected to the J.H. Chenoweth Gallery, and Jane has sussed out that, apart from Rashad, the gallery provided the only other access to Gideon and Rashad's home. Peter's reluctant to help when Jane questions consultant Kit Lipton-Chenoweth, the wife of gallery owner John Henry Chenoweth. Peter's had a thing for Kit for a long time, ever since Kit was the girlfriend of Eli, Peter's former dealer and, distressingly, John Henry's son. Peter's determination to carry a torch for Kit without ruining his good name may prevent Jane from clearing Rashad's name, but the able backup of her closest and most dramatic friend, Cordelia Thorn, gives her a fighting chance at the truth.
Hart uses the characters introduced in this installment of her long-running series to ramp up the creepiness.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Hart, Ellen: TWISTED AT THE ROOT." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2019. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A588726881/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c00862dd. Accessed 11 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A588726881
QUOTED: "a tightly plotted, exceptionally engrossing mystery, one of the strongest in a popular series."
Fever in the Dark
Whitney Scott
Booklist. 113.8 (Dec. 15, 2016): p24.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Fever in the Dark.
By Ellen Hart.
Jan. 2017.320p. Minotaur, $25.99 (9781250088635); e-book (9781250088642).
Hart's (The Old and Deep, 2014) twenty-first Jane Lawless novel finds lesbian PI and restaurateur Lawless helping her friends, Fiona and Annie, after their marriage proposal was somehow recorded and posted, going viral on YouTube and triggering both support and hatred. Since their wedding closely follows the Supreme Court's legalization of gay marriage, the resultant media storm creates havoc and friction in their lives as invasion of privacy becomes the norm, and they become divided about the news coverage. A dark element of dread and foreboding hangs over the story, foreshadowing a murder as Annie's secret past begins to emerge, and both she and her wife become suspects. Now Lawless must prove their innocence. Though some Lawless fans may miss the wise-ass, over-the-top humor of irresistible sidekick Cordelia Thorne, there are hints that she will return. On the upside, Hart was inspired this time to write a tightly plotted, exceptionally engrossing mystery, one of the strongest in a popular series.--Whitney Scott
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Scott, Whitney. "Fever in the Dark." Booklist, 15 Dec. 2016, p. 24. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A476563462/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f0bf79bd. Accessed 11 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A476563462
QUOTED: "Series fans will best appreciate Hart's twenty-fourth Jane Lawless mystery."
Fever in the Dark: A Jane Lawless Mystery
Publishers Weekly. 263.45 (Nov. 7, 2016): p40+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Fever in the Dark: A Jane Lawless Mystery
Ellen Hart. Minotaur, $25.99 (320p) ISBN 9781-250-08863-5
Series fans will best appreciate Hart's 24th Jane Lawless mystery set in Minneapolis (after 2015's The Grave Soul). Fiona, an old friend of Jane's, and her wife, Annie, start receiving unwanted attention when their marriage-proposal video goes viral a year after their wedding. The strain of being media darlings is further complicated by Fi getting creepy mash notes from an anonymous stranger. The one benefit to the exposure is that Annie's estranged family attempt to reconnect with her. However, Annie has a secret from her past that involves her psychiatrist brother-in-law, Noah Foster, which she wants to keep secret. When Noah is murdered--he's poisoned and shot--Annie is a prime suspect. But so is Noah's mistress, who was also one of his patients. Jane does some sleuthing, but she's more focused on running her restaurant business than solving the central crime. A subplot involving Jane's ex, Julia, is a welcome distraction in an entry that lacks tension, despite a bomb scare and suspicious behavior by various supporting characters. Agent: Deborah Schneider; Gelfman Schneider Literary. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Fever in the Dark: A Jane Lawless Mystery." Publishers Weekly, 7 Nov. 2016, p. 40+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A469757476/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=a788d471. Accessed 11 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A469757476
Hart, Ellen: FEVER IN THE DARK
Kirkus Reviews. (Nov. 15, 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Hart, Ellen FEVER IN THE DARK Minotaur (Adult Fiction) $25.99 1, 31 ISBN: 978-1-250-08863-5
A video gone viral forces a couple to confront one member's past and decide whether it means they can still have a future together.Cordelia Thorn is no stranger to drama. Her friend Jane Lawless is a part-time private eye who's relied on Cordelia's help in a number of cases. Though Cordelia's job is to run Minneapolis' Thorn Lester Playhouse, she's drawn to mysteries like the one involving her stage manager, Fiona McGuy. Fi's just returned from a trip celebrating her one-year anniversary with her wife, Annie Johnson, and the two are shocked when they're greeted by strangers at their house. Fi's sweet but very personal proposal to Annie has somehow gone viral, and folks are lined up to praise or protest the happy couple. Though Fi doesn't understand the big deal, Annie is horrified. So Fi asks Cordelia and Jane to try to figure out which emails they've received are from admiring new friends and which from frightening foes. When Annie's estranged family appears out of nowhere, Fi starts to get a better idea why Annie's been so afraid of the video's internet reach. Apparently Annie's been all but hiding from her family, and their arrival may be the prelude to a day of reckoning with one family member with whom Annie had a bad run-in in the past. All the while Jane is investigating Annie's and Fi's lives, her own life seems to be about to change, as an old flame returns, determined to rewrite her story with Jane. Hart (The Grave Soul, 2015, etc.) connects the events of the main story to a brief opening chapter presenting a savage murder, leading readers up to the attack and beyond while revealing the potential murderer's motive.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Hart, Ellen: FEVER IN THE DARK." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Nov. 2016. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A469865894/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=bea5c236. Accessed 11 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A469865894
QUOTED: "Distinctive characters and solid plotting underscore the strength of this long-running series."
Twisted at the Root
Ellen Hart. Minotaur, $26.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-250-30842-9
In MWA Grandmaster Hart’s enjoyable 26th Jane Lawless mystery (after 2018’s A Whisper of Bones), Minneapolis restaurateur and part-time PI Jane agrees to help her defense attorney father get a retrial for Rashad May, who was convicted of murdering his husband, Gideon Wise, after new evidence points to Rashad’s innocence. Shaky timelines, some conflicting evidence, and an extensive pool of suspects complicate Jane’s efforts. Unfortunately, one of those involved in the case is Jane’s troubled documentary-filmmaker brother, who suddenly shows up. As Jane angers locals with her probing questions, her sidekick, theater maven Cordelia Thorn, does her own sleuthing. Together, they track leads, ponder red herrings, and find there’s far more to Gideon’s murder than meets the eye. Another death and an attempted murder raise the stakes. A few seasoned pros may figure out whodunit before the end, but this is a quibble. Distinctive characters and solid plotting underscore the strength of this long-running series. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary. (Aug.)
DETAILS
Reviewed on : 06/14/2019
Release date: 08/13/2019
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
QUOTED: "Some neat misdirection, an engrossing plot, and the outsize presence of ... Cordelia Thorn ensure reader attention to the end."
A Whisper of Bones: A Jane Lawless Mystery
Ellen Hart. Minotaur, $25.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-250-08865-9
More By and About This Author
In MWA Grand Master Hart’s intricate 25th Jane Lawless mystery (after 2017’s Fever in the Dark), Penn State genomics professor Britt Ickles approaches Minneapolis PI Jane with a puzzle. Although Britt remembers playing with her cousin Timmy when she was a child at the Saint Paul home of her aunts, retired nurse Eleanor Skarsvold Devine and retired waitress Lena Skarsvold, they deny that Timmy ever existed. Britt asks Jane to find out what happened to Timmy. When Jane rents a room at the aunts’ house, she discovers that Lena is a hostile alcoholic; Eleanor’s depressed son, Frank Devine, is having marital problems; the next-door neighbor, Butch Averil, is a constant visitor; and the other new tenant, Quentin Henneberry, is fond of electronic surveillance. Amid rumors that the house is haunted, the aunts’ garage is torched, and bones are discovered under the garage floor. Although a coincidence pertaining to Butch strains credulity, some neat misdirection, an engrossing plot, and the outsize presence of Jane’s best friend, Cordelia Thorn, ensure reader attention to the end. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary. (Feb.)
DETAILS
Reviewed on: 01/29/2018
Release date: 02/27/2018
Genre: Fiction
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
A Whisper of Bones by Ellen Hart (thoughts)
Summary from Goodreads:
"Britt Ickles doesn't remember much from her only visit to her mother's childhood home when she was a kid, except for playing with her cousin Timmy and the eruption of a sudden family feud. That's why, when she drops by unannounced after years of silence, she's shocked when her aunts tell her Timmy never existed, that she must be confusing him with someone else. But Britt can't shake the feeling that Timmy did exist...and that something horrible has happened to him. Something her aunts want to cover up.
Britt hires Jane Lawless, hoping the private investigator can figure out what really happened to her cousin. When a fire in the family's garage leads to the discovery of buried bones and one of the aunts dies suddenly and suspiciously, Jane can't help but be pulled into the case. Do the bones belong to Timmy? Was the aunt's death an accident, suicide, or homicide? What dark secret has this family been hiding for decades? It all depends on Jane Lawless to unravel."
My Thoughts:
A Whisper of Bones is one of those books that I was intrigued by from the very beginning. With a great cover and a unique summary, I just couldn't help wanting to read this one. The idea of a woman remembering a little boy from her childhood only to be told that he doesn't exist was too much for me to resist. I just knew that I had to read it despite the fact that this is book #25 in this long standing mystery series. Happily enough, it didn't matter in the slightest that I hadn't read the previous books as I found myself sucked into this book with ease. The thing that I really liked about this book was the mystery portion and how unexpected that it all was. Jane is hired basically to determine if Timmy is real or not. That alone had me reading without stopping because I just couldn't figure out how she was going to be able to do that. Then the bones were found in the garage and I was seriously hooked. This book also featured some interesting secondary characters that I enjoyed reading about. I'm sure that without having read the previous books I'm missing some back stories there but it didn't detract from my reading experience in the slightest. Instead it just made me go and the first book to my TBR list to read soon. I really enjoyed my time with this book and found that I didn't want to stop reading. I loved the way this book wrapped up but I won't tell you much more than that so I don't spoil anything. I just found it to be perfectly tied up and it left me excited to read more from this series!
Overall, I found this book to be a really great mystery and a series that I want to read more of. I find it so surprising that I hadn't heard of this author until now but I'm glad that I found her books. I'm looking forward to picking up book one in the very near future. I do love that I have so many books to look forward to! Readers that are looking for diverse characters - this book features a main character who is LGTBQ. I thought it was worth mentioning because so many readers are really trying to expand their reading in ways like this - I know that I am! If you are looking for a unique mystery, I would definitely recommend this book! I think that this series is considered to be a cozy mystery series but I'm really not for sure on that. All I can say is that I really enjoyed it and can't wait to read more! Mystery, suspense, and cozy mystery fans alike should give this book and series a shot!
Bottom Line: An enjoyable mystery that left me excited to read more from this series!
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.
A Whisper of Bones releases today February 27th if you are interested!
A Whisper of Bones By Ellen Hart: Review/Giveaway
IN THE March 17 ISSUE
FROM THE 2018 Articles,
andMysteryrat's Maze,
andSandra Murphy,
andTales of Diversity SECTIONS
by Sandra Murphy
Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of A Whisper of Bones, and a link to purchase it from Amazon, and an indie bookstore where a portion of the sale goes to help support KRL.
Britt Ickles is in town for a conference. She was last here as a small child and vividly remembers Timmy, a boy about her age. She visits her elderly aunts, but they tell her Timmy is a figment of her imagination. Britt hires Jane Lawless to investigate.
Jane has her own restaurant but working as a private investigator is a much-needed change of pace. Britt can’t remember Timmy’s last name which makes looking for him all the harder. Jane rents a room from the aunts and hopes to find out more. During the night, the garage burns. Neighbors blame it on kids who’ve been leaving graffiti on the house and garage. They think the house is haunted.
Eleanor is the oldest aunt. She’s the responsible one, making sure the house stays in the family and taking care of her adult son, Frank, when his marriage gets rocky. Lena, the younger sister, is mostly confined to a wheelchair, but that doesn’t get her down. She’s a heavy drinker, when she can get the booze, a smoker, and has a foul mouth. She’s also decided she wants a tattoo. It appears the wild ways she had as a young woman have never gone away.
Pauline was Britt’s mother and the third sister. She never told Britt why she stopped speaking to her sisters or where Britt’s father disappeared to. He’d been an over the road trucker and could be anywhere but where he was supposed to be—home with them.
Jane’s ex-girlfriend, Julia, is ill. Jane doesn’t know many of the details but lets Julia stay with her during treatment. Whatever’s wrong with her could be life threatening.
Of course, Jane can’t have a case without her BFF Cordelia getting involved. She’s the one who referred Britt to Jane so there’s no avoiding it. This time, Cordelia is essential to the case.
When the garage burned, arson investigators found small human bones buried in what was a root cellar. Eleanor and Lena both deny knowing anything about the bones. When there’s a death, it could be suicide, an accident, or murder. Jane’s bet is on murder. Some people will do anything to keep a secret.
This is Hart’s twenty-fifth book in the series. Jane is an evolving character, learning new lessons from her changed relationship with Julia. Cordelia now has a niece living with her and that’s keeping her on her toes. Solving any case can be challenging, but Britt’s case pushes the boundaries because Timmy would be a grown man by now—if he’s still alive.
In the end, someone is always willing to tell a secret, and someone is willing to kill to keep it.
Hart also wrote eight mysteries featuring food critic Sophie Greenway.
To enter to win a copy of A Whisper of Bones, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “whisper,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen March 24, 2018. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address, and if via comment please include your email address.
Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section.
QUOTED: "A Whisper of Bones is a quietly nuanced exploration of love, guilt, and culpability as well as the push-pull of need between people who care for one another—whether they be family or lovers. It can be frightening and humorous in turn ... but above all, it’s a compassionate exploration of the human heart in all its capacity for good and evil."
Review: A Whisper of Bones by Ellen Hart
By Doreen Sheridan
February 26, 2018
A Whisper of Bones by Ellen Hart is the 25th book in the Jane Lawless Mysteries series (available February 27, 2018).
Take a visual tour of A Whisper of Bones with GIFnotes!
In this 25th novel of the award-winning Jane Lawless series, a young woman named Britt Ickles is sure she’s being gaslit by her only surviving family members, two elderly aunts. She distinctly remembers meeting a boy her own age named Timmy when she was six years old and back in St. Paul with her mother for her grandfather’s funeral. Timmy was her cousin and the only bright spot of what was otherwise a miserable experience. On top of the funeral, there had been a big family row, and Britt’s mother, Pauline, vowed never to return to the family home.
Nearly three decades later, Britt is attending a conference in the city and decides to drop in on her aunts. The older of them, Eleanor Skarsvold Devine, is gracious, but the younger, Lena Skarsvold, is bound to a wheelchair and bitter. When Britt inquires after Timmy, the sisters tell her that no such person ever existed. Confused, Britt happens to mention this at a cocktail party to Cordelia Thorn, the best friend of private investigator and restaurateur Jane. Naturally, Cordelia puts the two women in contact.
At first, Jane is somewhat skeptical. But after Britt comes up with conclusive proof that Timmy wasn’t a figment of her imagination, Jane agrees to take on the case. As the Skarsvold sisters let out rooms in order to make ends meet, Jane takes lodgings with them and starts snooping around. When a fire breaks out in the garage and bones are found buried beneath, she thinks she might finally have a lead on Timmy. But she soon discovers that very little about the house, its inhabitants, or its visitors is as straightforward as it seems.
I really enjoyed how Ellen Hart layered the different plot threads, from the main murder mystery to the suspicious behavior of the Skarsvolds’ neighbors (Butch’s story, especially, makes for compelling reading) to the illness of Jane’s former lover and current roommate, Julia. Ms. Hart writes with a wise eye, a kind heart, and most impressively, a deep understanding of the human psyche:
If Jane had learned anything in her life, it was how evil became lodged in the human heart. It almost always started with a story, a fiction that was created out of need and then the individual worked to believe it. Over time, that fiction replaced reality. The moral center collapsed. And ultimately, in the worst instances, anything in the service of that story was permitted.
And while that’s an apt generalization regarding evil and falsehood, Ms. Hart is not afraid to tackle the narrower issue of toxic masculinity and the structures that allow it to flourish even in the most well-intentioned of souls. Eleanor’s son, Frank, is trying to save his second marriage by going to therapy, but he finds it extremely difficult to open up in his sessions—often leaving him even more frustrated than before his appointments:
As he drove away from the building, he began to muse on all the smug, overfed, swaggering demigods of his youth. His grandfather had introduced him to John Wayne. Frank had never connected with him. He seemed too old. Too ridiculous and blatant. But Bruce Willis and Clint Eastwood had been an entirely different matter. He fed at the trough of their hard-core fearlessness. While Frank feared everything in his pathetic life—spiders, taunts from fellow students, his growing girth, his mother's expectations—these men feared nothing. He wanted to be them. And he loathed them. And that was, in essence, his problem. He'd never had a straight, singular, entirely unexamined thought in his life. He lived in his head, dragging his heart behind him like a forlorn teddy bear.
A Whisper of Bones is a quietly nuanced exploration of love, guilt, and culpability as well as the push-pull of need between people who care for one another—whether they be family or lovers. It can be frightening and humorous in turn (Cordelia, in particular, is a riot, especially when she decides to go undercover herself), but above all, it’s a compassionate exploration of the human heart in all its capacity for good and evil.
Book Review│Twisted at the Root by Ellen Hart
Dr. Katherine Kuzma-Beck Hart
no comments
May 29, 2019
This was my first book to pick up from the Jane Lawless Series. It can be a stand-alone book and I only was slightly confused by relationships and characters going in. It would have been helpful to have read the other books in this series just to understand the returning characters more. However, other than that I enjoyed this cozy murder mystery.
The Murder
Four years ago, everyone assumed that Gideon Wise and Rashad May were happily married. That is until Rashad was arrested for Gideon’s murder. Rashad is inevitably sentenced to prison where he remains for four years until Jane Lawless agrees to help her father reopen the case.
A Cast of Characters
As restauranter and private eye, Jane Lawless delves deeper into Rashad’s case, we are met with a cast of colorful, fun characters that all could possibly be Gideon’s murderer. Ellen Hart does a solid job at keeping us guessing as to who the true killer of Gideon actually is. What is clear is that Rashad May really didn’t have anything that would make him want to kill his husband. Jane is ready to dive deeper into the case when her own brother who has been strangely absent makes a surprise visit home.
A Suprise Visitor
Jane’s brother Peter surprises everyone with not only his visit, but also with a break in the case for Peter is connected to the J.H. Chenoweth Gallery. As Jane has already figured out, the gallery was the only other access that there was to Gideon and Rashad’s home. However, Peter is still carrying a torch for Kit Lipton-Chenoweth, the wife of gallery owner John Henry Chenoweth. He becomes angry with Jane when she questions Kit and it clear that he has held his feelings for Kit for a long time, ever since she was with Eli, Peter’s former dealer, and John Henry’s own son.
Book Information
Twisted at the Root: A Jane Lawless Mystery is scheduled to be released from Minotaur Books an imprint of St. Martin’s Press with ISBN 9781250308429 on August 13, 2019. This review corresponds to an advanced electronic galley that was supplied by the publisher in exchange for this review.
To snag special pre-order pricing follow this link —> https://amzn.to/2Mp1bL4