Ethelred and Elsie mysteries

In this Edgar-nominated cozy series opener, a second-rate British crime novelist and his quirky agent investigate his devious ex-wife's murder. A mediocre mystery-writer (and thus a purveyor of red herrings), Ethelred Tressider has even less interest in writing his books than his (dwindling) fan base has in reading them, and his agent-the pesky, nosy, vulgar, chocolate-chomping Elsie-has no interest in them at all. But with a name like Ethelred,...

From the author of Ten Little Herrings, murder is on the menu when a two-bit British crime writer and his sub-par agent dine at a country estate. Ethelred and Elsie are an unlikely duo: he's a deeply mediocre mystery writer, and she's his deeply nosy, chocolate-chomping agent. And yet they are stuck with one another, if only because their combined sleuthing abilities are much more impressive than anything either one of them can come up with alone....

"You don't believe me, do you?" asked Henry. "That I might have killed somebody." Well, really. The genuine murderer--the real pro--tends to keep track of that sort of thing. And he wasn't dressed for murder. The tweed jacket, the checked waistcoat, and above all the yellow bow tie they would have enabled Henry to audition as an extra in a 50s costume drama--a dodgy bookmaker, say, or a ne'er-do-well younger brother destined for exile to one of the...