A Jane Lawless Mystery — by Ellen Hart

• Oct-1989

EVERYONE AT KAPPA ALPHA SIGMA SORORITY HOUSE HAS A SECRET -- AND BEAUTIFUL ALLISON LORD HAS TAKEN HERS TO THE GRAVE. The police call Allison Lord's drowning a suicide, but her housemates at her University of Minnesota sorority insist it was murder...

• Apr-1991

"A well-conceived cozy. She writes about characters, some of whom happen to be gay, rather than setting out to write a lesbian story."
THE DROOD REVIEW OF MYSTERY
In this sequel to HALLOWED MURDER, an old friend invites Minneapolis restaurateur...

• Oct-1992

"A compelling story of family passions on a big stage."
MINNEAPOLIS STAR & TRIBUNE
Book three in the Jane Lawless murder mystery series.
In a darkened Minneapolis theatre, restauteur-sleuth Jane Lawless found aging actor Torald Werness dead-...

• Sep-1993

After seventy-five years of high-minded respectability, the Amelia Gower Women's Club is in trouble. One distinguished director has been strangled. Another has taken a fatal plunge down the club's elegant staircase.

As soon as restaurateur-sle...

• Oct-1994

When Cordelia Thorn ventures to Summer Green, Wisconsin, for a reunion with some old college friends, she finds trouble in paradise. Twenty-plus years have definitely changed things. Soap opera star Diana has become an alcoholic. Curt and Annie's mar...

• Nov-1995

"INTELLIGENT AND ENGROSSING . . . A VERY COMPLEX PUZZLE."

--Publishers Weekly



Everyone knows Arno Heywood. He's been a Minneapolis TV personality for years. So when he jumps to his death from a downtown high-rise, it's a shocker...

• Sep-1996

THE DEAD OF SUMMER

The first of the dead is wealthy Belle Dumont, who vanished from her home in the Minnesota woods only hours before she was to reveal startling news to her three grown children. The kids and Belle's lover deny any knowledge o...

• Aug-1998

A BLUE-PLATE SPECIAL OF DECEPTION, BLOOD ALLIANCES, AND MURDER Jane Lawless has worked hard to make her Minneapolis restaurant a success, and she's finally reaping the financial rewards. Yet even the demands and excitement of being a popular resta...

• Sep-1999

Jane Lawless is slowly recovering from a head injury gained after a run-in with a killer, working a limited schedule at her restaurant, the Lyme House, and trying to stay in touch with Dr. Julia Martinsen, Jane's former lover who wants to rekindle th...

• Feb-2001

Jane Lawless is a woman at a crossroads - her lover has left, she has finally recovered from a vicious attack sustained last year, and the holidays are closing in. With no one to help her ring in the new year, Jane reluctantly agrees to accompany her...

• Jul-2002

Ray Lawless, prominent defense attorney and father of Minneapolis restaurateur Jane Lawless, tries his biggest case yet defending an accused serial murderer and arsonist whom the media has dubbed "The Fireman." Ray's client is eventually convicted an...

• Mar-2004

Restaurateur Jane Lawless is thrilled to be catering the wedding of some family friends, Nick and Lauren Clifford, but when Jane arrives at the wedding, she's in for a shock of a lifetime-and one that could jeopardize her career. The food has been sp...

• Aug-2005

After years spent mourning the death of her partner, Christine Kane, Minneapolis restaurateur Jane Lawless thinks she's ready to move on. That is, until she finds a gun among Christine's belongings. The night before Christine died of cancer, three me...

• Dec-2006

Joanna Kasimir, an old friend of Jane Lawless, left Minneapolis years ago to make it big in Hollywood and, unlike so many others, she succeeded. Unfortunately, her stardom came at a price. Early in her career, Joanna was involved with a man who quick...

• Dec-2007

Minneapolis restaurateur and amateur sleuth Jane Lawless is in the middle of ringing in the New Year the best way she knows how-with her family, friends, and some excellent champagne-when the biggest financial backers in Minnesota politics break up t...

• Nov-2008

Jane Lawless is at her wit's end keeping her Minneapolis restaurants running while volunteering on her father's campaign for governor. With an eleven-point lead, the race is Ray Lawless's to lose, but all that changes when his rival posts a list of v...

• Nov-2009

Minneapolis restaurateur Jane Lawless is at crossroads. The rough economy has put her plans for a third restaurant on hold, and her long distance romance is on the rocks and quite possibly unsalvageable. Unsure of what to do next, she takes her good ...

• Dec-2010

The shock that Minneapolis restaurateur Jane Lawless is in for when Chester Garrity, her ex-husband, returns to a city that he swore he'd never see again is nothing compared to Chester's own. After their divorce many years ago, he took off with his i...

• Oct-2011

Restaurateur and part-time P.I. Jane Lawless is taking some much-needed time off at her family's lodge when her best friend, Cordelia, arrives with news that Tess, one of their good friends, has taken a nasty fall and needs their help with rehearsals...

• Oct-2012

DeAndre Moore came to Minneapolis from St. Louis with a purpose, but things aren’t going as he planned. When it becomes clear he’s in way over his head, DeAndre can think of only one person to call for help -- his Uncle Nolan’s business partner...

• Oct-2013

Although Eric and Andrew have been trying to keep up a semblance of normal life, they know their thirteen-year-old son Jack has been having a tough time of it since they separated. They’ve been concerned, but now they’re terrified -- Jack has run...

• Oct-2014

• Oct-2015

When Guthrie Hewitt calls on restaurateur and private investigator Jane Lawless, he doesn't know where else he can turn. Guthrie has fallen for a girl-Kira Adler. In fact, he was planning to propose to her on Christmas Eve. But his trip home with Kir...

• Feb-2017

Fiona and Annie return home from their one year anniversary trip to discover that their poignant proposal video has been posted on YouTube and has garnered hundreds of thousands of hits. The video is on the verge of going viral, and there’s enormou...

• Mar-2018

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 o...

• Aug-2019

Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Ellen Hart’s intimate storytelling returns in Twisted at the Root, where Hart’s latest mystery shows the importance of finding the truth. Everyone thought Rashad May and Gideon Wise were happily married. ...

• Sep-2020

Beloved heroine Jane Lawless finds that some secrets don't stay buried forever in Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Ellen Hart's In a Midnight Wood, the 27th mystery in this cultishly popular series.Minnesota private investigator Jane Lawless is...