Eleanor Boylan Books In Order

Publication Order of Clara Gamadge Mystery Books

Publication Order of Plays

Eleanor Boylan is a mystery and thriller fiction novelist who is best known for the “Clara Gamadge Mystery” series of novels.

She has been penning her novels since the 1950s and over the years, her short fiction has been featured in “Ellery Queen” and “Alfred Hitchcock” mystery magazines and in “Yankee Magazine.”
In 1986, she published “Working Murder,” her debut novel, which would be the first in the very popular “Clara Gamadge Mystery” series.

Aside from her writing, she has also been a professional puppeteer and is credited with writing “How to Be a Puppeteer,” a children’s book that would be printed at least three times.
Eleanor raised her family in Massachusetts but in 1985, the family moved to Florida’s Anna Maria Island where she lived until her death in 2007.

She is the niece of the author of the “Henry Gamadge” mysteries Elizabeth Daly who was Agatha Christie’s favorite author.

Drawing inspiration from her aunt, she continued writing about Clara the intrepid widow of the lead in the Henry Gamadge mysteries.

“Working Murder” by Eleanor Boylan introduces Clara Gamadge, a woman who gets a call from one of her family members who wants to discuss an old family mystery.
It would have been her husband receiving the call a year earlier but the man is dead and only she can investigate the matter.

Half a century earlier, a girl had disappeared without a trace and it is not known if she ran away and still lives or if she was kidnapped or murdered. Her mother is desperate to know as she is very ill and needs the information before she dies.
Investigating the mystery, Clara soon learns that she is poking old wounds and needs to be particularly careful. She is following some frail threads that go back to Prohibition, rumors, love affairs, and family feuds.
It is a complicated mess with all manners of twists and turns that will have you turning the pages in thrall from the first page to the last.

Eleanor Boylan’s “Murder Observed” continues to follow Clara Gamadge. It has been a long time since Clara was in school but she remains forever young and continues to have close ties to Walcott Academy her alma mater and the old gang.
Springtime at the college campus is typically a time for relaxing but then out of nowhere suspense and murder fill everyone’s minds.

Typically, when Clara gets a letter from the sprightly and youthful Louise Littleton who is the headmistress at Walcott, she is just keeping in touch. But this time around, she calls to tell her about some bizarre circumstances.
Former Academy charity student Margo Llewlyn who is a fading movie star had arrived at the academy in a very desperate state. Panicking, she asked Lousie to take in her three girls while she intended to leave the country immediately.
Louise has dealt with parents who are very anxious to leave behind their children but this seems very odd. Things get even more interesting when a body turns up during commencement ceremonies.

Clara begins looking into the case trying to find out what had happened to Margo and what it had to do with the body found on the grounds of the Walcott Academy.

In “Murder Machree” by Eleanor Boylan Clara Gamadge is once again called in to resolve the mysterious death of an old friend.

While she is on vacation with her family, they are surprised when an old family friend named Armand Evers drops in. But the man is not there for some sun and sand as he brings a request for investigations.
Things turn interesting when Armand Evers is found dead after he predicts his own death. But Clara is not too sure if the body that they have found belongs to Armand or if it is that of Boyd his lookalike cousin.
He suspects that Armand may have disappeared or maybe predicted his own death for some strange bizarre reason.

Since Armand has not been on good terms with his sister, Clara dashes off to Dublin to warn this baffled and disturbed sister that Armand may appear at any time.

Her transatlantic adventure gets her into further baffling remembrances of things from the past confusing identities and a killer who could be just as stealthy as the Celtic twilight.
Penned in Agatha Christie-like style, it makes for a good read as the author pens a novel full of all manner of twists and turns that will keep you in thrall throughout.