Ellie Quicke Books In Order

Publication Order of Ellie Quicke Books

The Ellie Quicke mystery series is a series of cozy mystery and thriller novels written by the famous English author Veronica Heley. There is a total of 15 books in the series published between the years 2000 and 2014. All the novels of the series feature Ellie Quicke as the main protagonist. She is depicted as a widowed woman living in the suburbs of the city of London, England, United Kingdom. Before getting widowed, she used to be under the pressure of her critical husband all the time. Ellie finds the members of her family as extremely horrible, but since she has the support of her neighbors and friends, she does not lose her confidence. Over the years, she has been able to develop a wide network of her trustworthy associates who help her solve the criminal activities taking place in the city. Ellie always strives hard to keep the suburbs of the city of London a pleasant place to live. In the initial novels of the series, the central character of Ellie Quicke is described as a middle-aged and widowed Englishwoman. She is in her fifties and lives in Earling, West London in a house which is semi-detached and has gardens that face the St. Thomas’, which is a pretty church of the Victorian Gothic age. In the choir of the church, Ellie’s husband has always said that he could not hold even a single tune to save his life. Despite that fact, Ellie seems to be persuaded for joining the choir. She appears as a strong pillar of the pretty St. Thomas’ church. Ellie is also described by the author as a reliable coffee maker, but stops doing it if her detective works tend to intervene in her daily life.

At the age of fifty, Ellie is neither too tall nor very slender, but her old age would not help her to fetch a model agency that would hire her, in spite of the fact that her short and curly hair shine as an attractive silver and her good shiny skin. Ellie did not have a healthy relationship with her husband Frank, who was retired before his death. Frank used to take all the decisions for the both of them and due to this they had a rather unhealthy and difficult relationship. The author has depicted his as dead just before the beginning of the first novel of the series. Although, Ellie did not like Frank as her husband, he had left a wealthy fortune for her, which was close to one and a half millions. Ellie had a daughter named Diana, who always a demanding child and always used to become a cause of concern for her mother. Frank and Ellie had faced a hard time in trying to bring her up. Initially, they had to save their earnings in order to support Drusilla, the aunt of Frank. After that, Ellie had to face a total of 5 miscarriages. Throughout the novels of the series, Ellie Quicke is seen as a shrew and friendly investigator, who has the habit of making the right opinions about the people she meets. She goes on to marry her local vicar, who praises her kind and loving attitude and tells her that her Christian kindness shines throughout her personality. Ellie is often described as the Peacemaker by the people of the town and is seen as a reliable person to do all kinds of jobs that others feel reluctant to do. Ellie explains her habit of solving crimes in a different way and says that her success in carrying out the investigations is mostly achieved by chance. She often indulges herself in asking questions to the neighbors and always tries to put things in order. This is the reason why she has always excelled in her investigative works. Ellie makes an interesting and strong character, who tends to keep the things as simple as possible and ends up being on the winning side all the time.

The first novel of the Ellie Quicke mysteries was titled ‘Murder at the Altar’ and was published in the year 2000. It was published by the HarperCollins publishing house and introduces the main protagonist of the series, Ellie Quicke. The plot of the novel revolves around the lives of the primary characters Mrs. Dawes, Liz Adams, Ellie Quicke, Inspector Clay, Nora, Mrs. Hanna, Reverend Gilbert Adams, Ferdy Hanna, and a few others as well. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, a murder takes place in the city, which causes Ellie Quicke to take up the job as a sleuth and investigate the case. She finds that the mother of the murder victim is missing and the boy in the next door seems to much more than he is speaking. Ellie also finds a couple in the other next door of the crime scene, who argue over an important topic related to the murder case. Before the murder case, Ellie Quicke is depicted as a newly widowed woman, who used to be at her husband’s service all the time. But, after the death of her husband, she had become lonely and unsure about her future. She seems to be facing a difficult time from her greedy daughter and the demanding aunt, whereas the potential suitors were already gathered around her.

Then, as the murder takes place in the church opposite her house, she gets busy with the sleuthing work. Other than the arguing couple and the boy next door, Ellie thinks that she might have seen something important on the night of the murder. As she begins to take the matters more seriously, a more capable and astute personality emerges. Surely, there is much more in Ellie than people think of her. Soon, her own life seems to be in danger. The second novel of the series was published in the year 2002 by the HarperCollins publishing house. It was titled ‘Murder by Suicide’ and continues to feature the character of Ellie Quicke as the main protagonist. The plot of the novel is set in the city of London and revolves around the lives of the important characters Nora, Diana Quicke, Rose McNally, Tod Coppola, Mrs. Dawes, as well some others. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Ellie is depicted as getting shocked after hearing about allegations related to the vicar, according to which he is involved in an affair with the church organist, Nora. But after a short while, Nora commits suicide, which makes the matters worse for the vicar. Ellie Quicke takes the case in her hand hands and tries to decipher the clues and the weird and strange confrontations, in order to establish a connection with the truth. However, she soon finds she herself is in a great danger.

One Response to “Ellie Quicke”

1. Donna Rumney: 1 year ago

   great story line. I can’t wait to read the second book. Thank you.

   Reply