What do you think?
Rate this book
Down the Garden Path
From the best-selling author of the perennial favorite The Thin Woman comes a deadly game of secretsOne of the most beloved names in the cozy mystery market, Dorothy Cannell has been credited with originating the genre. In this classic display of her talents she tells the story of Tessa Fields, a young orphan determined to uncover her true origins. With the help of the Misses Tramwells, two endearing elderly ladies, and the reluctant assistance of her secret love, Harry Harkness, Tessa hits upon a scheme that finds her feigning amnesia and recovering in the Tramwells's ancestral home. But it isn't long before Tessa smells a rat. Why does the butler creep around in his socks, and what was he doing in her closet? How does the coquettish maid know all about Tessa -- and even more about Harry? And why are these little old ladies so fiendishly good at cards?It soon becomes apparent that the game being played out in this proper English town isn't poker or whist -- it's murder. And with the deck stacked against her, Tessa must unmask the perpetrator before she's dealt a fatal hand.
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
33 people are currently reading
294 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Cannell
50 books253 followers(from Fantastic Fiction online)
Dorothy Cannell was born in London, England, and now lives in Belfast, Maine. Dorothy Cannell writes mysteries featuring Ellie Haskell, interior decorator and Ben Haskell, writer and chef, and Hyacinth and Primrose Tramwell, a pair of dotty sisters and owners of the Flowers Detection Agency.
(from Internet Book List)
Dorothy Cannell, a mother of four, grandmother of ten, and owner of a King Charles Spaniel, was born in England and moved to the United States when she was twenty. After living in Peoria, Illinois, for years, she and her husband recently moved to Belfast, Maine. Her first Ellie Haskell novel, The Thin Woman, was selected as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Twentieth Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.
Dorothy Cannell was born in London, England, and now lives in Belfast, Maine. Dorothy Cannell writes mysteries featuring Ellie Haskell, interior decorator and Ben Haskell, writer and chef, and Hyacinth and Primrose Tramwell, a pair of dotty sisters and owners of the Flowers Detection Agency.
(from Internet Book List)
Dorothy Cannell, a mother of four, grandmother of ten, and owner of a King Charles Spaniel, was born in England and moved to the United States when she was twenty. After living in Peoria, Illinois, for years, she and her husband recently moved to Belfast, Maine. Her first Ellie Haskell novel, The Thin Woman, was selected as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Twentieth Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
April 16, 2020
Tessa Fields is determined to discover her birth mother, who left her at her parents' doorstep when she was an infant. Now that she's broken up with Harry, the man she has loved all her life, she finds a clue that indicates that she came from a tiny village. And she's thought of a way to insinuate herself into one of the big houses, if she can get her former boyfriend to help her. So there is Tessa, convincing the elderly sisters Hyacinth and Primrose that she is an amnesia victim. But it's really hard to bring the conversation around to the question of who was pregnant 20 plus years ago, and that's what she wants to know. The fact that Harry's girlfriend works as a maid for the sisters is another problem, and so is the dead body of Tessa's former employer that she and Harry find in the local ruins.
March 28, 2014
This is a light, silly romance-mystery. Its OK but I like my lead characters to be a bit smarter and not so ditzy. I guess you could say that this is a sort of "Lucy" book but Tessa isn't as funny as Lucille Ball.
A baby found on the door step of a vicarage is raised to adulthood in a loving home by the minister and his late wife. She is in love with a young man who, once she is grown, falls for her but when he proposes (with a ring she herself admired), she spurns him, then when she decides that she must find out who her real mother is, hunts him down, enters her home and then is mad that he is with another woman.
But that doesn't stop her from asking him to help her in a mad and nonsensical plan to get herself into the home of two elderly sisters, who she has somehow with no facts to go on, decided know who her real parent is.
Somehow the improbably plan gets her where she wishes but if Tessa Fields had had any brains at all, she would have realized from the get go the two old women know what is exactly going on — and the man that she's in love with but can't act like an adult around has had a hand in some of the situations that she gets herself into. Then there is a murder, which thank goodness brings in some of the interest in the book because you discover the sisters have a lot more going on for them and Tessa is an idiot. She gets nothing correct, causes more problems and solves nothing.
I loved the Misses Hyacinth and Primrose Tramwell — they are the true characters in this book of silliness and at the end they decide to spice up their life by becoming a two-sister detective agency. Now I would read more books if they are the characters, but save me from Tessa Fields!
A baby found on the door step of a vicarage is raised to adulthood in a loving home by the minister and his late wife. She is in love with a young man who, once she is grown, falls for her but when he proposes (with a ring she herself admired), she spurns him, then when she decides that she must find out who her real mother is, hunts him down, enters her home and then is mad that he is with another woman.
But that doesn't stop her from asking him to help her in a mad and nonsensical plan to get herself into the home of two elderly sisters, who she has somehow with no facts to go on, decided know who her real parent is.
Somehow the improbably plan gets her where she wishes but if Tessa Fields had had any brains at all, she would have realized from the get go the two old women know what is exactly going on — and the man that she's in love with but can't act like an adult around has had a hand in some of the situations that she gets herself into. Then there is a murder, which thank goodness brings in some of the interest in the book because you discover the sisters have a lot more going on for them and Tessa is an idiot. She gets nothing correct, causes more problems and solves nothing.
I loved the Misses Hyacinth and Primrose Tramwell — they are the true characters in this book of silliness and at the end they decide to spice up their life by becoming a two-sister detective agency. Now I would read more books if they are the characters, but save me from Tessa Fields!
September 6, 2016
After a slow start I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I'd picked it from a list of books that are supposed to be humorous so wasn't expecting a "mystery" and I suppose it was a bit dry in a British sort of way. Lately, I've been reading a few fast-paced novels with page-turning gimmicks (that I always fall for) so it took a little time for me to find my way back to a descriptive meandering path of a story. Now I don't want to leave the grand old houses with their eclectic gathering of stuff, rambling gardens and equally eclectic characters living amongst.
September 26, 2016
Inconsistent - a bit like driving in stop-start traffic. It motors on for a bit, and then comes to a shuddering halt and drags for a while, before setting off again. Moreover, while the main plot seems okay, it's nothing special, plus, I'm not sure the murder actually added anything to the overall "finding her roots" story, which was actually more interesting before the body turned up. All-in-all, the Tramwell sisters and Butler are probably the best thing about the book, and are the main reason I've rated it three stars rather than two.
June 25, 2015
P. G. Wodehouse meets Agatha Christie with a pinch of Northanger Abbey.
November 7, 2017
Oops. I received recommendations to read the book, Down the Garden Path. So I ordered it and started to read it. Call me a reading snob, however when a book has misspelled words and incorrect grammar, I just lose interest. The book is a bit choppy and I almost broke my promise of when I start reading a book that I am going to finish the book. However I just kept with it. This book was a murder mystery with no reference to gardens. How can this book have been a highly recommended book for me. Didn't use my not so clever detective skills in solving the book since I really don't read mysteries. The reason, there is another book with the same title. Who knew?
October 24, 2022
The beginning of the Flowers Detective Agency. A of young woman hatches a crazy plan to try to find her birth mother. Unfortunately she is prone to view things through romance novel plots. What she doesn't know us who all knows her secret plan. She is spending a week with Primrose and Hyacinth. When a friend of hers is murdered in the nearby lane, all the characters come together to solve the mystery. It's like reading a Victorian mystery but set in current times (they mention Princess Diana)
April 20, 2018
Rarely has a book I almost set aside to return, ended up being one which makes me eagerly seek out more by the same author.
Drawing on all the Regency romance trophes and then setting them on their collective ears if not overturning them, nothing is what it first seems including the bushes and pillars crawling with mysterious figures.
Drawing on all the Regency romance trophes and then setting them on their collective ears if not overturning them, nothing is what it first seems including the bushes and pillars crawling with mysterious figures.
October 22, 2025
I'm not sure why the title says "Ellie Haskell Mystery, #2"... Ellie is not in it... but anyway, super cute! Funny, charming mystery. The main love interest was a little annoying at times, but not unlikeable. I love Tessa's masquerade plan and the trouble it brings! Fun read.
August 17, 2017
Entertaining cozy. Reminded me of arsenic and old lace.
December 17, 2018
If only all that wit was combined with a decent plot and a mature MC.
May 6, 2019
Excellent for a cozy, mystery.
October 8, 2020
Had some interesting eccentric characters, but the main girl was a ditz.
November 29, 2022
I'm enjoying Dorothy Cannell as an author. This wasn't a favorite, but still enjoyable.
February 10, 2016
This was a fun book, filled with what Elizabeth Peters calls "Lovely Lunacy!" I read the prologue and was baffled, thinking it too unconventional to read. I picked it up again later and had a great romp through this so-called "pastoral mystery." A young woman, Tessa, an orphan raised by a pastor and his wife, decides to search for her mother (she's not too interested in who her father might have been.) She concocts a ruse and enlists her sort-of boyfriend Harry to pretend to attack her so she can pretend amnesia and be cared for by two spinsters in "the Cloisters." All sorts of weird and scary doings take place with a long list of characters, but all with humor and "tongue in cheek" cheekiness.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and, having had the opportunity to hear Mrs. Cannell speak, recognize her wonderful sense of humor and adventure in its pages. The author is English, but lives on the coast of Maine.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and, having had the opportunity to hear Mrs. Cannell speak, recognize her wonderful sense of humor and adventure in its pages. The author is English, but lives on the coast of Maine.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2016
Ironically, I've ended up reading two "motherless" daughter books in a row. In Down the Garden Path, Tessa Fields is an adoptee raised by wonderful parents, but her adoptive mother has died, & Tessa has left home first to study and then to work. Her father and his housekeeper are moving to a new vicarage in another village, so she leaves her post and takes a break before joining them. In her quest to find her birth mother, she talks her friend and love, Harry Harkness, into helping her stage a situation that results in her having pretend amnesia so she can search in a nearby village where she believes she was born. Primrose and Hyacinth, the two sisters who take her in at The Cloister, turn out not to be the quiet little old ladies she first suspected. Her adventuresomeness, her on-again, off-again romance with Harry, as well as the butler, Butler, the cook, Chantal (a Gypsy), and other local characters make for some hilarious situations in this mystery/romance tale.
October 24, 2010
Liked it alright; not as engaging as The Thin Woman, and I can't quite figure out why. Perhaps it was the more distinctly-English vocabulary, which I'm not fluent in, or maybe it was the heroine, who wasn't as instantly relatable... but it was a good read, at any rate. :) The beginning is very densely-written, as well, so there are what feels like a dozen or so names bandied about, most never to return, and it was difficult to keep track of them in my mind (since one never knows *who* might make a surprise reappearance). We'll see how Book #3 goes...
August 24, 2014
Goodreads has the book listed as an Ellie Haskell mystery, which it most definitely is NOT. While I like Dorothy Cannell's writing style as always, I did not like the leading character, Tessa. The whole thing was a bit too much like a formula romance for my taste. The characters of Godfrey and his mother are stereo-typed to the sky and back and not in a pleasant way. Dorothy Cannell is better than this.
February 12, 2016
The old ladies were wonderful!
The butler was interesting, the rest of the characters were very strange. I was not fond of Tessa and Harry - Tessa was either very young and self centered or TSTL! Harry was a little flat with no dimensions.
Primrose and Hyacinth were fun and interesting!
The mystery was interesting and had lots of twists and turns. The murderer was unmasked and the motivation explained.
The butler was interesting, the rest of the characters were very strange. I was not fond of Tessa and Harry - Tessa was either very young and self centered or TSTL! Harry was a little flat with no dimensions.
Primrose and Hyacinth were fun and interesting!
The mystery was interesting and had lots of twists and turns. The murderer was unmasked and the motivation explained.
October 27, 2009
A tidy tale of murder, family secrets, card sharps and antiques, all taking place in the Cotswolds.
Although not as amusing as Cannell's Ellie Haskell mysteries, this tale of Tessa Fields and the Tramwell sisters is still worthwhile. The spinsters and their reformed Butler seem well suited to a life of deception and snooping, so I'll be happy to revist them in the future.
Although not as amusing as Cannell's Ellie Haskell mysteries, this tale of Tessa Fields and the Tramwell sisters is still worthwhile. The spinsters and their reformed Butler seem well suited to a life of deception and snooping, so I'll be happy to revist them in the future.
May 15, 2012
Tessa Fields is trying to find her birth mother to discover her true origins. Her friend and secret love, Harry Harkness agrees to help her with a scheme she dreams up of pretending to have amnesia so that she can recover at the Tramwells' ancestral home. A wonderful cast of eccentric characters.
August 20, 2014
Nowhere near as good as the first one. Confusing and story drags. No interest in the characters. I skipped the last couple chapters and just read the ending so I cold find out who did it and the answer to the other mystery within the mystery. Do not recommend reading this book. I am going to read the next in the series with the hope that it is as good as her first book
October 27, 2008
another great mystery in the quirky british genre. i have read other ones in this series, but stumbled upon this one recently and had to read it. it is the first one of the tessa fields series and i enjoyed it immensely.
December 14, 2009
I loved "The Thin Woman" so I picked this one up. It is Dorothy Cannell's second mystery novel. It doesn't have Ellie Haskell in it, but it is equally fun, wacky, and witty. Makes you wonder what the author is like as a person if her characters are so delicious. This was fun to read.
September 3, 2010
I'm not sure why the title says "Ellie Haskell Mystery, #2"... Ellie is not in it... but anyway, super cute! Funny, charming mystery. The main love interest was a little annoying at times, but not unlikeable. I love Tessa's masquerade plan and the trouble it brings! Fun read.
September 25, 2011
It was a nice read but not as enjoyable as the Ellie Haskell mysteries (this is NOT a book of the series!). The writing and the setting were good but the story itself was a bit too slow-going, even for a cozy mystery.
September 21, 2008
Ms. Cannell's characters are always a treat.
September 3, 2019
Slow moving as her books seems to be, not a fast read, but enjoyable to sit and savor the writing and characters.
Read
October 20, 2012Froth
February 1, 2011
The book description says this is the second book in the Ellie Haskell series and yet Ellie Haskell never appears in it! Still good though.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews