Dorothy Cannell, a mother of four, grandma of ten, and dog owner, was born in England and immigrated to the United States at the age of twenty. She and her husband relocated to Belfast, Maine, after years of residing in Peoria, Illinois. She took a writing class on a whim twenty years ago. Her debut Ellie Haskell novel, The Thin Woman, was chosen by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Twentieth Century. Ellie, who Booklist characterizes as half Miss Marple, part modern British mum, has appeared in more than a dozen mysteries.