Works by
Ellen Hart
(Writer)

Jane Lawless Series 

1. Hallowed Murder (1989) -- Nominated 1990 Minnesota Book Award for Best Crime Fiction; Nominated 1989 Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery
   The police call Allison Lord's drowning a suicide, but her housemates at her University of Minnesota sorority insist it was murder. That's when alumnae advisor, Jane Lawless, steps in to find out the truth. Assisted by her irrepressible sidekick Cordelia, Jane searches for clues, and what she finds is as chilling as the Minnesota winter. At a lonely vacation lodge, amidst the icy snow drifts, she risks her life to ensnare a cunning killer.

2. Vital Lies (1991)
   An old friend invites Minneapolis restaurateur, Jane Lawless, to her Victorian inn to celebrate the winter solstice—and investigate a murder from years before. Yet as soon as Jane and her theatrical pal, Cordelia, arrive, they face broken glass in the parking lot, dead animals in the bedrooms, a bomb scare—malicious pranks that eventually lead to another homicide. As falling snow blots out the rest of the world, and ghosts of the past rise up with a vengeance, Jane finds herself tracking the twisted psyche of a dangerous killer.

3. Stage Fright (1992) -- Nominated 1992 Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery
   Aging actor Torald Werness just had his last affair, his last drink, and his last curtain call. In a darkened theater, restaurateur-sleuth Jane Lawless finds his dead body impaled on a part of the set -- and herself a suspect. Yet Jane believes the motive for the murder lies within the dead man's family, a glamorous Midwestern theatrical dynasty, whose talented members give their best performances off stage. Jane and her uninhibited crony, Cordelia, start digging into the family dirt, and discover a tangled web of deceit.

4. A Killing Cure (1993) -- Nominated 1993 Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery
   After seventy-five years of high-minded respectability, the Amelia Gower Women's Club is in trouble. One distinguished director has been strangled. And another, the founder's granddaughter, has taken a fatal plunge down a third-floor staircase. As soon as restaurateur-sleuth Jane Lawless begins a bit of discreet snooping into these high profile murders, wheels within wheels start to turn, meshing the private lives of Gower friends and family with the club's inner workings and the wealthy Gower Foundations's covert agenda. Even Jane's new lover, Dorrie, is somehow involved. But best friend Cordelia hangs tough, and a good thing too, for the way things are going, the Gower Club murders may well branch out to include Jane herself.

5. A Small Sacrifice (1994) -- Winner 1994 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery); Winner 1995 Minnesota Book Award for Best Crime Fiction
   When Jane Lawless' wise-cracking sidekick, Cordelia Thorn, is summoned to Summer Green, Wisconsin, for a reunion of the Shevlin Underground—a group made up of Cordelia's five closest theatre friends from college—it quickly becomes evident that reminiscing is not all that is on the weekend's agenda. One of the friends, soap opera star Diana Stanwood, is an alcoholic whose condition is so dangerous that her friends have gathered for an intervention to save her life. Emotions are running high. As the story twists and turns around the elusive lives of these five college friends, one of them drops dead. Alarmed, Cordelia sends for her old friend, Jane, to do some quiet investigating. Together they follow their hunches into the not-so-carefree past and back to the troubled present, where they find a single match could blow up all their lives.

6. Faint Praise (1995) -- Nominated 1996 American Library Association Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Book Award; Winner 1996 Minnesota Book Award, Best Mystery/Detective Fiction
   When a well-known television personality meets with an untimely demise dressed in compromising attire, a sinister series events begin to unfold in the shadow of Minneapolis' famed Foshay Tower, entangling the Twin Cities in a web of deceit. In chic Linden Lofts, where the man lived, the other tenants are spooked, and Jane Lawless soon finds out why. They, like the deceased owner, have secrets to conceal, and the ghostly someone with a full set of keys who's scouting out their apartments may soon make that impossible. Can one of the Linden Loft's upscale professionals really be an aspiring blackmailer? Before Jane and her theatrical pal, Cordelia, can make sure, a brutal murder ups the ante.

7. Robber's Wine (1996) -- Winner 1996 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery
   When Minneapolis amateur sleuth Jane Lawless and her saucy sidekick, Cordelia Thorn, set out for the sleepy shores of Pokegama Lake in northern Minnesota to escape the urban swelter, hope for a little R & R quickly heads south. Before they've even had a chance to unpack, they find that old friend, Belle Dumont, has vanished, only hours before she was to reveal startling news to her three grown children. The kids and Belle's lover deny any knowledge of this mysterious bombshell. After being mislead again and again, Jane begins to suspect the entire family of hiding something dark—and deadly.

8. Wicked Games (1998) -- Nominated 1998 Lambda Literary Award, Best Lesbian Mystery
   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 restaurateur and living the good life don't bring the same satisfaction they once did. Jane needs a bigger challenge. A mystery to solve. The thrill of the chase. When Jane rents her third-story apartment to a new tenant, children's book author Elliot Beauman, she unwittingly opens the door to a sinister, decades-old mystery that has been waiting patiently to unfold—in her own house. Meanwhile, Jane assists a detective in tracking down clues about her new neighbor, Patricia, whose husband died under suspicious circumstances. Patricia is eager to become friends with Jane—friends or even a lover—though she knows Jane is immersed in a long-distance relationship with the attractive but secretive Dr. Julia Martinsen. Little does Jane know that the strange lodger upstairs, an attractive neighbor, and a volatile love affair are just the beginning of her problems.

9. Hunting the Witch (1999) -- Winner 1999 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery
   Minneapolis restaurant owner Jane Lawless has a knack for cooking—and an uncanny talent for detection. But assisting a private investigator has left her with a serious head injury...and vulnerable enough to say yes when a former lover offers to help her recuperate. She never suspects that returning to Dr. Julia Martinsen's TLC will take her out of the frying pan and into the fire. Nervous and jittery, the doctor is hiding something, and Jane—in love, but wary—needs to know what it is. Since desperate times call for desperate measures, Jane takes matters into her own hands and does some checking into Julia's life, both past and present. What she learns makes her blood run cold. Now, a man lies dead in an elevator shaft, the doctor is clearly in danger, and Jane can either turn to the bottle for a way out, or find a killer, before death becomes the final way to leave a lover.

10. The Merchant of Venus (2001) -- Nominated 2002 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery; Nominated: 2002 Minnesota Book Award for Popular Fiction
    
    Jane Lawless is a woman at a crossroads—her lover has left, she's recovering 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 good friend Cordelia Thorn on a peculiar holiday trip: Cordelia's estranged sister, Broadway star Octavia Thorn, has asked them to attend her wedding.
    
    Octavia getting married is no surprise—she's done it three times before—but her candidate for hubby number four certainly is. Roland Lester is a reclusive eighty-three-year-old retired Hollywood director, a relic from the golden age of Tinseltown with a controversial past. No one can understand how the two met, much less fell in love. When the bodies start to drop, Jane realizes it might not be love at all that brought the young diva and the aged director together, but something much deeper, and perhaps more sinister.
    
    Delving deep into film history, Jane finds unsettling connections between Roland and a murder that was never solved. Finding out what happened forty years ago could be the key to unlocking the mystery of Octavia's curious marriage, but laying bare such long-buried secrets also promises grave consequences for everyone involved.

11. Immaculate Midnight (2002) -- Co-winner 2003 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery
    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 and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, though he proclaims his innocence to the end, and a few days later, he kills himself in his cell.
    
    But someone in The Fireman's life can't let go, and, blaming Ray for the man's death, plots a meticulous revenge. Both Jane and her brother Peter, who is already under terrible stress because of a troubled marriage, feel the heat of the avenger's plan.
    
    But Jane is intimately familiar with danger, and she's never been one to shrink from a fight. With the help of her best friend Cordelia, Jane sets out to discover why this person is so determined to undo her family. When she begins to dig into The Fireman's life, the puzzle unravels, leading Jane to a final confrontation with someone bent on making the Lawlesses pay, perhaps with their lives.

12. An Intimate Ghost (2004) -- Winner 2005 Goldie Award in the Mystery/ Action/ Adventure/ Thriller category; Finalist 2005 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery
    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 spiked with hallucinogenic mushrooms and the drug-hazed guests are engaged in reckless behavior.
    
    When the groom takes a near fatal dive into an empty pool, an investigation begins and Jane turns to her best friend Cordelia Thorn for help in clearing her name. But when Cordelia's sister, Octavia, suddenly deserts her infant daughter on Cordelia's doorstep, Jane is on her own. Events take a turn for the worse when the father of the groom comes up against shocking accusations, and it's up to Jane to uncover the truth.

13. The Iron Girl (2006) -- Winner: The Golden Crown Literary Award (Best Mystery/ Thriller/ Adventure/ Action); Winner  Minnesota Book Award for Best Popular Fiction; Nominated Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery
    When Jane Lawless finds a gun in her dead partner's briefcase, she begins to wonder about Christine's involvement in the most infamous murder case in Minnesota history. On a sultry summer evening in late August of 1987, the Simoneau mansion was the site of a bloody triple homicide. In the weeks prior to that night, Christine had been working with the family as their real estate agent.
    
    As Christine lay dying in a hospital bed, the murderer was arrested. The trial was quick and final, the murderer sentenced to three consecutive life terms. Now, as Jane begins an emotional journey into her partner's past, she comes face to face with some hard truths -- truths not only about the real identiy of the murderer, but about her own life and loss.

14. Night Vision (2006) -- Finalist 2006 Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery
    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 quickly went from being an idle interest to a dangerous stalker. Nearly a decade has passed since she sent him to prison, but just as she is about to leave for her hometown to star in her friend Cordelia Thorn's production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," she receives one of his ominous calling cards.
    
    Joanna refuses to let him control her life—she can't. Not again. Tired after ten years of fear, ten years of hiding, she calls on Jane and former homicide detective A. J. Nolan, but they may not be able to protect her from a man who refuses to be anyone's one-night stand.
    
    And when they find out that Joanna may not be the only one on the run, their investigation quickly spins Jane into a deadly game of cat and mouse.

15. The Mortal Groove (2007 release)

Sophie Greenway Series

1. This Little Piggy Went to Murder (1994)
   It's election year in Minnesota, and Jack Grendel, the charismatic son of a Duluth shipping magnate, is running hard for the U.S. Senate. But as the countdown approaches, a pair of grotesque murders threaten to destroy him. One is the bizarre hanging of a consultant for Grendel Shipping. The other is the shooting of Jack's own father, rather too soon after he withdraws financial support from his son's campaign. In the ugly fallout from the crimes, Jack's charm shows signs of wear. His sister, Amanda, grows edgy and secretive. And more than ever, it seems that Jack's redheaded wife would kill to get him elected.
   
   Food critic Sophie Greenway, a family friend since childhood, observes these changes with sharp dismay and discreetly starts snooping. Amid rumors of corruption, adultery, and blackmail, a grim fact holds firm: one of her oldest friends is a killer. Which friend she may not discover -- until her own life is on the line.

2. For Every Evil (1995)
   The stylish new art exhibit at the Chappeldine Gallery pulled in all the important movers and shakers in the Twin Cities. Except one. Powerful critic Hale Micklenberg and his wife remained home, chatting with police about the bullet that had shot through their living room window. As Micklenberg had promised the show a bad review, he wasn't missed. Nor was he mourned when another bullet killed him.
   
   Food critic Sophie Greenway was troubled to learn that her own son could be involved in the murder. But so could a host of others, including the "unhappy" widow who was tired of keep a scandalous secret at her own expense.
   
   Guided by rumor, a bizarre phone message, and Micklenbert's obsession with an obscure artist, Sophie canvasses for a killer. Among the cheats, adulterers, and sleaze balls lurking beneath the civilized skins of her friends and colleagues, she find what she's looking for -- and it's a deadly surprise.

3. The Oldest Sin (1996) -- Nominated 1997 Minnesota Book Award, Best Mystery
   The historic Maxfield Plaza hotel in downtown St. Paul is packed to the rafters with two national conventions -- the members of The Church of The Firstborn, and delegates to the annual Daughters of Sisyphus convention.
   
   Five old college roommates are reunited: food critic Sophie Greenway, now owner of the hotel; Adelle, who married into the founding family of the Church of the Firstborn; Lavinia, mastermind of the Daughters of Sisyphus; and Bunny and Cindy, Lavinia's top aides. But when a death terminates one of the gang, Sophie senses that not everyone is devastated by the loss.
   
   As Sophie delicately probes the private affairs of her hotel's star guests, she recalls another loss -- of a young woman who had been the group's sixth roommate. The buried secrets of that long-ago death are exhumed as a clandestine killer stalks the halls of the Maxfield plaza, preparing a taste of the oldest sin for the final victim.

4. Murder in the Air (1997) -- Nominated 1998 Minnesota Book Award, Best Mystery
   The Yuletide revival of a vintage Twin Cities radio serial isn't just for fun -- dealing as it does with a scandalous unsolved 1950's murder. But an even deeper mystery intrigues radio personality Bram Baldric and his sleuthing wife, Sophie Greenway: Why has the station's owner insisted on airing this particular show when her own son happened to have been the prime suspect in the old murder case? Merriment and mistletoe are out this Christmas; menace and murder are in.

5. Slice and Dice (2000)
   If all goes according to plan, Connie Buckridge's culinary empire will soon boast a state-of-the-art cooking school and a new restaurant in her hometown of Minneapolis-St. Paul. Unfortunately, just when the kitchen queen and her bickering entourage hit town on a publicity tour, so does a bestselling investigative writer who is hot on her scandalous trail.
   
   Primed by an anonymous e-mail informer, Marie Damontraville is preparing to cook Connie's goose with a major expose of her strategies for success. The one missing ingredient in this unsavory stew is murder, and when food critic Sophie Greenway finds a cooking colleague stabbed to death with his own kitchen knife, a fire that has been smoldering for forty years suddenly bursts into flame.

6. Dial m for Meat Loaf (2001)
   As Minnesota housewives race to meet the deadline for the Times Register's meat loaf contest, an unsavory small-towner named Kirby Runbeck is blown to smithereens by a car bomb.
   
   Days later, the town's former mayor, John Washburn, near death from a stroke, confesses to the killing. His wife and two children vehemently deny it, but when Sophie Greenway, food maven and friend of the family, happens upon an old snapshot, a bundle of letters, and a tattoo of a red-eyed snake, she wonders about Washburn's innocence. Unlike the recipe for a prize meat loaf, this murder is seasoned with spicy secrets and a generous portion of scandal, which Sophie dares to bring to a roiling boil...

7. Death on a Silver Platter (2003)
   Far from being the idyllic home Carl Veelund envisioned when he built Prairie Lodge years ago, the log mansion has become the repository of many terrible secrets. Two women are dead -- and truths long hidden are about to be brought to light.
   
   When restaurant reviewer-cum-sleuth Sophie Greenway stumbles upon an old diary, she has no idea it will toss her into the center of the family tragedy unfolding at Prairie Lodge. Sophie discovers that being a friend to Elaine Veelund, daughter of mansion's designer, has become dangerous. Sophie soon realizes that in a recipe that calls for deceit, sibling rivalry, old grudges and ultimately murder, she may be the main ingredient.

8. No Reservations Required (2005)
   Twin Cities businessman Kent Loy is the first to die. Half an hour later, Bob Fabian, the rich and powerful owner of the Minneapolis Times Register, meets a similar fate. It was a year ago when Loy broadsided the VW Beetle drive by Fabian's wife, killing her instantly. Coincidence? Food critic Sophie Greenway doesn't buy it. Indeed, the elegant Rookery Club, where the upper crust gathers to drink, dine and gossip, is already simmering with rumors -- about the murders, about a Times Register reporter's shameless fabrication of recent news stories, about rifts in two high-profile Twin Cities families. So when Sophie turns up the heat, the lethal bouillabaisse of twisted love, sadistic rage, and insatiable greed boils over. It seems that poisonous concoction, murder du jour, is back on the menu...

See also:

• The Latecomer (1974, 2009) by Sarah Aldridge with Fay Jacobs, ed.
  This is the 35th Anniversary edition of the first book ever published by Naiad Press. This book was released in 1974 - and was one of, if not the first lesbian novel to have a happy ending and promise of a viable future for the two protagonists. In this edition, there are comments from contemporaries of author Sarah Aldridge (Anyda Marchant) like Ann Bannon,  Cris Williamson, Holly Near, Jinx Beers, Katherine  Forrest, and more, plus later novelists and activists weighing in on the history of lesbian publishing and a glimpse of what these first, hopeful books meant to these readers and writers. They include Ellen Hart, J.M. Redmann, KG MacGregor, Kate Clinton, Radclyffe, and many more. This book also includes photographs of the author from that time period and a call to writers and readers to contribute to the lesbian/feminist publishing legacy.
  
  The Latecomer tells of Philippa, returning by ship from Europe, who finds her life unexpectedly changed by the woman who shares her cabin -an entertainer whose career contrasts vividly with Philippa's own existence. From Washington DC and its political intrigue to New York City, the women keep encountering one another until they recognize what their love means to them and their future.