Ellen says:

"I've had a love affair with old houses and historic preservation since childhood. I grew up in an old house similar to Ashley's Victorian home. As a young wife and mother, I restored a 1906 Dutch Colonial farmhouse in New Jersey, turning it into a warm and comfortable home for my family. When we relocated to North Carolina, we purchased a 1925 Georgian Revival house which I lovingly restored.

In the mid-eighties, I lived in New York City for a brief period while I was involved with renovations to an 1898 Beaux Arts townhouse which had been commissioned by Edith Shephard, granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

I began writing mysteries ten years ago. Every old house has a secret, I believe, and what fun to create a protagonist who reveals and unravels them all. I selected Wilmington, North Carolina, as the setting for my mysteries because it offers a wealth of plot ideas with its fascinating history, its devotion to historic preservation, its colorful film industry, and its breathtaking locales."

Murder on the Ghost Walk

Murder on the Candlelight Tour

It's a dream come true for historic preservationist Ashley Wilkes: her restored Victorian house is on the Olde Wilmington by Candlelight tour. But her dream quickly turns nightmarish when a docent is murdered in the library, and her friend, history professor Binkie Higgins is the likely suspect. As the bodies drop faster than dead needles off a dry Christmas tree, Ashley's as busy as Santa's elves: proving Binkie's innocence, rescuing sister Melanie and a historic property from a ruthless developer. And, la-di-da, solving the Atlantic Coast Line's 40 year old payroll robbery.

Murder at the Azalea Festival

In Wilmington, the azaleas are blooming, the dogwoods are flowering, and the bodies are dropping faster than cherry blossoms on a windy day. But it's spring, and Ashley Wilkes, historic preservationist, is much too distracted by love to give a thought to recent homicides, until one occurs at a garden party where she's a guest. When her client is arrested for murder, Ashley tries her darnedest not to get involved. But she knows the actress is innocent. And just who are her most promising suspects? Why, the entire cast of a hot, new locally-produced television series.

Murder at Wrightsville Beach

With temperatures in the nineties, Ashley Wilkes, historic preservationist, heads for Wrightsville Beach where sister Melanie has rented an oceanfront sleeps-14 "cottage." But murder never takes a vacation and as the body count escalates Ashley realizes there is more to beach life than sun block and fried fish platters. With houseguests and neighbors all behaving suspiciously, Ashley's tempted to retreat back to town where she's restoring a 1920s Georgian Revival house, yet even the restoration site is fraught with danger. And nothing prepares Ashley for a moonlight stroll out on the pier with a crazed killer.

Murder on the ICW

During the Prohibition Era, moonshine operations flourished along the creeks that fed the Intracoastal Waterway. So Ashley Wilkes, historic preservationist, is not surprised to learn that the hunting lodge she is restoring once housed an operational still. But what she discovers under a small mountain of moonshine bottles is both surprising and shocking. Meanwhile, Melanie's boyfriends are turning up dead. Is she loving them to death? The police think so. Thanksgiving weekend finds Ashley and Melanie sailing in the annual Holiday Flotilla. But are those popping noises they hear fireworks or gunfire?

Murder on the Cape Fear

This sixth book in Ellen Elizabeth Hunter’s popular Wilmington series is set in the Historic District where Ashley Wilkes, historic preservationist, is restoring a former blockade runner’s home. Captain Pettigrew ran the blockade successfully before he and his ship disappeared during the final days of the Civil War. Letters found in the captain’s house narrate his adventures in his own words. As Ashley’s sister Melanie hosts a real estate investors weekend, Ashley stumbles over a corpse at Two Sisters Bookery. Then a terrorist threatens to blow up Memorial Bridge at the height of rush hour and Ashley’s beloved Wilmington is thrown into panic and chaos!

Christmas Wedding

Wilmington’s social event of the season is about to unfold: Ashley and Melanie’s lavish Christmas-theme double wedding to their princes charming, Jon and Cameron. Vows will be exchanged at St. James Church, out-of-town guests are comfortably ensconced at picturesque B&Bs, and the wedding planner is none other than Colin Cowie himself. What could possibly spoil the nuptials? A hyper-critical mother-in-law known to an older generation as the Sweetheart of the Silver Screen? A Wall Street hunk who has vowed to proclaim his love for one of the brides? A “Queen of the Tarot Cards” bridesmaid who is predicting catastrophe for the wedding day? Or is it the mysterious wedding crasher whose life of lies just might cost the brides their own?