Carson Ellis

Dillweed's parents go on adventures and leave him behind with Umblud the butler and Perfidia the maid, who treat him like their slave. Neither Umblud or Perfidia or the parents appreciate Dillweed's cherished pet, a creature named Skorped. When they threaten Skorped's life and well-being, Dillweed opens his black box and casts the runes, which releases smoky monsters, who do the dirty deeds. And then it's Dillweed turn to go on adventures. Filled with nasty characters, beautiful details, and subtle humor, this stylish book follows in the tradition of the deliciously dark work of Edward Gorey, so Dillweed's happy ending undoubtedly means the end for someone else.

Du iz tak? What is that? As a tiny shoot unfurls, two damselflies peer at it in wonder. When the plant grows taller and sprouts leaves, some young beetles arrive to gander, and soon—with the help of a pill bug named Icky—they wrangle a ladder and build a tree fort. But this is the wild world, after all, and something horrible is waiting to swoop down—booby voobeck!—only to be carried off in turn. Su! With exquisitely detailed illustrations and tragicomic flair, Carson Ellis invites readers to imagine the dramatic possibilities to be found in even the humblest backyard. Su!

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, a jealous and deranged husband sets out to murder the men he imagines are his wife's suitors. He kills three before Mary Kelly, wife of a Harvard professor, fingers him. By the author of Divine Inspiration.

A boy sets out to find someone to answer a question that he asks his grandmother, and eventually his quest leads him back home.

YA. Ever since Prue McKeel rescued her brother from the wicked Dowager Governess and returned home from the Impassable Wilderness, life has been pretty dull. But when dark assassins, a dangerous businessman and a freezing winter all threaten the residents of Wildwood, Prue is drawn back in to their world. Together, she and her friend Curtis will face their greatest challenge yet: to save themselves and the lives of their friends, and to bring unity to a divided country. Ages 14+

Ellis's study of what makes a home recognizes that there's no one-size-fits-all answer to that question. Ellis whisks readers around the world (and into the realms of the fantastical and strange) as she moves from cozy Russian kitchen to nursery-rhyme shoe and city apartment, inviting children to contemplate what home means to them.

An inpector seeks to solve a murder mystery at the symphony by questioning each of the musical instruments.

When her baby brother is kidnapped by crows, seventh-grader Prue McKeel ventures into the forbidden Impassable Wilderness--a dangerous and magical forest at the edge of Portland, Oregon--and soon finds herself involved in a war among the various inhabitants.