Hello, my name is Ariadne Winter. I know what you’re thinking. My mother was on a Greek Mythology kick when she was pregnant with me. My aunt once told me, I was lucky she didn’t saddle me with Persephone or Harmonia, two names in the running. Ariadne was a Cretan Princess who helped Theseus escape from the Minotaur and his Labyrinth.

I suppose I am like my namesake, because I want to become an investigative reporter. I want to solve crimes and end corruption, which can be like solving a maze. Unfortunately, obtaining an investigative reporting job has been an uphill battle, because that’s “a man’s job.”

Instead, I work for Ladies’ Lifestyle Magazine, one of the largest women’s magazines in the nation. When I graduated college in 1956, unencumbered by an M.R.S. degree, I naively determined my path would be in investigative journalism. After being patronized, propositioned, and laughed out of a dozen newspaper offices, my father suggested I take any journalism job “to get my foot in the door.”

Today, though, is one of those rare, glorious days when I’m actually thrilled to be working at the magazine—because I’m interviewing none other than Donna Morgan. Yes, that Donna Morgan. Soon to be Her Serene Highness, Princess of Maldinia.

After two long years chained to the copy desk, endlessly finessing blurbs about wrinkle creams and seasonal lipsticks, I’ve finally been handed a real feature. And it all began two weeks ago, with a phone call from Aunt Ruby. I still remember it clearly—I was on my third rewrite for the new Elizabeth Arden lipstick launch (trust me, there are only so many poetic ways to describe the color red), when she dropped the offer: come up to Newport, Rhode Island, where Donna is filming her final movie.

My temporary home is the Ivy Tree Inn, and over breakfast this morning, I found myself in the company of three middle-aged women who seem to have made chatting a competitive sport. Of the women—Kitty, Dottie, and Connie—I can’t decide whom I like the least. Dottie’s the type who could win medals for gossiping, and once she heard I was from Ladies’ Lifestyle Magazine, interviewing Donna Morgan no less, she turned into my biggest fan faster than you can say ‘exclusive.’ Conversely, Connie tends to come across as condescending, often speaking in a way that implies a sense of superiority. Whereas, Kitty publicly disdained her husband during last night’s dinner, which I find a rather vile trait. I’m also fairly certain she had something to do with the mouse who caused quite a flap during the meal.

Following the gossipy breakfast, I make my way to the hotel where I finally meet the renowned Donna Morgan. My initial interview with Miss Morgan goes swimmingly. She could not be more charming or kinder to me. I got a close-up gander at the 9.68-carat, pink Cartier diamond engagement ring given to her by Prince Rinaldo. We discussed her wedding plans. They are to get married at eleven o’clock on June 10, at Saint Benedict Cathedral in front of 700 family members and guests. The guest list would include plenty of VIPs—princes and princesses from England, Denmark, and Sweden, along with America’s First Lady. The extravaganza will be filmed and broadcast by RKO.

I’m secretly crossing my fingers that I’ll be sent to Maldinia to cover the wedding—though I’m fully aware that between me and that assignment stands a battalion of senior journalists armed with sharper elbows and better office chairs.

Ink & Intrigue at Ivy Tree Inn – An Ariadne Winter Mystery, Book 1
Genre: Historical Cozy Mystery
Release: October 2024
Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Purchase Link

Stumbling across a dead body could be the making … or breaking of an aspiring reporter.

During 1958, with a predominantly male workforce, societal norms dictate women should be compliant, fashionable housewives. To Ariadne Winter, the sole tradition she aims to embrace is that of being fashionable. Amidst the ambiance of Ivy Tree Inn, where she’s been dispatched as a writer for Ladies’ Lifestyle Magazine, her focus wavers as she grapples with an interview assignment concerning a Hollywood starlet on the cusp of royal matrimony—an event hailed as the “Wedding of the Century.” While Ariadne dutifully attends to her task, her heart yearns for the pursuit of her collegiate ambition: to be an investigative reporter for a renowned newspaper.

However, fate intervenes when she discovers a dead body and recognizes the opportunity it presents to write her way into the role she desires. Yet, as Ariadne delves deeper into the lives of the inn’s inhabitants, she uncovers a labyrinth of intertwined relationships and long-buried secrets among guests and staff alike, yielding a plethora of suspects. With a murderer on the loose, her magazine deadline looming, and the inn cordoned off by authorities, Ariadne faces a race against time to untangle the web of deceit and solve the murder before she loses more than just her job.

Meet the author
Ellen Butler is the international bestselling author of the Karina Cardinal mystery series, praised by Publishers Weekly as “intelligent escapism.” Drawing on her real-life experience working on Capitol Hill and with a medical association in Washington, D.C., Butler infuses her fast-paced mystery-action novels with authenticity and intrigue. In addition to her contemporary thrillers, Butler writes the Ariadne Winter historical mysteries and award-winning historical spy fiction. Her novel The Brass Compass has earned numerous accolades, including the Speak Up Talk Radio Firebird Book Award, the IndieReader Discovery Award, and a Readers’ Favorite Silver Medal. The sequel, Operation Blackbird: A Cold War Spy Novel, was inspired by true events and went on to win the prestigious Next Generation Indie Book Award gold medal for historical fiction.

You can find Ellen at ellenbutler.net, Facebook, Instagram, Bookbub, or Goodreads.