Genre: Mystery
Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781732755918
J&M Press
268 Pages
$15.95; $6.99 Amazon
January 30, 2020
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Springtime. Love is in the air. So is murder.
When Ellison Russell, reluctant finder of bodies, chairs a gala in conjunction with the museum's Chinese funerary exhibit, she expects disaster. So, she's not remotely surprised when a body turns up.
Ellison is willing to leave the investigation to the police till an attempt is made on her life.
Now she's juggling evading a killer, her aunt's overly-amorous beau, her dog's new love interest, and Mother's displeasure.
With bodies piling up, if Ellison's not careful, staying alive might be impossible.
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Ellison Russell is a widow who lives in Kansas City, MO with her teenage daughter Grace. It's the 70's, long before cell phones and the Internet, when people actually had to either call someone on a landline or speak with them face-to-face. Her life should be going smoothly, but in Ellison's life, it never does...
She's chairing a gala and is hoping everything will go well. In Ellison's mind, that means not finding a dead body. Because, you see, Ellison's life hasn't gone smoothly since she found the body of her late husband. Since then, she's been tripping over them like other people trip over loose carpets. So her fears are justified...and of course, during the gala, while trying to sneak in a quiet moment with her beau, homicide detective Anarchy Jones, she touches a hand...that's attached to a very dead person.
The person turns out to be someone she's acquainted with, and the woman is definitely dead. But because this is so often a regular thing, Ellison promises she'll give Anarchy a guest list if he only allows people to leave and she can get through one evening without a complete catastrophe. After informing the museum's director and the victim's husband, they do just that.
But the next morning the news is all over town, and that means Ellison's formidable mother descends on her demanding answers. Which she doesn't have. Which she never has. Still, with her Aunt Sis in town -- and seeing a man her mother approves of -- at least she'll have a bit of respite. She thinks. Until, of course, there's another body. And more questions. Now Ellison wonders what the two dead people had in common, and why they were killed. Because she's positive there's a link. She just hopes she figures it out before the killer figures out what she's doing...
Once again we visit Ellison Russell in 1975, where the thing most important to her is her Mr. Coffee, with whom she has regular conversations (not that I blame her; I depend on my Keurig to keep me sane during the day). She's trying to juggle her life with Grace, her new relationship with Anarchy (of which her mother doesn't approve); and her dog Max, who's decided he's in love with a dog who's been terrorizing the neighborhood.
In between the falling bodies, there are humorous moments, one of which occurs in the middle of the night when Sis's boyfriend is trying to help Ellison corner the wayward dog and which instead they corner each other -- in a way which could be misconstrued by others -- and it's this lightness and Ellison's bright wit which keeps the book from being too dark. Because it's her inner thoughts that are the funniest, and keep the book moving along at a rapid pace.
I've read and loved every single one of these books, having followed Ellison from finding her first body and meeting Anarchy, and watching her grow (along with watching Grace's transition from snarky teen to a blossoming young woman who manages to get in a few zingers of her own now and then) has been a delight in my life. Ms. Mulhern manages to create characters that leap off the page, and once you've read one of the Country Club Murders, you're hooked. For those that are starting with this book, go back to the first. You won't regret the ride.
When the killer is discovered, we realize that the clues were there throughout, but when someone chooses to kill, it's usually for a reason as old as time itself; although it's never easy to understand. The plot is creative indeed, and the threads weave together easily, bringing the story to a close that is both satisfying and leaves us hungry for the next one. Highly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Stayin-Alive-Country-Club-Murders-ebook/dp/B082RFCMY6/ref
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3230878211
More on Julie Mulhern's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/julie-mulhern/
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