Stayin' Alive (The Country Club Murders Book 10)

Author:  Julie Mulhern
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/

Telephone Line (The Country Club Murders Book 9)

Author:  Julie Mulhern
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; ; Audio CD; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781635115505; 9781635115475; 9781515963738
Henery Press [Tantor Audio]
304 Pages
$31.95; $15.95; $; $24.99; $6.99
June 18, 2019

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A killer is calling, and Ellison's life is on the line.

Ellison Russell is planning the event of the season -- and she's stressed.  Why not yoga?

Because the yoga instructor gets murdered during class -- and Ellison's stress level rises exponentially.  Now, in addition to raising a ridiculous amount of money, she's babysitting for a deranged cat (named after the devil himself), taking ten million phone calls (most of them from Mother), and finding more bodies (they're popping up like dandelions after a spring rain).

There's no such thing as balance when the killer makes it personal.  Can Ellison catch a murderer or will her namaste be her last?

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Ellison Russell is an artist and mother who lives in 1975 Kansas City - before cell phones, computers, and the Internet.  This was a time when people actually had to communicate with each other by talking on the phone or visiting in person.  No selfies, no Instagram, no Facebook.  It was a time when people actually had relationships with other people, and didn't have thousands of 'friends' that they'd never met.

Ellison is a well-to-do young widow who's doing her best to raise her teenage daughter Grace and cope with her overbearing, social-conscious mother.  She's attending a yoga class at her friend Winnie Flournoy's home to de-stress and the instructor, Marigold, has told everyone to relax and wind down.  Ellison has had enough of winding down and just wants to leave.  But she can't, because Marigold has locked them in.

After calling for help from a passing elderly neighbor, Ellison is wondering why, instead of letting them out, the neighbor leaves and runs from the home.  Elderly.  Runs.  This can't be good.  But surprise turns to resignation when she hears the sirens and sees her boyfriend, homicide detective Anarchy Jones, arrive.  It turns out that Marigold is dead, and once again Ellison is involved in murder.

Ellison wants to stay out of the murder but can't.  Her late husband was worse than anyone ever knew.  He kept secret files of people - people he was blackmailing, and Lark Flournoy was one of his victims.  She wonders if something in those files might tell her why someone was killed in Lark's home...

However, things don't end there.  When Ellison gets home, her mother calls (the grapevine in this city is admirable) and asks her about finding another body, practically insinuating that Ellison does it on purpose.  After she gets her mother off the phone, someone is at her door, and she's surprised to discover it's the mother of Grace's best friend Debbie.

Martha Clayton wants to know about Grace being at a bar on Saturday with Debbie, and Ellison gives her an alibi (Grace was with her all night), but Martha, distraught about Debbie, leaves unsaid things hanging in the air and leaves - and Ellison is determined to ferret out the truth from Grace.

She also is hosting a dinner for her new neighbor Jennifer, who has moved from California to Kansas City with her husband.  Jennifer appears to be some sort of hippie, while Marshall is rarely home, being a pharmaceutical salesman, so there goes Ellison's last hope of getting any rest that night.

Ellison is also chairing a gala for an art exhibit at the museum and gets a phone call from her mother Frances who demands she 'raise the stakes'.  It seems the other cities where the event was held all raised a million dollars, while Ellison has raised a paltry three hundred fifty thousand.  Never mind that they are larger, coastal cities.  Frances Walford will not be thought a yokel, and demands Ellison do something, and right now. 

When another murder occurs, Ellison is getting suspicious, because she's the only one who knows (courtesy of Henry's files) that the two might be connected.  She knows she should tell Anarchy, but for obvious reasons doesn't want him - or her daughter - to know how vile Henry was.  Only she and her attorney Hunter Tafft are aware of the nefarious practice.

Then Lark is run down by a car while leaving work.  Anarchy calls and tells her, asking if she'll stay with Winnie.  Just as things seem they can't get any worse, they do.  When Ellison leaves the table for a moment, Winnie collapses, and it's later discovered she was poisoned.

Ellison  wants to know what's going on.  The problem is the killer doesn't want her to find out...

This is the ninth book in the series and just as much fun to read as the first.  Although this book touches on the subject of rape and its aftermath on the victims, it is interwoven with lively banter between Ellison, her family, and her friends regarding murder - mainly because Ellison seems to always be in the center of it.

There are also a few hilarious scenes, one in particular involving a strange Jell-O mold made by Jennifer that Ellison and Grace are forced to eat, and dinner table conversation that is priceless - mostly by Grace.  (Whom, coincidentally, is rapidly developing the same dry wit as her mother).  I may never eat Jell-O again.

We also have the relationship between Ellison and Anarchy ready to reach a new stage in development.  Ellison is an extremely strong woman, but in one area she's extremely vulnerable, and it is this that is focused upon (and it's about time).

Watching Ellison find the clues and put them all together is fascinating.  She takes each piece of the puzzle and tries it one way, then another, and then at last another until she figures out where it's supposed to go.  It's a delightful romp of a tale, pulling the reader in from the first page that leaves you holding on tight until you reach the end. 

The use of wordplay is paramount, and it conveys more than any descriptions (of which there are many) could do.  It is the crux of the story, the heart of who these people are.  And it's winsome, lively, and thoroughly delicious.  Ellison is no fool, nor is she foolish, and she can hold her own with the best of them (and often has to).

Therefore, I should really learn not to read one of Ms. Mulhern's books when I go to bed, because it means that I won't get any sleep.  Her books are that good.  Really. She's one of those authors that you know you're going to like the book even before you've passed the first page.  Unfortunately, the side effect is I'm groggy in the morning from lack of sleep and it takes more coffee than Ellison drinks on a bad day to get me moving again.

When the ending comes and the killer is revealed, it comes as a bit of a surprise.  The clues are there, if you look for them but they're not overt.  They don't hit you over the head and you get the 'aha' moment almost the same time as Ellison.  It's a revelation, and a bit sad at the same time.  One realizes how easy it is for someone to lose a tenuous grip on reality without anyone even noticing. 

All in all, this is one of my favorite books in the series, and I've been enchanted with them all.  Ms. Mulhern is a wonderful writer who manages to not only put words on a page, but people as well.  I look forward to the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Telephone-Line-Country-Club-Murders/dp/1635115477/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2847599913

More on Julie Mulhern's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/julie-mulhern/

Back Stabbers (The Country Club Murders #8)

Author:  Julie Mulhern
Genre:  Mystery/Suspense

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Digital Book; Audio CD
ISBN:  9781635114584; 9781635114553; [9781515963721]
Henery Press Publishing [Tantor Audio]
262 Pages
$24.96; $14.90; $6.99; $24.99 Amazon
October 23, 2018

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All Ellison Russell wanted was an update on her stock portfolio.  Instead, she found her broker dead.

With an unexpected out-of-town guest at her house, Ellison is too busy for a murder investigation.  Only this time, Detective Anarchy Jones wants her help, and she can't deny the handsome detective.  Can Mr. Coffee supply her with enough caffeine to keep her brain sharp and everyone else happy?

Juggling bodies (one, two, three, four), two-faced friends, her social calendar, and a cat (yes, a cat) is taxing but Mother might be the biggest challenge of all.

With a killer drawing closer, can Ellison put together the pieces or will she be the one getting stabbed in the back?

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Ellison Russell has a problem: she's gone to see her broker regarding her stock portfolio, and when she enters the office, she finds him dead.  Another body.  Her mother will be horrified, her homicide detective boyfriend Anarchy will be resigned.  And her father...her father has a surprise for her as well: her older half-sister Karma has decided to visit, and he wants her to stay at Ellison's, since he hasn't even told her mother yet.

Of course, she knows her mother will be furious, but she doesn't have a choice if their marriage has any chance of survival after this comes to light; and it doesn't help when she discovers that Anarchy already knows Karma, and has for a long time.  Only the dead stockbroker keeps getting in the way, especially since Anarchy asks for her help on the case.  With an office full of attractive women to sift through, did one of them kill the man?  Or are more sinister forces at work trying to keep anyone from finding out the truth?  But what will she do about Karma?  And how do she and Anarchy know each other?  How is her mother going to deal with it all?  And what's a girl to do when she's stuck smack dab in the middle of murder?...

Ellison Russell is a widow with a teenage daughter in Kansas City, Missouri.  She's a well-respected artist born of money who has a full life, loving parents, a faithful housekeeper and a devotion to Mr. Coffee.  It is the world of the 1970's before technology became king and people had to either visit or use a telephone to communicate with each other; a simpler life - or so you would think.  But not in the case of Ellison, who has a knack of finding dead bodies on a regular basis, and this day is no different.  Unfortunately, the bodies don't stop with just one, and Ellison's going to need a lot of coffee to keep up.

This is the eighth book in the series, and a wonderful addition as such.  Ms. Mulhern writes characters that are lively and believable; with plenty of sarcasm, wit, intelligence and even, at times, venom.  Ellison has grown from an insecure young widow into an independent woman who's not about to allow anyone to steamroll over her, friend and foe alike.

The tale is often funny listening to Ellison's thoughts in her head while she's dealing with the unwanted drama around her.  Even while she manages to maintain a semblance of her life - still going to play bridge and chair various committees along with attending parties, she also has the addition of a new half-sister to deal with, learning to find her way in navigating a relationship with a sister she doesn't know anything about.

While she's delving into the murders of three people (don't worry; she didn't find all of the bodies); she's dealing with the fallout of such and juggling not only assorted mourners but the fact that there were many more who didn't mourn at all.  Watching her figure out who had the greatest motive - and just exactly if and/or how they were connected is quite an absorbing tale. 

There is plenty of intrigue, secrets and lies, and watching Ellison put it all together is quite a delightful journey to take.  While I wouldn't want to find myself in the nest of vipers that Ellison calls her friends, this is one woman who is well able to deal with it and come out on top.

When everything comes together and the murder is finally discovered, we realize that the clues were there all along yet we were looking down other paths - exactly as both the murderer and Ms. Mulhern expected us to do until the end.  Another admirable entry in the series and I look forward to the next, which can't be soon enough for me.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Back-Stabbers-Country-Club-Murders/dp/1635114551/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2550980816

More on Julie Mulhern's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/julie-mulhern/

Shadow Dancing (The Country Club Murders Book 7)

Author:  Julie Mulhern
Genre:  Mystery

Digital Book
Henery Press
210 Pages
$6.99 Amazon
June 19, 2018

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Visiting a psychic is outside the norm for Ellison Russell.  Finding bodies is not.  Unfortunately, the psychic's crystal ball says she'll soon be surrounded by death.  Again.

Drat.

Now there's a corpse in the front drive, a witchy neighbor ready to turn Ellison and her (not so) little dog into toadstools, and a stripped named Starry Knight occupying the guest room.

How did 1975 go so wrong so quickly?

Ellison must handle Mother (who's found a body of her own), make up with a certain handsome detective, and catch a killer, or the death surrounding her might be her own.

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While Ellison Russell is relieved that her life seems to be getting back to normal - almost - since she's not finding dead bodies every week, it's a strain to realize that she might have blown her relationship with police detective Anarchy Jones and is wondering how to fix it.

But things just aren't meant to be 'normal' for Ellison.  Her friend Libba has dragged her to a psychic and Ellison pooh-poohs everything the woman says.  Then when she hits a young girl with her car (the girl isn't hurt) but she seems to be freezing so Ellison literally gives her the coat off her back.  Vowing to return the coat, Ellison goes home.  But then she receives a visit from Anarchy's dreaded partner, Detective Peters, and he wants to know why her name and address were in the girl's possession...because the girl was found dead.

Now the psychic is calling Ellison at home, telling her she must meet with her because the dead girl, Leesa, has a message:  She wants her to save a friend of hers named Starry Knight before she, too, is found dead somewhere.  It is only by chance - and a blind date set up by Libba - that Ellison sees a young girl in the company of a man she had seen herself earlier when out with her daughter Grace - and not in a good way, either - and confronts them, finally convincing the girl to go with her.

Fortuitously, the girl turns out to be Starry - whose real name is Jane.  Ellison takes her home with her, vowing to figure out a way to get her away from the life she's fallen into.  But Ellison doesn't know that in doing so, she not only has put herself in danger, but also Grace, and even though it's brought Anarchy back into her life, is it worth the risk to take the chance and lose everything she holds dear?...

We are once again living the the 1970s, long before there were computers, cell phones, no GPS to track people and the technology many have come to take for granted.  Because of this, it makes for a very good book indeed, when everyone had a land line and you either used it or drove to someone's home to speak with them.

When Ellison finds that her life might be in danger (again) this time Anarchy feels the need to spend the night (on her sofa) to protect her from the threats.  As she's perfectly fine with this, her mother Frances is not.  What will the neighbors think?  More so, what will Frances think?  But she has problems of her own:  she's discovered an urn in her closet and she's called upon Ellison to find out to whom it belongs.

So Ellison and Aggie are hitting the local library microfiche to see if they can discover anyone who might have been displaced within the last few months but before they can find out Frances tells Ellison she knows who it is, and the answer rocks Ellison from her head to her toes.  The end result puts a serious strain on her parents' lives, and now she's dealing with the fallout from that, too.

While the book is downright serious and sober, there are quite a few humorous moments that you can't help but chuckle at; and I actually found myself wanting to throttle Libba (and can't figure out why Ellison hasn't done so thus far).

It is a tale that is dark as midnight and riveting to boot; it shows us while reality slaps us in the face there are still those that refuse to believe the truth.  As the pieces fall together, we see the ugliness in the world that masks itself in normality.  Those that appear to be anything but sinister can be very much so.  And Ellison, in all her wisdom of finding those bodies and having faced ugliness in the past - including from her own husband - is no stranger to seeing it close to home.

It is a story well-crafted, a narrative both dark and light; one that is always entertaining and magnificently written.  As always, Ms. Mulhern draws us into Ellison's world and keeps us happily engrossed in what she has set down on paper and made to become real; her characters are animated and believable; her descriptions are convincing and give us something to look forward to when we first open the book.

In the end, when the killer is found and the story ends, we are left with a satisfying feeling that all is right with the world again (at least for awhile).  I look forward to the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Dancing-Country-Club-Murders-ebook/dp/B07BMJM89K/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2391675517

More on Julie Mulhern's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/julie-mulhern/

Cold as Ice (The Country Club Murders Book 6)

Author:  Julie Mulhern
Genre:  Mystery/Suspense

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781635112672; 97816355112115
Henery Press Publishing
268 Pages
$29.86; $15.95; $6.99 Amazon
October 17, 2016

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Ellison Russell's life resembles a rollercoaster ride.  And rollercoasters make her ill.  Her daughter Grace has a crush on a boy Ellison doesn't trust and she's taken to hosting wild parties when Ellison goes out for the evening.  Worse, the bank which represents Grace's inheritance from her father may be in trouble.  When a meeting with the chef at the country club leads to the discovery of a body, Ellison can't afford cold feet.  She must save the bank, find the killer, and convince Grace (and herself) that powerful women don't need men to rescue them.

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It's nearing Thanksgiving in Kansas City, and life is -sort of - getting back to normal for Ellison Russell.  But while everything seems to be going along smoothly, it just...isn't.  Her daughter Grace has been caught throwing a wild party in her absence, and while that may seem to be enough of a headache, it only gets worse when her bank president tells her the bank - her late husband's legacy to Grace - may be going under due to an unpaid loan.

The loan, owed by Tom Michaels, is the father of a boy Ellison does not want Grace seeing.  But each time she tries to call Tom, he's unavailable.  And when she does get a chance to speak with his wife Laurie, she leaves before anything is resolved.

But it's while she's at the country club planning a party for a friend when the sous chef opens the walk-in freezer to find Laurie's frozen body that it turns into a nightmare.  Another body.  The wife of the husband with a million dollar loan.  And the mother of a boy with lax morals who seems to be interested in her daughter.  Life is definitely not normal for Ellison Russell.

While warned to stay out of this investigation by the ever-present homicide Detective Anarchy Jones, Ellison's maybe-boyfriend she doesn't want to say anything about the bank.  Ellison needs to know if Laurie left life insurance, and for how much; hopefully enough to cover the loan; and she she needs the help of Hunter Tafft, her attorney who's also highly interested in her personally, to find out what can be done to place a lien, if possible; and, horror of horrors, she also needs to enlist the help of her intimidating mother, Frances.

But it isn't going to be easy.  She needs to stay under the radar of the police to conduct her own investigation - because if Tom is convicted of the crime they'll be no life insurance.  To top it off, her late husband's sister Gwen is spending the holiday with them, and Gwen doesn't (and never has) approved of Ellison.  This holiday may be more memorable than Ellison would like it to be.

But then things get worse:  Ellison discovers another body, one which may very well have ties to the first.  With the suspect list dwindling, the body count growing, and Tom as the police's likely culprit, Ellison needs to work fast before the bank closes its doors forever...

Once again, Ms. Mulhern has taken us back to 1974, a time with no cellphones or computers, and all information must be gathered the old-fashioned way: through the grapevine.  It's a simpler time when people didn't depend on daily updates online, but through telephone calls, people needed to actually talk to one another, and Google was a thing of the future.  She does this, and more, admirably.

I found the book quite entertaining, with just enough components to make it realistic - a mother raising a sixteen-year-old daughter alone and trying to do her best; and adding that to the other storyline, weaving them together seamlessly and effortlessly; both essential to the book's plot. 

The narrative carries us along easily, rolling our eyes much as Grace did, at some of the wordplay between characters (who are all delightful, by the way), giving us an engaging tale of life in another place and time - albeit one littered with dead bodies along the way (but then again, isn't that why we're reading this series in the first place?)

When we learn the identity of the killer and come to the end of the book, we see that actions have consequences, and consequences affect our lives, for good or bad.  Whether right or wrong, the choices we make color our lives forever, and learning from them is the hardest -and maybe the most bittersweet - lesson of all.

Although you might be tempted to peek at the ending, I urge you not to do so.  Unfolding the story as it is written will add to a wonderful journey through words and images in your mind.  Highly recommended and I look forward to the next in the series.

https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Ice-Country-Club-Murders/dp/1635112672/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2152351285

More on Julie Mulhern's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/julie-mulhern/