Watching the Detectives

by Julie Mulhern

Watching the Detectives is a funny, action packed, cozy mystery you don’t want to miss. In fact, you’ll want to read the whole series. Julie Mulhern continues to make the early 70’s come alive with details like plaid sports jackets for men, twin sets for women, and Polaroid cameras. She even jokes about squeaking naugahyde chairs at the hospital: “many nagas had given their hydes for that chair.”

The main character, Ellison, is a part of the country club world, but she is so down-to-earth and practical that she is endearing. Besides, you have to feel for anyone who stumbles across so many bodies. Yes, that’s Ellison!

A prominent feature of this book is the conflict between Ellison and her domineering mother. Her mother resembles Emily Gilmore in the TV show The Gilmore Girls—always right and very controlling. There continue to be two love interests in Ellison’s life—lawyer Hunter Tafft who is Ellison’s mother’s pick and Anarchy Jones who sets off fireworks in Ellison’s heart.

It is difficult to keep a constant underlayment of humor in a book that features serious issues such as murder and spousal abuse, but Mulhern does it respectfully and effectively and leaves the reader wanting more.

I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Henery Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

Category: Historical Fiction, Mystery

Notes: #5 in the Country Club Murders, but works as a standalone

Publication:   May 23, 2017—Henery Press

Memorable Lines:

Mr. Coffee might not be able to solve all the world’s problems or clean the study, but things tended to look brighter after he’d worked his magic.

Reality was ex-wives living in efficiency apartments and spritzing perfume at makeup counters because they had no job skills. Reality was their ex-husbands reliving their youths with girls not yet old enough to know better. Reality was rather bleak.

“Your mother has a strong personality,” she said. Attila the Hun had a strong personality. Mother was a mile-wide tornado with hundred-fifty-mile-per-hour winds.”