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Cold As Ice–trying to cover mistakes
Cold As Ice
by Julie Mulhern
At 6:30 on a Friday evening, Ellison Russell sensed Disaster, but what about her daughter going on a date to see Benji with a handsome, polite young man from their social group or her attending a cocktail party with her best friend Libba? Who could have foretold the disastrous sequence of events that would occur over the next several days?
As expected, Cold As Ice, Julie Mulhern’s sixth novel in the Country Club Mystery Series is a winner. It jumps right into the current story while catching up readers who are new to the series. With a lot of legitimate suspects, Ellison stays busy following leads as she tries to save a failing bank which is her daughter’s inheritance from Ellison’s licentious, now dead, husband and negotiate landmines in her relationships with her domineering mother and her teenage daughter. Meanwhile two love interests, a lawyer and a detective, provide aid in her investigations while vying for her affections.
All of the investigation occurs in the midst of family chaos and is delivered with a heavy dose of wry humor. Mr. Coffee continues to be the only man Ellison can truly depend on. The setting is decorated with multiple authentic touches of the seventies. It is a book I didn’t want to put down, but I didn’t want it to end either.
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: Mystery, General Fiction (Adult)
Notes: # 6 in The Country Club Murders; works fine as a standalone
Publication: October 17, 2017—Henery Press
Memorable Lines:
“How was your date?” A silly question, since animated songbirds perched on her shoulders and whistled.
Perhaps the expression I allowed into my eyes stilled his tongue. It was one of Mother’s best. It spoke of impending pain and suffering and icy fury.
“Hi.” His voice was as delicious as s’mores made in the fireplace on a snow day. Melty and warm and addictive.
We need to talk. Has anything good ever followed those four words?
Watching the Detectives–a funny cozy mystery featuring the 70’s
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.”
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