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Telephone Line–mystery set in the 70’s
Telephone Line
by Julie Mulhern
If asked to recommend only one cozy mystery series to be read in its entirety, I would select The Country Club Murders. It (like Ellison’s beloved Mr. Coffee machine) never lets me down. Telephone Line has characters you can care about. The main character, Ellison, really doesn’t want to live up to her reputation and find yet another dead body. Her interactions with her mother, a country club matriarch known as a force to be reckoned with if crossed, play out with great humor. The setting is Kansas City’s upper crust in the 70’s. It’s hard to believe the etiquette-following country club set can be involved in such shenanigans, but crime knows no boundaries. Ellison is aided by her kaftan wearing housekeeper with an investigative background, her boyfriend Detective Anarchy Jones, and her former boyfriend Taft, a lawyer.
With several murders upsetting the city, Ellison has to work hard to stay alive and take care of those she loves. Her dead husband’s blackmailing schemes give her some insider knowledge, but will she be forced to reveal information to Anarchy that will embarrass her family and cause her to relive past traumas?
Although Telephone Line is a great mystery with a surprise ending and lots of humor, it contains a serious side. It deals with rape and the inability of the justice system to adequately support the victim.
I would like to extend my thanks to Edelweiss and to Henery Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #9 in The Country Club Murders series, but can be enjoyed as a standalone.
Publication: June 18, 2019—Henery Press
Memorable Lines:
“Mother—“ maybe I could reason with her (and maybe Gloria Steinem and Hugh Hefner would run away together) “—this is ridiculous.”
“It can’t be Mother.” Mother only called early when things were dire—when she’d heard I’d found a body or when someone with newly acquired wealth was put up for membership at the club.
“Painting centers me. Does that sound too woo-woo?”
“I’m from San Francisco. There’s nothing you could say that would sound too woo-woo.”
Back Stabbers–families, investments, and murder
Back Stabbers
by Julie Mulhern
If you are part of the Country Club set in Kansas City, Missouri, in the 1970’s, certain things are expected of you—the right clothes, the right committees, and the right friends. In Ellison Russell’s case, expectations are that she will find yet another dead body. Ellison really doesn’t want to be involved in murder investigations. She wants a simple life with her teenage daughter Grace, her art work, her country club friends, and her blossoming romance with Detective Anarchy Jones. Between being in the wrong place at the wrong time and having friends who expect her to help when they have a crisis (especially of the criminal type), Ellison’s life is anything but simple and uncomplicated.
When she discovers her investment advisor murdered in a compromising position and in an office where secretaries are treated like sex objects, Ellison is drawn into an investigation in which this is just the first of several crimes to be discovered. As always in the Country Club Murder series, Back Stabbers is set in shades of harvest gold and avocado with shag rugs making an appearance. Mr. Coffee with his liquid ambrosia makes multiple appearances.
Ellison’s half-sister Karma (from the “wrong side of the blankets”) pays a visit to meet her sister, and they have more in common than they would have thought. Lots of other interesting characters populate this book. The plot has humor, multiple threads, and a surprise ending. Fans of Julie Mulhern’s cozy mysteries will not be disappointed.
I would like to extend my thanks to Edelweiss and to Henery Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #8 in the Country Club Murders. It will work as a standalone, but is perhaps more enjoyable with nuances provided by more background.
2. A minor criticism for one of my favorite cozy mystery writers: the humorous Mr. Coffee references were overdone in this book. I’m not suggesting they be deleted entirely, just that there should be fewer of them.
Publication: October 23, 2018—Henery Press
Memorable Lines:
The squirrels stopped their chittering and stared at me. A robin leveled a most serious gaze my way. The other birds (there were many) silenced their tweeting. It was as if I was Snow White, the envelope was a poisoned apple, and the park animals were telling me not to bite.
If Mr. Coffee had a fault, it was that he couldn’t steam milk. Not that I’d ever tell him such a thing. I wouldn’t hurt his feelings for all the steamed milk in the world.
“Daddy, this is a really bad idea.” It was an epically terrible, bring-about-the-apocalypse bad idea. Rivers would run backward. The locusts would descend. Mother’s face would melt.
Shadow Dancing–society mom meets teenage prostitute
Shadow Dancing
by Julie Mulhern
Would this book be THE ONE? Would the seventh book in the Country Club Murder series be the one that would let me down? Would that great sense of humor mixed into a fascinating mystery fall flat? Would the 70’s backdrop become cliché? Would I tire of Ellison’s love affair with Mr. Coffee or her battles with her imperious mother? The answer to all of these questions about Julie Mulhern’s Shadow Dancing is a resounding “NO!”. I enjoyed the book all the way through and was sad when it came to an end.
As usual, the pace is perfect and the storyline is inventive. Mulhern’s use of descriptive language puts the reader in the scene as she transports Ellison through high society cocktail parties and into the danger of the night. This story focuses on homeless girls forced into prostitution and drug addiction; the seriousness of the theme gives an edge to the book with its fast-moving plot. Detective and boyfriend Anarchy Jones plays an important role in providing physical and emotional support for Ellison who finds herself in the role of protector as the murderer challenges her. This cozy mystery is full of surprises and suspense.
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
Notes: #7 in the Country Club Murder Series
Publication: June 19, 2018—Henery Press
Memorable Lines:
Aggie marched up to a second librarian—one who made the woman downstairs look like a congeniality winner in a beauty contest. The librarian on the second floor looked like the woman in American Gothic by Grand Wood: close-set eyes, marionette lines that dragged the corners of her lips into a frown, and a long, thin neck. The expression in those close-set eyes could have scared General Westmoreland into immediate surrender.
Winstead’s didn’t sell hamburgers; it sold steakburgers. The burgers were cooked to a deep shade of brown and flavored with salt and grease. They arrived at the table wrapped in wax paper sleeves and the first bite could change a life.
Outside, the night swirled with a heavy, cold mist. March deciding lion or lamb. The mist clung to my hair, and lashes, and coat. The click of my heels echoed on the pavement. The darkness breathed—thick and dangerous. I shivered.
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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