Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Watching the Detectives

You'd think Ellison Russell would think twice about leaving someone alone in her house because someone nearly always winds up dead. In Watching the Detectives by Julie Mulhern, Ellison Russell returns home just to find exactly that - a body in the study of her home. 

It is the designer she is interviewing for a project. Khaki White was not well liked and in fact wasn't even that good as a designer. Yet she was hired and praised by many women in the community.  She was also Hunter Tafft's second wife. Ellison's mother believes Hunter is a good catch and should be Ellison's next husband.Ellison has her eyes on Detective Anarchy Jones, but that's another story.

Plunging in as usual to investigate, Ellison learns there are secrets being kept by many women she knows. Her friend Jinx suspects her husband Preston had been having an affair with Khaki, especially when he refused to tell her why he had been meeting with her at odd hours. When another couple Ellison knows has a very public argument in a restaurant concerning a divorce, Ellison wonders what other secrets her investigation might reveal.

When Mr. White (Khaki's husband) is found dead in the dining room, his head bashed in with a candlestick, Ellison realizes this isn't a game of Clue. Something sinister is going in her town. Pulling at the thread she reveals a dark secret and nearly gets herself killed in the process. 

These books take place in the 60s and life was very different then, although maybe not. I enjoy the retro feel of them and laugh out loud at some of the references, especially the Mr. Coffeemakers and the telephones.

For a review of The Country Clubs Murders, click here. For other books by Julie Mulhern, click here

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