Cold as Ice

It's really not Ellison's fault that she keeps finding bodies, despite what her mother says. In Cold As Ice by Julie Mulhern, Ellison finds Laurie Michaels dead in the freezer of the country club. Her husband, naturally, is suspected. For Ellison there is more at stake here as Tom owes her late husband's bank one million dollars. 

Ellison tries to keep her promise to Detective Anarchy Jones to stay out of it, but that doesn't happen.When she arrives home one evening and finds a full-fledged teen party raging in her home, she confronts her daughter Grace and discovers Trip Michaels, son of Laurie, was the instigator of the party. 

Try as much as she can, Ellison cannot convince Grace that Trip is not to be trusted. Grace, though, finds out for herself how fickled he is when she encounters a weeping girl who claims to be his girlfriend. 

More worried about the bank's solvency not that Laurie is dead and Tom could possibly be arrested

for murder, Ellison confronts the bank manager Sherman Westcott. He tries to condescend to her and brush off the issue, but Ellison is not satisfied. When someone else is murdered, Ellison searches harder to find the connection.

As always her mother keeps trying to push lawyer Hunter Tafft at Ellison, telling her she needs a man to take care of her. I always find these books so funny for their early 1970s point of view. It's hard to remember the days when all women despite their age were called "girls" and women needed their husband's approval for most everything. 

Ellison's mother is the keeper of this mentality and it drives her crazy, especially as she tries to save her daughter's inheritance.  The other little 70s tidbits make these books so fun to read. 

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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

The Country Club Murders

Nothing ruins your morning swim more than bumping into a dead body floating in the pool. That's how Ellison Russell began her day in 1974 with Madeline Harper dead, and oh, did I mention she was Ellison's soon-to-be ex-husband's mistress? Julie Mulhern dips into the lifestyles of couples in the 70s in The Deep End, the first book in The Country Club Murders.

When a matchbook leads Ellison to discover some of the kinkier aspects of her husband Henry's affairs, she realizes she doesn't really know him that well anymore. While her mother throws her at newly divorced attorney Hunter Tafft, Ellison digs deeper into Madeline's death.

It's not long before another victim turns up dead on her driveway and this time Ellison is in real trouble.

The Deep End is loaded with the nuisances of life in the 70s and

how much things have changed for women. Ellison paints and her art became more than a profitable hobby. That's where the trouble with Henry began. Women in the 70s didn't make more money than their husbands and Henry developed an interest in handcuffs and leather.

Complicating the investigation is the detective in charge, Detective Jones seems to have taken an interest in Ellison, more than where she is the killer. With her mother pushing Hunter at her and Jones giving her special looks, all Ellison wants to do is paint.

I look forward to other books in this series, especially after I learned Det. Jones' first name is Anarchy, Whoa who names their son Anarchy - even in the 70s!

For more books by Julie Mulhern, click here.