Decorating with a Dead Body Is Not Recommended
I really don’t intend to let so much time go between reading books in Julie Mulhern’s Country Club Murders. I always enjoy them when I pick them up. But here I am just now getting to book five, Watching the Detectives.
If you need an introduction, the series focuses on Ellison Russell, a recent widow in 1974 Kansas City. Much to her mother’s consternation, Ellison keeps finding dead bodies and getting involved in the crimes.
When this book opens, it’s been four days. Only four days since Ellison Russell was chased by a killer clown. (Seriously, with a title like Send in the Clowns, how did you expect the previous book to end?) Ellison has decided it is time to redecorate her husband’s study, and she’s brought in Khaki White, one of her potential boyfriend’s ex-wives. But Khaki is the go-to decorator among the country club set, so Ellison is getting a quote.
That is until her housekeeper calls with car trouble, and Ellison runs out to get her. The two women return to find Mrs. White dead in the study, shot by a revolver. Can Ellison navigate the latest dead body in her life?
It may have been a bit since I read book four, but I easily slipped back into Ellison’s world. The characters are sharp, and I enjoyed spending time with them. As I hinted at above, we’ve had something of a love triangle going on, but it looks like that may have come to a head. Meanwhile, we also got an interesting development with Ellison’s teenage daughter, Grace. While Ellison’s mother is her usual self, she did seem toned down a little here, which is a good thing.
Meanwhile, the mystery appears to get sidetracked a time or two with some other shenanigans, but it comes back to the forefront before too much time has passed. The climax is a little weaker than I like, but that’s been a constant in this series since the first book.
Also consistent from the first book has been some content that pushes the book just outside of the cozy realm for me. Fortunately, this book toned down some of the sexual content, although it was a bit more violent than it could have been.
This series does a good job of taking us back to the 70’s. It’s in all the details used to bring the scenes to life, and I can’t help but smile at them. This book did bring some of the politics of the time into play as well.
One thing I love about the series is the humorous tone. Ellison’s first-person narration includes plenty of dry observations on the events, and I can’t help but smile and laugh as I read. Yet, it gets serious when it needs to.
I’m quite anxious to find out where Ellison finds a dead body next. Hopefully, it won’t be as long before I’m back to this fun series. If you are as far behind on it as I am, you’ll enjoy Watching the Detectives.
Check out the rest of the Country Club Murders.
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