Julie Mulhern

Having adored Julie Mulhern’s debut novel, The Deep End, I couldn’t wait to begin the sequel — literally! I started Guaranteed to Bleed as soon as I finished The Deep End. While the series’ debut sported more twists than a spiral staircase, the sequel instead dealt more deeply with one facet. To reveal what would be to unfairly spoil the fun.

Mulhern kicks off the novel with Ellison Russell, artist, widow, and renegade member of Kansas City’s WASP elite, stumbling on yet another show more body: Bobby Lowell. With his dying breath, Bobby whispers to Ellison: “Tell her I love her.” Bobby and Ellison’s teenage daughter Grace have been pals since kindergarten, and Grace and her longtime friends take Bobby’s murder hard, as does Grace’s new friend, Donna Richardson. But not as hard as Alice Standish, one of the other girls at Suncrest Country Day School — a very odd one. Who would kill a 16-year-old boy? Could it be the besotted Alice? Or a drug deal gone bad? Or something more menacing still? And who is the mystery girl who Bobby loved? Ellison, determined to carry out a dying boy’s wish, is driven to find her. Complications ensue, leading Grace and Donna to disappear, driving Ellison — and the reader — to panic.

I really enjoyed Guaranteed to Bleed. Characters — old and new — nearly leapt off the page, and I couldn’t stop reading the novel. It had the same fun vibe as The Deep End and the same spot-on flavor of the 1970s. And the novel’s complex resolution makes particular sense to those of us who lived through that less-enlightened decade. Readers won’t regret enjoying the further adventures of Kansas City’s most interesting artist.

Having read two Mulhern novels back-to-back, I can’t wait for the third in the series so I can catch up with Ellison’s further exploits. In the meantime, I imagine Ellison stumbling into her kitchen to drink heaven in a cup produced by her Mr. Coffee machine, and I raise my own coffee cup in her honor.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Henery Press in exchange for an honest review. show less

Stephen Sondheim’s virtuoso number “Send in the Clowns” may be figurative, but the clowns in Julie Mulhern’s fourth Ellison Russell novel are literal — and at least one is murderous.

It’s October 1974, and Ellison Russell — a widowed artist and a member of Kansas City’s WASP elite — tries to track down her teenaged daughter Grace at a haunted house called the Gates of Hell. Instead of Grace, Ellison runs into the black sheep of the Harney family — as he’s being murdered. show more Both Harney, who’s working at the haunted house, and his murderer are dressed as Stephen King-style It clowns. But the killing is very real.

I absolutely devoured Send in the Clowns, finishing it in a few hours! Ellison’s competent housekeeper Aggie, her hypercritical mother, her protective father, her lovelorn bestie Libba, and her two love interests — sexy police Detective Anarchy Jones and debonair lawyer Hunter Tafft — return to add to the fun. Mulhern weaves a clever mystery and her message that women need to stand up for themselves remains just as relevant 40 years later. Send in the Clowns proves as delightful and true to the 1970s as Mulhern’s previous books in the series, and I relished this book as much as Ellison relishes her Mr. Coffee machine. And that’s saying something!

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Henery Press in exchange for an honest review. show less

As usual the latest Country Club murder does not disappoint!

Ellison Russell is in the midst of the final preparations for her wedding to Detective Anarchy Jones when she and Anarchy stumble upon a pair of murder victims with the help of Max, the dog. Of course, Frances, Ellison's mother, believes that it is the perfect excuse to "postpone" the wedding, if not cancel it altogether. However, when another body is found, Frances is sure that the wedding should be called off, but Ellison and show more Anarchy work to clear up the mystery so that the wedding can take place as planned.

I absolutely adore this series! The characters (family, neighbors, friends, and especially the dogs) are soooo much fun, I laugh so much at the stories as they progress. The only downside...now I have to wait months for the next one! show less

I love a good mystery, and a mystery touched with some humor, and just a hint of kinky sex is even better. In The Deep End, Julie Mulhern gives us both. I rather doubt there is anything that will startle you more than going for your early morning swim and running into a body. It’s what happens next that kept me awake at night. Protagonist Ellison Russell is a whole lot stronger than she’s willing to admit, even in the mid-1970s when women were just coming into their own. She’s still show more learning how to stand up for herself, but she’s unwilling to be a doormat, and when independence and submission collide, the fur will fly. I am eager for the next book in the Country Club Murders series.
~ Linda Thompson, Host of TheAuthorsShow.com show less