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Stayin’ Alive (The Country Club Murders)
Cozy Mystery
10th in Series
Setting – Missouri
Publisher: J & M Press (January 30, 2020)
Paperback: 268 pages
ISBN-10: 1732755914
ISBN-13: 978-1732755918
Publisher: J & M Press (February 25, 2020)
Print Length: 270 pages
Kindle ASIN: B082RFCMY6
Springtime. Love is in the air. So is murder.
When Ellison Russell, reluctant finder of bodies, chairs a gala in conjunction with the museum’s Chinese funerary exhibit, she expects disaster. So, she’s not remotely surprised when a body turns up.
Ellison is willing to leave the investigation to the police till an attempt is made on her life.
Now she’s juggling evading a killer, her aunt’s overly-amorous beau, her dog’s new love interest, and Mother’s displeasure.
With bodies piling up, if Ellison’s not careful, staying alive might be impossible.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Tap into your inner BeeGees –
Whether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother
You’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive
Feel the city breaking and everybody shaking, people
Stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive
and sit back and prepare to have your funny bone tickled and your mind tested by the latest Country Club mystery from Julie Mulhern.
Ellison Russell is in charge of the museum’s Chinese Exhibit Gala and she has vowed to her mother there will be no dead bodies found this time. Well, when she sneaks away for a few minutes with her boyfriend, Detective Anarchy Jones, that plan goes terribly awry. They find a body in one of the closed exhibits. No matter how much money Ellison has raised the body will be the only thing people focus on. Ellison agrees to stay out of the investigation and let Anarchy handle it. She does a great job at that until the killer comes after her. If she plans on Stayin’ Alive she needs to find out who is trying to take her down.
____
Julie Mulhern is one of my favorite authors and I wait as patiently as possible for each new book. She never disappoints. What really makes these stories sing is the genuine characters and their fantastic dialogue.
Protagonist Ellison gets stronger in each story. She still has her mother who gets upset about every body she finds (like she plans to find them), that Anarchy is not right for her, the clothes she wears, the friends she hangs out with, well you get the point, but Ellison is learning to deal with the overbearing woman and that makes me happy. Her relationship with Anarchy is progressing in an interesting way and that makes me happy too. This time her Aunt Sis played a major role and she was my favorite character.
All the other characters I love have returned too and some really bring the funny.
“Sorry, I’m late!” Daisy burst into the card room like a whirlwind. Her slip showed. She needed a comb. A lollipop and multiple tufts of hair stuck to her sweater (the candy on the sleeve, the hair everywhere). “I’ve had a morning.”
“Sit.” Libba held out her wine glass.
Daisy sat, took the glass, gulped, and handed it back. “Thank you.”
“Which kid, and what did he do?” asked Jinx.
Daisy closed her eyes. “How bad can it be?”
Libba didn’t have children. She’d never experienced bad.
“David snuck into our bathroom. He knows it’s off-limits, ever since the lipstick incident.” The lipstick incident had translated into new wallpaper for most of the house. “He stole my razor from the shower and—” She paused for a shuddering breath.
“And?” I asked. One of Daisy’s offspring running loose with a razor was a terrifying proposition.
“He shaved the cat.”
“He what?” Jinx’s brows touched her hairline.
“The cat fell asleep on his lap and he shaved off its fur.” Daisy rubbed her face. “There’s cat hair everywhere. And the poor cat, it’s hiding under the bed.”
“He shaved the whole cat?”
“The side that was exposed.”
“So the other side still has hair?” Jinx’s mouth twitched.
“Yes. The poor cat is humiliated.”
“It’ll grow back.”
That wouldn’t comfort the cat.
In addition to the humor, Ms. Mulhern writes a complex mystery filled with intrigue and mayhem. The pace is fast. Ellison is involved up to her neck. Reliant on her friend Mr. Coffee, Aggie to keep the house in order, Anarchy doing his best to keep her safe, Grace sometimes being the adult in the room, her friends being there to bounce ideas off of, and an unexpected guest to keep her on her toes, Ellison does her best to solve more than one mystery.
Mulhern is not afraid to fictionalize heavy topics to shine a light but give her readers an entertaining story as well. Fabulous twists kept me totally engrossed and guessing right up until the end.
I love stepping back to the ’70s and hanging out with the ladies who lunch and play bridge. Julie Mulhern has done her research and brings the time to life in her own unique way.
I highly recommend every book in this series and her Poppy Fields Adventures too. Stayin’ Alive was a Perfect Escape and I can’t wait for the next book in this series!
Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent
Read my Reviews for:
The Deep End
Guaranteed to Bleed
Clouds In My Coffee
Send In The Clowns
Watching The Detectives
Cold As Ice
Back Stabbers
Shadow Dancing
Telephone Line
The Rest of the Books in the Country Club Murders Humorous Mystery Series:
GUARANTEED TO BLEED (#2)
CLOUDS IN MY COFFEE (#3)
SEND IN THE CLOWNS (#4)
WATCHING THE DETECTIVES (#5)
COLD AS ICE (#6)
SHADOW DANCING (#7)
BACK STABBERS (#8)
TELEPHONE LINE (#9)
Stayin’ Alive (#10)
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Dollycas, you certainly made me want to read the Country Club Murder series!
Looking forward to reading this! So glad the exhibit is finally here!