Shadow Dancing (The Country Club Murders) by Julie Mulhern

About the Book

Shadow Dancing (The Country Club Murders)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Henery Press (June 19, 2018)
Print Length: 210 pages
Digital ASIN: B07BMJM89K

Visiting a psychic is outside the norm for Ellison Russell. Finding bodies is not. Unfortunately, the psychic’s crystal ball says she’ll soon be surrounded by death. Again.

Drat.

Now there’s a corpse in the front drive, a witchy neighbor ready to turn Ellison and her (not so) little dog into toadstools, and a stripper named Starry Knight occupying the guest room.

How did 1975 go so wrong so quickly?

Ellison must handle Mother (who’s found a body of her own), make up with a certain handsome detective, and catch a killer, or the death surrounding her might be her own.

About the Author

– Julie Mulhern is the USA Today bestselling author of The Country Club Murders. She is a Kansas City native who grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym and finding new ways to keep her house spotlessly clean–and she’s got an active imagination. Truth is–she’s an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions.

Author Links

Website – www.juliemulhernauthor.com

FB – https://www.facebook.com/juliekmulhern/?ref=hl

Twitter – https://twitter.com/JulieKMulhern

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8573907.Julie_Mulhern

Purchase Links

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SHADOW DANCING EXCERPT

“Ellison!” Mother’s voice was a mix of relief and exasperation.
“Where have you been?”
Tell Mother I’d visited a medium? I’d rather hammer shims under my fingernails or wander around outside without my coat.
“Out.”

“I need you.”

Time stopped. Mother never needed me.

“What’s wrong?”

“I need you.”

Apparently that was the only explanation I was getting.

“Can you come over? Please?”

Please? What had happened?

“Of course, I’ll come. Are you okay?”

“Hurry.”

She hung up.

Aggie appeared in the doorway, a steaming mug of all-things-good in her hand.

“Would you please put that in a travel mug?” I asked.

“Of course. Problem?”

“She won’t tell me what’s wrong.”

Mother was not given to crying wolf. Whatever the issue was, it was big. A trickle of dread chilled my blood.

“The ambiance committee is meeting here at three. I’ll be back before then.”

“I’ll have everything ready.” Aggie was indispensable. How we’d ever gotten along without her was a mystery. With her sproingy red hair, vivid kaftans, and outspoken ways, Aggie was not Mother’s idea of a perfect housekeeper. Mother’s opinion didn’t matter. I thought Aggie was the best thing since sliced bread.

A moment later I was back in the car, snug in a fox jacket with matching hat. I settled the plastic travel mug filled with coffee between my thighs and wished I hadn’t. The plastic was hot. I turned the key and ELO’s “Can’t Get It Out of My Head” nearly deafened me. I sympathized. Even with hitting a pedestrian and Mother’s crisis, there was a man I couldn’t get out of my head. I turned off the radio and motored down the drive.

Mother’s door opened as soon as I pulled up in front of her house.

I took a quick gulp of coffee then hurried up the front walk. “What’s wrong?”

Mother looked from left to right as if her neighbors were hanging around in the cold, waiting to eavesdrop. “Come in.”

With the door safely closed behind me, Mother sighed.

“What? What’s happened?”

The color had leeched from her skin and the perfect helmet of her hair was mussed. “I found a body.”

Mother? A body? It was about time someone in this family besides me found a body.

Mallory Heart's Cozies' Review:

Shadow Dancing by Julie Mulhern
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: SHADOW DANCING by Julie Mulhern
(Country Club Mystery)

Although almost all the characters in this series are "a cut above," actually several socioeconomic levels above me, the author's wry humour, use of irony, and judicious eliciting of empathy, make the series endearing, despite the cultural disparity. The twisted convolutions of the mystery provided, and protagonist Ellison's "flair" (or fate) for stumbling over corpses, keep the reader in suspense, and Ellison' s rocky "relationship" with Detective Anarchy Jones warms our hearts, as does her protective love for her sixteen-year-old daughter Grace.

Ellison and Grace are drawn into a morass of crime, including underage prostitution and strip clubs, venues Ellison is fiercely determined to keep far, far away from Grace. But murder has a way of striking much too close to home.