A Visit with Ellison Russell - A Guest Post

I'm happy to welcome Ellison Russell to the blog today. You can find Ellison on the pages of the Country Club Murders Mystery series by Julie Mulhern. Back Stabbers is the eighth book in the series and will be released tomorrow!

What are you reading?

I’ve been reading Watership Down by Richard Adams but I’ve been asked to join a book club so I’ll need to set Fiver and the rest of the rabbits aside to read Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie.

What’s your favorite television program?

I really like Angie Dickinson as Pepper Anderson on Police Woman. My one issue is this—the name of the series. There are plenty of cop shows with male leads—Barney Miller, Kojak, Beretta, Columbo, Starsky & Hutch. Why are the named but Pepper is reduced to being described by her sex? If you ask me, Pepper would have been a great name for a show.

Do you have pets?

We have a dog named Max. He’s crazy smart and he uses his intelligence for evil. My daughter, Grace, would love to have a cat but that is a recipe for disaster (or at least a destroyed house).

What is a typical day for you?

I’m a painter and my best days include plenty of time in my studio. I’m also the chairman of an upcoming gala, so lately far too much of my time has been taken up with committee meetings and handling the details of the party. When it’s over, I may reward myself with a  weekend away.

Can you tell us about your family?

There’s just me and Grace. My husband died—was murdered. Of course, there’s Max—dogs are family. And our housekeeper, Aggie, is family too. Then there’s Mother and Daddy. Mother is formidable. Daddy plays golf. I have a sister in Ohio and a sis—never mind. Mother prefers I not speak about Karma.

What’s your favorite food?

Does coffee count?

What’s your least favorite food?

Raisins are the food equivalent of Satan.

What should people know about you?

I never, ever set out to find a body. Bodies seem to find me.

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Back Stabbers (The Country Club Murders) by Julie Mulhern

About the Book

Back Stabbers (The Country Club Murders)  

Cozy Mystery 8th in Series 

Henery Press (October 23, 2018) Kindle Edition, 253 pages 

All Ellison Russell wanted was an update on her stock portfolio. Instead, she found her broker dead. With an unexpected out-of-town guest at her house, Ellison is too busy for a murder investigation. Only this time, Detective Anarchy Jones wants her help, and she can’t deny the handsome detective. Can Mr. Coffee supply her with enough caffeine to keep her brain sharp and everyone else happy? Juggling bodies (one, two, three, four), two-faced friends, her social calendar, and a cat (yes, a cat) is taxing but Mother might be the biggest challenge of all. With a killer drawing closer, can Ellison put together the pieces or will she be the one getting stabbed in the back?

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: Amazon B&N Kobo BookBub

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A Shadow Dancing Interview & Giveaway

I'm happy to welcome Julie Mulhern back to the blog today. Julie writes the Country Club Mystery series. Shadow Dancing is the seventh book in the series and was released earlier this month.

Kathy: In Shadow Dancing Ellison Russell visits a psychic. Have you ever visited a psychic? Did he or she use a crystal ball or another form of divination.

JM: I visited a psychic once when I was visiting a friend in Houston – probably twenty-five years ago. The psychic read my palm. I think she promised two children (a safe bet that paid off). She foretold three children for my friend (and missed the mark).

I am a skeptic.


Kathy: Ellison also has a witchy neighbor. What are your thoughts about witches? What are some benefits to including witches in mysteries?

JM: Ellison’s witchy neighbor is named after the actress who played the Wicked Witch of the West. Her name is as close to actual witchy-ness as she gets. That said, having a magical solution or two, would be a wonderful way out when I’ve written myself into a corner!


Kathy: Do you think views towards psychics and witches has changed much since 1975? Do you think that if your book was set in 2018 instead of 1975 things would have been different?

JM: In 1975, I was eight. I wanted to believe in magic—ghosts, witches, faeries—I wanted them to be real. I kept my eyes open for sprites hiding in trees and gnomes sneaking for the back garden.

Now that I’m older (you do the math, I’m not going there), I’d still want to believe in magic but I don’t look for gnomes anymore.


Kathy: Was there a specific inspiration for this story?

JM: I was having lunch with a friend who told me a psychic had been contacted by another mutual friend who’d passed away. My luncheon friend believed. Absolutely.

I spent a few days thinking about what Ellison’s reaction would be and a book was born.


Kathy: Are you able to share any future plans for Ellison Russell?

JM: Ellison will be back in October in Back Stabbers. Much to Mother’s dismay, Ellison finds her stockbroker’s body.


Kathy: What's your favorite part about writing a series that takes place in the 1970s?

JM: When it comes to the 1970s, I wear rose-colored glasses. I love the nostalgia of writing a book set when I was a child.


Kathy: Will you share any other upcoming books?

JM: Book two of my Poppy Fields Adventure series will be out late summer. Poppy is going to Paris!

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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 

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: Amazon kobo B&N BookBub

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Watching the Detectives Interview and Giveaway

I'm pleased to welcome Julie Mulhern back to Cozy Up With Kathy. Julie pens the Country Club Murders Mystery series. WATCHING THE DETECTIVES is the fifth book in the series and was just released last week.

Kathy: I'm a huge fan of the board game Clue and couldn't help but notice that WATCHING THE DETECTIVES seems to have some ties to the game. Are you a Clue fan too?

JM: I absolutely loved CLUE as a kid. Still do. My favorite board game of all time.


Kathy: Was there a specific inspiration for this story?

JM: Last year, I read an article about interior decorators who understated the cost of items on their bills (the wives, who didn't want their husbands to know how much they'd spent, paid the difference). What if it worked the other way? What if a decorator overcharged? Where would the money go? Would it be worth killing for?


Kathy: Are you able to share any future plans for Ellison Russell?

JM: When I wrote THE DEEP END, I finished the book with Ellison and her daughter, Grace, taking off for Europe. I didn't realize I was giving away months of 1974. Since then, time has slowed down a bit and the speed at which Ellison finds corpses has increased.

A lot. Ellison find bodies. Early and often. It's what she does.

That will not change. I can assure Ellison's fans that she will continue to find bodies. Here. There. And everywhere.

And, if anyone's wondering, she might start dating...


Kathy: When it comes to writing I understand there are 2 general camps-plotters, who diligently plot their stories, and pansters, who fly by the seat of their pants. Are you a plotter, a panster, or do you fall somewhere in between?

JM: I write to plot points so I know the general direction of a novel but not the details. I guess that puts me somewhere in the middle.


Kathy: Authors are required to do a lot of their own marketing, especially for a new release. What's your favorite part of marketing your work? What do you dislike about marketing?

JM: Head on over to Facebook and be my friend or follow me! https://www.facebook.com/julie.mulhern.33

Most days I post pictures from the 70s that make me laugh. And the comments on those photographs? Let me tell you, I know some FUNNY people. Those pictures--they're not really marketing my books but they are from the 70s, they are funny, and they make me happy!

As for what I dislike about marketing? Um...thinking...I've got nothing. Mainly because if I don't like it, I don't do it. If I'm not having fun, not loving the whole process, it might show in my books.


Kathy: Will you share any other upcoming books?

JM: Book six in the Country Club Murders, COLD AS ICE, will release October 17, 2017. You never know what, or who, will show up in the walk-in freezer at the club.


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Halloween Memories - Guest Post and Giveaway

Julie Mulhern is taking over Cozy Up With Kathy today. Julie writes the Country Club Murders Mystery series.  Send in the Clowns is the fourth book in the series and was released October 25, 2016.

Halloween Memories

Julie Mulhern 

In researching Send in the Clowns, which is set around Halloween in 1974, I got to go back and look at Halloween costumes from the era.

Do you remember Ben Cooper costumes? Molded plastic with tiny slits, they made seeing and breathing a challenge. But who cared? For one glorious night a child was a princess, or a pirate, or a clown.

I was usually a princess. Yellow hair, golden tiara, pink polyester tunic that covered my clothes. Perfection. Until…

I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri where Halloween can be balmy or frigid. For most of my childhood, weather on the big night was cold. My mother insisted I wear a coat.

“No,” I cried. “No one will see my costume!”

“Wear your coat under your costume.”

Now any child knows this is bulky and uncomfortable. Any girl knows, no matter how young she is, that wearing a coat under your clothes adds the appearance of weight.

“Noooooooooooooooooo!”

“You’re not going if you don’t wear a coat.”

“Elizabeth’s not wearing a coat.” This comment was a tactical error. It inevitably led to…

“If Elizabeth jumped off the Empire State Building, would you jump too?”

“No.” This I uttered with snark worthy of my teen-age self.

It’s funny. Decades later, those arguments are one of my fondest Halloween memories. I loved incorporating them into Send in the Clowns.

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