REVIEW: SHADOW DANCING, BY JULIE MULHERN

 

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.

My Thoughts: Whenever I open the pages of a new Country Club Murder novel, I know I am in for a treat. Like all the previous novels, Shadow Dancing brings Ellison Russell back to us in a delightful way.

As always, Ellison is up to her eyeballs in murder…and when she visits that psychic, she opens another strange door.

Mr. Coffee feels like another character in these books, as Ellison loves her coffee…and her coffee maker. She regularly talks to hers.

Ellison’s mother Frances Walford is her usual judgmental self, but with her own anxieties in this outing. I always enjoy seeing what she will do next.

Let’s not forget Anarchy Jones, who was on the outs with Ellison at the end of the last book. He is back now, and as protective as ever.

1970s Kansas City reminds me of how I enjoyed that era, with no cell phones and the quirky décor of the homes.

How does Ellison get drawn into the lives of girls working in strip clubs? What will she learn about some of the men who frequent those places? What new danger lurks for her? After several murders and a few red herrings, Ellison figures out who is behind the mayhem. Another 5 star read.

***My e-ARC came from the publisher via NetGalley.