Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: 5 Star Book Review

CORRALLING KENZIE: BOOK 4 of the WINTERS SISTERS by Joanne Jaytanie – Genetic Engineering, Fantasy, Romance, Psychics

Jaytanie veers off the sister track with her introduction to brand-new characters in her latest sizzling Winters Sisters Series read, Corralling Kenzie.

Kenzie Vaughn leaps out of her bed in the dead of night, responding to a cry from her horse. She discovers Boone shot and bleeding out. Kenzie contacts her neighbor, Victory Winters, who happens to be the closest vet in the area. While Victory is tending to Boone and Kenzie, Logan Mendoza, one of the DNA-enhanced Special Operations Command team (SOCOM) who investigates her ranch, is confident that the notorious Kaleidoscope Group (KG) used the mysterious shooting to get to Kenzie. Further probing indicates that Kenzie’s background may provide essential clues, particularly from her brother, Marcus who was sent to an institution when he was seven.

It is during an attempt on Kenzie’s life that she encounters Marcus. He, in turn, sets up a meeting with SOCOM to divulge the connective tie with KG. Indeed, KG is in the process of furthering their diabolical DNA experimentation, and Kenzie is a key player. More information unfolds with each day as Kenzie develops friendships with the Winters sisters. During Logan’s assignment to guard Kenzie, the two become close, and their friendship evolves into a steamy romance. Logan determines to keep her safe even while he’s away on a brief mission. But upon his return, Kenzie is not around. She’s been kidnapped!

For fans who are caught up in the lives of the Winters sisters, they are in for a big surprise with Jaytanie’s fourth installment. Up to this point, books one thru three have mainly concentrated on Victory, Payton, and Willow and KG’s sinister schemes directed toward the girls. But with the addition of the sisters’ neighbor Kenzie, Jaytanie opens the door to a whole new world of outsiders who have fallen prey to DNA tampering. Although pseudo-realism in design, this chilling realm into the dark side of medicine is reminiscent of the grisly experiments on children throughout history.

Jaytanie does a stellar job balancing the bad and ugly with the good, and “good” comes in various forms, the most obvious from the alpha-male SOCOM team and the Winters sisters. But on a deeper level, Jaytanie has created relatable characters; their near-realistic personas are riddled with strengths and weakness, even on a romantic playing field. Certainly, when Logan and Kenzie get their mojo on, it’s steamy. Leading up to those moments, Jaytanie sets an example of what a beautiful friendship should look like—slow but steady.

As with all of the books in this series, Corralling Kenzie functions perfectly well as a stand-alone read. There is richness when readers start from the very beginning of the series. Let’s just say that Jaytanie is a master of all things and will thrill and delight new readers as well as her loyal fans with this new installment.

The exciting aspect of this series is that book four does not complete the set. Closing on a major cliffhanger, Jaytanie has much more in store for her beloved audience. Stay tuned!

October 29, 2017
The SILVER LINING: ENCOUNTERS WITH ANGELS by Phoebe Walker – Memoir

Imagine a crisp autumn afternoon, taking a walk with a favorite companion on a country lane. You share stories about life’s ups and downs; you both laugh and cry. When you get to your destination, you give each other a goodbye hug and part separate ways with a smile, feeling a sense of strength in your friendship.

Meandering through the pages of Phoebe Walker’s, The Silver Lining Encounters with Angels, is like a walk down this country lane, leaving us with warmth and hope.

Admittedly, Walker’s book is a tough read – a story rife with abuse, her parent’s divorce at a young age, a suicide attempt, battling Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and other health concerns, and a near-death experience. It’s a lot to handle, for both the author and reader, but Walker makes the story accessible and down to earth with her conversational tone. Flipping through the pages is like a fireside chat.

In one early and instrumental memory, Walker recalls how she was introduced to God. In 1989, her friend Christi said, “speaking to Jesus was just like talking to your best friend.” Accepting Christi’s advice, Walker became convinced that certain people in her life were placed there by God as “silver linings.” “God provides the crutches,” Walker says in her memoir.

And so it went in Walker’s life, assigning silver linings to people who helped during dark days, including her loving husband Chip. The memoir is engaging and heartfelt, a recommended read for anyone wishing optimism and hope amid adversity.

Not only do we learn that Walker survived incredibly tough times, but also she thrived, earning a college degree, having children, and living a full life, later without vision due to MS.

A theme of revelation is what led her to write and share her story. She says: “By allowing myself to become fully exposed, I’m confident that not only will I continue on my journey of healing, but that it will offer hope, peace, and perhaps even direction to others. That makes sharing my story fully worth [it].” Today, she maintains a website displaying her art and ways she helps others through a life coaching business.

While Walker’s book takes us on an emotional rollercoaster, even to the edge of despair, she holds our hand with thoughtfulness and humor. She avoids lecturing and being preachy by staying in her own story, ultimately showing how her deep faith has healed her during life’s challenges.

October 29, 2017
ENGAGED in DANGER: A JAMIE QUINN MYSTERY by Barbara-Venkataraman – Cozy Mystery/Thriller & Suspense, Amateur Sleuth

Did I really lose my guy to a Hairy-Nosed Wombat … a Northern Hairy-Nosed wombat? That’s the question that plagues attorney Jamie Quinn while she lays awake and stares at the ceiling every night. But it’s not too long after her boyfriend, Kip, drops his Save the Wombat bomb and flies off to Australia, that she has more immediate issues to keep her awake—secret business machinations, a hint of Russian collusion, blackmail, and murder, for starters.

In Engaged in Danger – A Jamie Quinn Mystery by Barbara Venkataraman anything is possible. And even though Hollywood, Florida where Jamie lives and practices family law is a small, quiet town surprising things happen there.

Three days after Kip announced his temp job and is packing for a three-month stint in Australia, an elegant, older woman walks into Jamie’s office seeking a divorce. Someone is trying to kill her spouse, but she doesn’t care—she just wants a divorce, and money is no problem. Interest piqued, Jamie soon learns the husband in question is the most “famous/infamous” (translated, rich, powerful, and politically connected) attorney in town. He also proves to be a crafty, dangerous opponent with fingers in many pies. On the home front, Jamie’s neighbors who are caring for their orphaned niece, ask Jamie to look into the details surrounding the recent plane crash that killed the child’s parents.

Enlisting the assistance of her BFF, corporate attorney Grace Anderson, along with that of the charming PI, Duke Broussard, a good old Louisiana boy who has one foot on either side of the law, Jamie simultaneously takes on the high-profile divorce case and the suspicious airplane crash. What ensues is an intriguing mix of characters and events interwoven into a mystery that satisfies even the pickiest fan.

While written as a stand-alone, this book is like a gift of Babushka dolls. Allusions to backstories and Jamie’s history with Kip, with her dad in Nicaragua whom she’s never met, with Grace, and with Duke can at times be distracting, at other times, tantalizing.

Engaged in Danger is a fast-paced, well-written cozy with its complex, quirky characters, and unique plot brings unexpected twists and turns and has more than a bit of romance tucked between its pages. Venkataraman tempers the story with wry, self-deprecating humor that entertains and engages the mind, tickles the funny-bone, warms the heart, and leaves the reader ready for more.

October 23, 2017
RUTH 66 by Elizabeth Barlo – Humorous, YA, Family & Social Issues

When a banged-up old bus pulls into his family’s driveway, Charlie has no idea that the rattling junker would be his ride to freedom. For years he’d been suffering under the thumb of a cold-hearted mother and a vindictive twin sister, while his father languished behind bars for tax fraud. The only family member with whom the young man held a loving bond was his grandfather, Opa Bill. Since Bill’s recent death, Charlie has been holding it together by listening to the music he and his grandfather loved. That musical thread weaves its way throughout the story as a sort of narrative jukebox.

Now Charlie’s respectable Oma Ruth has careened back into his life in a shocking new incarnation: a freewheeling hippie in kaftan and beads, unafraid to swap barbed words with her appalled daughter, nor to insist that Charlie accompany her on her road trip. He’s dead-set against it – he’d just found his dream job at a record store – and is disgusted when his mother dumps him on her mother without hesitation.

So Charlie sets out with Ruth – and, as it turns out, with Opa Bill, whose urn rests on the dashboard. At first, Ruth’s bizarre behavior and Charlie’s resentment at being dragged along make for a very uncomfortable ride. She insists on traveling without modern technology, but when she relents and allows his iPod and a new stereo system, the thaw begins.

Although Route 66 is the road they travel as they head west, this is no travelogue about nostalgic remnants of yesterday. This is a journey of discovery: of Charlie’s strength and capacity to love, of Ruth’s ability to be honest with herself, of her secrets and those of her late husband, and of the people who will teach them along the way.

There’s the comical Count Doobie, and Jonas the Swede, who appreciates Ruth’s beauty and makes her feel truly free. There’s also heartbroken Barry, who, with his daughter Rosie, barely keeps afloat a strip joint in the middle of nowhere, Texas. And there’s even Charlie’s embittered sister Becky, who rediscovers compassion and her affection for her twin away from their mother’s toxic influence.

Above all, there’s Rosie, the beautiful young woman who pines for her missing mother and valiantly offers to become a stripper to help her father’s business. She sets Charlie’s heart and hormones on fire, turning him into a bumbling puppy before he learns to overcome his insecurities and grow into a hero of sorts. Their relationship becomes entangled in the revelation of Ruth’s secrets, but the resolution is both satisfying and a bit of a relief.

A word of caution to the straight-laced reader: Ruth has embraced the hippie lifestyle to its fullest, and so you’ll find pot-smoking, swearing, nudity, and sex, as Charlie and Rosie let loose their teenage hormones and Ruth re-engages her lost libido. But far more than that, there is love, forgiveness, and bravery on this journey, not to mention a lot of laughs, some wonderfully wacky moments, and at times exciting and literally explosive revelations.

October 19, 2017
The HARRIET CLUB: A NOVEL of SAN FRANCISCO by Kathe Maguire – Literary, Y/A Mystery/Thriller, Romance

In 1999, 13-year-old Virgil McCormick disappeared without a trace while waiting for the 43 Masonic bus. Thus, the Harriet Club was born, with 8-year-old Harriet, and her friends Nikki, Dahlia, and Casey, each longing to find out what happened to Virgil. Especially Harriet.

Ten years later, new leads in the cold case have emerged, including suspicious sketches by city graffiti artist Blinky, and the “Spatterer,” someone eager to erase all Blinky’s creations. Harriet’s obsession with the case hasn’t waned, even amid her life with her two moms, two dads, and their sometimes unpredictable lifestyle. The question now is whether The Harriet Club is up to the task of closing the Virgil McCormick case once and for all, as the teenagers face college applications, neglectful parents, substance abuse, and sexual advances from older men. With a complex and diverse cast of characters and incongruous developments at every turn, The Harriet Club definitely has their work cut out for them.

Kathe Maguire brings a dark, twisted humor to this mystery/thriller, demonstrating that in seemingly idyllic San Francisco, the city’s shadows can run deep and sinister. Maguire also does a great job of inserting local culture and color through realistic settings and dialogue. For example, Virgil’s fictional mystery is intertwined with San Francisco’s real-life cases of kidnapped children in the area, including Kevin Collins, Jaycee Dugard, and others, adding a dark and suspenseful element.

This is a well-written and well-paced novel that will capture readers from the opening pages all the way until the end. With exquisite description and visceral imagery, the story definitely tends more on the literary rather than the commercial side, but the break-neck pacing won’t leave genre readers disappointed. There are lots of moving pieces and plots that Maguire skillfully weaves together into a compelling read.

Although the main players in this story are teens, each with different shades of diversity, a much-needed trait in YA literature, this is not a typical YA mystery, and parents should be cautioned that the inclusion of graphic language, talk about sex, scenes of drug use, and themes makes this gritty story a selection for teens at least 16 and older. Dog lovers should also be cautioned of certain scenes involving animal violence. Regardless, this is a must-read for those looking for a compelling mystery that incorporates razor-sharp wit. Those from and in Northern California, and those who wish they were, will also relish in the book’s authentic setting and textures.

Obsession and dedication go hand in hand in Kathe Maguire’s The Harriet Club, a hard-core Y/A mystery thriller set in the shadow of San Francisco.

October 19, 2017
TALLULAH’S FLYING ADVENTURE by Gloria Two-Feathers – Fable, Native American, Children’s Story

A fable with an ancient feel, this story of a plucky spider and her tiny bird companion rests comfortably in the story-telling tradition of Native American peoples.

Tallulah is unusual in a number of ways. Born last and alone after her many siblings had already left the cocoon of the Mother Spider, she is not black but white “with golden eyes and soft golden hair on her long slender legs.” Then, instead of hustling off like the others to explore the wide world, she decides to make her home in the old barn where she was born. She soon befriends a horse named Buck, who gives her the name Tallulah. Buck is the Keeper of the Meadow, and he and Tallulah become great friends. But one day, Buck falls ill and it will be up to Tallulah to save him, and by saving him, to save the meadows that are dying without his daily grazing visits.

Fortunately, she meets another friend who can assist her on her mission, a tiny bird stuck in a web in the rafters. He will help her get to the Old Forest and the home of the Great Grandmother Tree. Tallulah has always longed to fly, and the bird teaches her how to harness her web to make a flying craft. Together they find the Great Grandmother Tree, where the Great Grandmother herself, recognizing Tallulah’s talent and persistence, instructs her in how to save Buck.

This is a book for children that people of all ages can appreciate for its multi-layered charms. There are simple but endearing pen and ink illustrations, and every chapter begins with a quotation from Native American lore, such as this, from the Wisdom of the Elders: “We are each a thread in the web of life, strengthened by the promise of our dreams.” The story itself has many symbols and harks back to a simpler time when children learned such natural but surprisingly mature themes from their elders. Tallulah embodies many admirable qualities, making her a role model of bravery and persistence, while Buck and the bird represent friendship and loyalty. The book offers a small list of Lakota words interspersed in the narrative. Thus, it offers many ways to learn.

Gloria Two-Feathers comes from a combined Scottish and Native American heritage and studied extensively with a Lakota elder. Story-telling springs naturally from her background, allowing her to create, in Tallulah’s Flying Adventure, a tale ideal for reading aloud and sure to engage the reader as much as the listener.

October 16, 2017
The WELL: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN the MIND RELEASES but the HEART SUSTAINS by Colleen Golden – Aging Parents, Heartwarming, Coma

The subtitle of Colleen Golden’s lovely book, The Well, asks a searching question: “What happens when the mind releases but the heart sustains?” There are few greater mysteries and that’s exactly why this charming and touching novel will appeal to so many readers.

At the outset, the central character, seventy-six-year-old Grace, has been in a coma for a few months. That doesn’t stop the feisty and funny protagonist from addressing readers, however, and taking us with her on a transcendental journey in which we’ll meet many of her family members and friends.

While her grown children sit in her room at the nursing home and worry about her being in a seemingly vegetative state, Grace hears every word. The voices seem to be coming from deep within a well, and she sits gingerly on the edge of that well, sometimes leaning over it to eavesdrop more carefully. She reminisces about her life spent in the Midwest, musing about her dimming short-term memory, and shares vivid recollections of flappers (she herself is a great dancer), the first telephones, the excitement over indoor plumbing, radios, televisions, highways, and rockets to outer space.

It’s a joy to spend time with Grace in this limbo dimension because she’s a thoroughly engaging storyteller and a very astute observer of the human condition. While she seldom judges, she’s quick to point out mischief, like the time one of her sisters stole a boyfriend from another sister, or when teenagers slipped into a vacant house for a romantic rendezvous. So many of Golden’s characters are familiar; they remind us of people we’ve known, people we’ve lost, and people we dearly miss.

As time goes by, Grace realizes she can do more than just listen to people. She experiments with “dissolving” into their thoughts and discovers that she can help them solve dilemmas and find their way out of difficult and sometimes dangerous situations. She herself finds her way to her old kitchen, where she’s happiest, and starts to bake. While she used to make delicious cakes and pies, she now kneads the dough to fashion a puppy who bounds to life and becomes an adored companion. Well, if that works, why not make people? She does just that, an entire cast that includes old friends and her deceased husband who looks just as he did when he was a handsome, young man.

Grace creates streets and buildings and before long has created an entire town which she names “Possibilities.” Not bad for an elderly woman in a coma! There are reasons, revealed carefully, for all of Grace’s creativity, as well as lessons to be learned from these paranormal sojourns. Grace has lived a long life but there are loose ends to be tied before she discovers what the next chapter holds for her.

This material in a less gifted author’s hands might run the risk of sentimentality or frivolity, but Golden wisely has Grace contemplate the sadness of life, along with the joy. There are nocturnal activities at the nursing home that, when discovered, enrage and devastate her children.

Everyone knows heartache and loss, and Grace has lived long enough to experience her share. In a moment that brings Emily of Our Town to mind, Grace glimpses her deceased mother, describing the scene thus: “The sun’s brilliance silhouettes her against the horizon, and bedazzles the grass into a field of emeralds.” Golden’s prose is imbued with a wistful nostalgia, so perfect for a book that considers the variedness of life and the questions of death. While we don’t know all the answers, this novel helps us realize that because “love makes a good conduit,” the possibilities are, indeed, endless.

October 16, 2017
The LAST CRUSADER KINGDOM: DAWN of a DYNASTY in TWELFTH-CENTURY CYPRUS by Helena P. Schrader

In the Introduction and Acknowledgements section of her fascinating novel, The Last Crusader Kingdom: Dawn of a Dynasty in Twelfth-Century Cyprus, Helena P. Schrader notes that “. . . the historical basis for this novel is very thin,” and that the book serves as “a fictional depiction of events as I believe they could have happened.” Upon finishing the book, one concludes that only the rare reader would disagree with Schrader’s version of the historical events that comprise her narrative. Her comprehensive research and impressive scholarship are evident on every single page. This is a work of historical fiction, admittedly, but Schrader clearly was tireless in exhuming every possible detail to piece together as authentic a history of medieval Cyprus, 1193-1198, as possible.

The establishment of a Latin Kingdom on the formerly Byzantine island of Cyprus in the late twelfth-century is as engrossing and intricate a chapter in history as possible, one that involved a plethora of cultures, religions, family dynasties, battles, treaties, and, inevitably, human greed and vanity. Schrader addresses both public and private lives and demonstrates how their intertwining shaped history. She considers all classes of society, from barons to beggars. It would be easy to get lost amongst the riveting and numerous details, but the author takes the reader by the hand and offers a guided tour to people, places, and events. The novel includes a Cast of Characters, Genealogical Charts for the Houses of Jerusalem, Lusignan, and Ibelin, as well as historical maps of Cyprus and the Outremer. Her Historical Notes underscore the depth of her research, and she also provides a glossary to orient the reader with historical and regional terms.

Schrader matches her exhaustive research with a thoroughly captivating narrative. Her prose shimmers with elegant confidence and wit. The story traces how this strategically positioned island, formerly fraught with the greatest animosity between the inept and despised Frankish ruler, Guy de Lusignan, and the Greek Orthodox natives is pacified even after the influx of Latin immigrants. How all this came about is as exciting and adventurous tale as anyone could imagine. Schrader pays keen attention to how power is grasped, nourished, and maintained, and her tale demonstrates the essential and timeless balance of politics, religion, economy, and public relations. Although the novel takes place in medieval times, much of it could serve as a primer for twenty-first-century global politics and diplomacy.

One might expect the medieval world to be dominated by men, yet the author fully addresses the lives of women. Obviously siring male heirs was of importance in the twelfth century, but Schrader does not limit episodes involving female characters to pregnancy and birth. She emphasizes their role as astute advisers to their husbands and other male relations. The women understood that marriages were opportunities for strategic alliances and personal power. Queens and wives of public figures were keenly aware of the critical public relations roles they played in binding their subjects to the ruling families.

The reader also learns a wealth of information on shipbuilding, irrigation, aqueducts, woodcarving, piracy, on and on. The Last Crusader Kingdom is not just the story of key families ascending to power; it’s also an enlightening overview on the state of technology, the arts, and crime at the close of the twelfth century. The reader trusts Schrader’s depiction of events as accurate in large part because her meticulous research makes every scene vivid and memorable. Schrader matches her exhaustive historical research with a thoroughly captivating narrative. Her prose shimmers with elegant confidence and wit.

Helena P. Schrader is an author who doesn’t just bring history to life but one who reminds us that each passing moment is also history. To understand the events reported on the front pages of today’s newspapers, there’s no greater teacher than the past. The Last Crusader Kingdom is filled with lessons we’d be foolish to neglect.

October 8, 2017
MIST-CHI-MAS by J.L. Oakley – Historical Fiction, Pacific Northwest, Literary

A masterful work of historical fiction that charts a deeply compelling romance set in the Pacific Northwest during the fascinating but under-reported second half of the nineteenth century. Award-winning author, Janet Oakley brings us another exceptional work from her heart, Mist-chi-mas: A Novel of Captivity.

It is 1860 and Washington Territory is rich with a diversity of cultures. British and American military camps are posted on San Juan Island, both groups awaiting the decision of an international committee as to which country will be awarded the land. It will take more than a decade for the committee to determine what is to be the water boundary between Washington and British Columbia.

Although a previous incident involving a shot pig almost instigated a war, at the start of the Mist-chi-mas, the two military encampments are respectful of the other’s turf and co-exist well. There’s a bit of society in the area, ladies’ teas and picnics take place, and plenty of business dealings due to the ubiquitous presence of the Hudson Bay Company.

In addition to the relative newcomers to the Pacific Northwest are the native peoples, a number of Indian tribes, the Haida, the Saanich, and the Songhees peoples, as well the “Kanakas,” the Hawaiians who have been here since the early nineteenth century. Attitudes toward the native peoples vary, with some being appreciative of their contributions to the shipping, trading and lime works industries, and others being condescending or outright violent towards them.

The history of this area comes vividly to life through the romance of a widow, Jeannie Naughton, and Jonas Breed. Jeannie is the niece of the Scotsman, Archibald Campbell, a major representative of the Hudson Bay Company in the Pacific Northwest, and has arrived from England with her young son. Her reasons for beginning life anew in a foreign land are mysterious and mired in scandal.

In contrast, everything is known about Jonas Breed, a man whose ethnic heritage and experiences reflect the geography and culture of the region. The orphan of an American trader in the South Pacific and a Welsh mother, he grew up speaking English and Hawaiian. As a youth, he was captured by the Haida and was made a “mist-chi-mas,” a slave. After several years of servitude, he saves the life of his captor and his status changes. He is grateful for all he has learned from the Haida, and when he asks for his freedom, it is granted. The Haida respect and trust him.

Breed’s closest companions and friends are members of the tribal peoples, and he will prove his love and loyalty to them repeatedly. He’s as at home on land as he is on water, reads Ralph Waldo Emerson, and is certainly the most self-reliant character in the book. He may remind some of Natty Bumpo, James Fenimore Cooper’s hero in The Last of the Mohicans.

The Americans and the British generally regard Breed with great admiration, although there are those who envy him and seek his downfall. In turn, someone threatens Jeannie with his knowledge of her hidden past. Despite this, Jeannie and Jonas find love but also tremendous danger at every turn. Jeannie comes to understand the truth of Breed’s words, “We are all mistchimas.” Some are enslaved by external forces, some by inner forces. Their relationship will prove to be as complicated and compelling as the historical events of the novel.

J.L. Oakley deserves tremendous recognition for the clearly exhaustive and meticulous research she did in writing Mist-chi-mas. With writing so clear and vivid, Oakley brings time and place to life leaving readers captivated by her craft. She invokes the mountains and the waters with such descriptive beauty and fully creates her characters against this panoramic landscape that challenges and shapes them.

Can love blossom between the most unlikely pair in a multi-cultural, tension-ripe environment? Author J.L. Oakley breathes life into an often forgotten part of Pacific Northwest history in her beautifully penned novel, Mist-chi-mas: A Novel of Captivity–destined to be a regional classic.

October 5, 2017
The DEEP END by Julie Mulhern – Woman Sleuth, Thriller/Suspense, Cozy Mystery

It’s 1974 and Ellie Walford Russell is doing fine, except for the fact that her husband is missing and his girlfriend is dead.

Ellison Walford Russell is a married housewife and artist living in Kansas City during the early summer of 1974. Following her desire to paint has left her in the midst of an unpleasant marriage, held together for the sake of her young teen daughter, Gracie. Ellison was raised in the upper fringe of society, where expensive designer clothing and tennis games at the club are the usual topics of discussion, the place where her domineering mother Frances and her estranged husband Henry would like her to stay. But when something happens to one of the least-liked women in town, even Ellison’s passion for art won’t be able to protect her from the dark and swirling clouds of gossip and intrigue.

Julie Mulhern’s book is a well-handled whodunit cozy mystery that thoroughly entertains. The main character, Ellison, or “Ellie,” sees colors and patterns and as an artist describes things using a rich and vivid vocabulary. It’s 1974, a time period when many wives struggled to be independent of their husbands and some husbands, like Ellie’s, didn’t like the change. Mulhern does a great job in setting an accurate sense of the historic period, complete with references to drinking a specific diet soda, discussing Watergate at cocktail parties, and women who might wear purple Muumuu dresses. But the era doesn’t become the centerpiece. Rather, it’s more like important background discussion, never distracting from the plot at hand but reminding readers of the changes for women during that time period, changes mirrored in Ellie’s personal growth. Ellie’s mother, Frances, and young daughter, Gracie, serve as other fine and subtle examples of society’s shift across a single generation.

The men in Mulhern’s work also have an interesting time. Ellie’s husband, unable to accept her growing artistic skills and independence, turns his controlling impulses into ones of humiliation and infidelity. Is it any wonder that Ellie’s world begins to spin out of control when her husband’s mistress is murdered and he is nowhere to be found? It seems everyone has something to say and advice to give, as more and more things go wrong.

Two men, in particular, are at odds each certain they know what Ellie should be doing. One is an old friend, a lawyer, a handsome man her mother would like to see her date. His name is Hunter Tafft, a tall and distinguished fellow who is a member of the same club. The other is a police detective, Officer A. Smith, with deep brown eyes and deeper convictions, a man who makes her blush when she’d least like to. Using this trio of characters, Mulhern sets Ellie not only in the middle between two strong-minded men but between two levels of society and two levels of the law. The tension is fruitful.

Overall, The Deep End is a book that will engage the reader in every chapter as they seek to solve the many crimes, both present and implied. Ellie Russell is a colorful person in more ways than one, and the other characters are more than a background to her, adding depth to the story in unusual ways.

Funny, compassionate and endearing “The Deep End” is a well-crafted cozy, with just a touch of the exotic life, murder and mayhem, and the Bundt cake brigade to hook readers into devouring the rest of Julie Mulhern’s series, The Country Club Murders.

October 5, 2017