On the HahaFiction shelf
The Deep End
The Country Club Murders · Book 1 · 2015
Ellison Russell’s dawn swim at the country club ends beside the body of her husband’s mistress. It is 1974, and the artist and mother was already preparing for divorce. Now she has to contend with being a murder suspect while her husband disappears and family pressure mounts.
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What makes it funny?
Ellison imagines a public argument with her husband as free entertainment, complete with reviews traveling along the telephone lines the next morning. In her view, a station wagon can serve as a country-club tank.
The comedy at work
Ellison’s first-person observations keep track of what respectable people want others to see and what they are actually doing. Her wit gives anger and scandal an outlet without making the murder inconsequential.
Try this if…
A period social setting and a woman beginning to stand her ground give this mystery more than the puzzle to follow. The humor has a sharp observer behind it.
Good to know
Infidelity, sexual kink, blackmail and marital cruelty matter to the case. The content pushes toward the edge of a conventional cozy, and romantic complications also develop.
A few distinguishing details
- A country-club swim exposes the scandal Ellison was trying to leave
More funny amateur sleuth
Sources & further reading
- Apple Books lists The Deep End by Julie Mulhern, released February 17, 2020, with a length of 312 pages; no print format is identified on this listing.
Book information
- Fantastic Fiction bibliography
Book information
- Carstairs Considers review
Review
- Google Books Henery Press edition
Book information
- Apple Books current edition
Book information
- Jane Reads review and authorized tour excerpt
Review
- Author’s book page
Author commentary
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