I’ve been fighting a cold and sinus infection so didn’t want to read anything deep or disturbing, so I chose “Clouds in My Coffee” by Julie Mulhern. It is the third out of 17 in her Country Club Murders series.
The Walford family is part of the high society in Kansas City. Harrington Walford is patriarch. His wife, Francis, runs the city’s social community with the precision of a military general.
Daughter Marjorie married Greg Blake, moved to Akron, Ohio, and had two children. Francis disapproves of Greg because he is from new money, i.e., he owns a lucrative condom company.
Daughter Ellison married Henry Russell, and they a daughter, Grace. That marriage fell apart after Elli found out that Henry was both cheating on her and blackmailing several members of their elite social group. Henry’s consequent death is in another book that introduces us to Detective Anarchy Jones and hints at a potential relationship between him and Ellison.
As the story opens Elli and Grace welcome her Aunt Sis as an unexpected houseguest. She has lived abroad all her adult life, so this visit is a surprise.
She has just settled in when Elli’s sister Marjorie barges in demanding to stay in one of Elli’s guest rooms. She says she has left Greg but refuses to offer any reason. Francis is in the final stages of preparation for her annual charity gala, and her demands have kept Elli on edge for weeks.
The two-night event begins with a cocktail party at the Children’s Museum. Marjorie’s outfit is embarrassingly skimpy and attracts lots of male attention. Just as Elli is approaching Marjorie and a throng of adoring men, a marble bust cashes down nearly hitting Elli.
Late that night someone throws a Molotov cocktail at Elli’s back deck. She grabs a hose to put out the fire but must take cover when a shot rings out. The night of the gala, Elli is surprised that she’s been moved to a different table for the gala dinner and suspects Marjorie. Things go bad when Hammie Walsh drinks from Elli’s water glass, collapses and dies before help can arrive.
Who would be trying to kill Elli and why? Before she knows it, Francis has pulled some strings and Anarchy Jones is assigned to protect her. Elli can’t deny the attraction but chafes at being protected.
As the investigation continues, Elli must endure even more family drama, and things come to a head when Marjorie is shot and wounded. While she’s in surgery, Aunt Sis and Francis have a heated argument that threatens to reveal many old family secrets — including the fact that Sis has a grown son who needs a kidney transplant.
Hoping to clear the air, Elli decided to hash things out during dinner at the club. Marjorie and Elli are in the bathroom when Cassie LeCouer enters with a gun. She knows Marjorie is having an affair with her husband, but she’s willing to kill to keep him.
Aunt Sis tries to stop Cassie and is shot in the process. Things look grim until Cassie is struck by Francis’s heavy purse. Aunt Sis will survive, Marjorie agrees to give Sis’s son David a kidney, and the Walford family begins the long, hard work of healing.
AT A GLANCE
Book: Clouds in My Coffee (Country Club Murders, Book 3)
Author: Julie Mulhern
Publisher: J&M Press
Year published: 2021
Number of pages: 272
Family drama, murder go hand in hand
