LET’S CURL UP WITH “SEND IN THE CLOWNS”

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Books & a Beat.

Today’s feature is the fourth book in the Country Club Murders series:  Send in the Clowns, by Julie Mulhern.

 

 

 

Intro:  (October, 1974, Kansas City, Missouri)

I’ve tripped over a body.  I’ve run over a body.  I’ve even swum into a body.  I never imagined one would fall on me.

Then again, wandering around a place called The Gates of Hell, what did I expect?

How I came to be at The Gates of Hell is a story in itself.  The short version is that my daughter, Grace, missed her curfew.  It was a school night and she’d sworn on a stack of Emily Posts that she’d be home by ten.  When I called her friends’ homes, I learned that each thought she’d gotten a ride home with someone else.  She’d been left behind.  At a haunted house.  In a neighborhood best described as sketchy.  “Omigosh, Mrs. Russell I don’t know how this happened,” spoken in a breathless, apologetic voice didn’t help.  Not when Kim said it.  Not when Peggy said it.

***

Teaser:  The building was purple—a deep violet shade.  Bamboo grew out of pots flanking the door.  The windows—there were two—had peace symbols painted on them.  The sidewalk was cluttered with a mismatched assortment of tables and chairs. (63%).

***

Synopsis:  Haunted houses are scary enough without knife-wielding clowns. Especially murderous knife-wielding clowns. So thinks Ellison Russell, single mother, artist, and reluctant sleuth.
Now death wears a red nose and Ellison is up to the blood-stained collar of her new trench coat in costumes, caffeine, and possible killers. Who stabbed Brooks Harney? And why? Money? Jealousy? Drugs?
With Mother meddling, her father furious, and her date dragged downtown for questioning, turns out Ellison’s only confidante is Mr. Coffee.

***

What do you think?  Does this one grab you?  I know that I’ve loved the three previous books in the series, so I’m eager to enjoy this one.

***