Back in Black: The Country Club Murders, Book 18

The Country Club Murders #18

by Julie Mulhern, Callie Beaulieu (narrator)

When Ellison's friend Kay Morrison visits Kansas City from New York, there are certain women who turn green with envy. After all, Kay works in the fashion industry, she actually attended the Battle of Versailles, and her clothes are to die for. Maybe literally.

Ellison is convinced someone is trying to kill her friend. Kay is convinced that finding too many bodies has made Ellison paranoid.

Both of them are right.

Can Ellison catch a killer before it's too late?

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Historical Fiction, Cozy

Audible Audio

Published December 17, 2024

About the author

Julie Mulhern is the USA Today bestselling author of The Country Club Murders and the Poppy Fields Adventures.

She is a Kansas City native who grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym and finding new ways to keep her house spotlessly clean--and she's got an active imagination. Truth is--she's an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions.

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrea's Gossip Column: Back in Black by Julie Mulhern

Have I got the scoop of the season for you! Move over, old-school whodunits – there’s a new book in town, and her name is Back in Black by Julie Mulhern. Let me tell you, this book is not only a page-turner, but it’s positively brimming with gossip, secrets and murderous mischief. And, I loved the audio version so much it was the perfect listen for a snow day.

The setting? A Kansas City country club in the 1970s, where the alcohol flows as freely as the gossip. And who’s at the center of it all? Our heroine, the lovely, talented, sharp-witted artist Ellison, a woman who can handle a golf club as well as she can solve a murder – and boy, has she solved a lot. She is absolutely fabulous. But don’t let that fool you. Beneath her perfectly pressed hair and wardrobe that screams, 'I’m too chic to care, my boots are made for walking' Ellison is caught up in something more dangerous than Max running loose on a summer evening.

One moment, she’s lunching with friends, and the next? She’s stumbling upon a dead body - again. Ellison can't seem to catch a break, can she? But, as the true cozy mystery icon she is, Ellison will solve the case before that dashing detective, you know the one with the coffee-colored eyes.

But here’s the real tea – it’s not just the murder that has everyone in a tizzy. Oh, no. It's the people, the secrets these country club folks are hiding would make your jaw drop. From the complicated relationships to the scandalous affairs and the money. And let’s not forget the humor – Mulhern has a way of weaving in wit so sharp, it’ll have you snickering.

Now, if you think this is just a fluffy mystery, think again. There’s depth here, too. The plot doesn’t just revolve around solving a crime; it explores the social dynamics of the 1970s, expectations, and just how far someone is willing to go for… well, I can’t spill all the tea.

In conclusion, Back in Black is the book you need to read if you have even the faintest love for witty, fast-paced mysteries with fabulous characters. Julie Mulhern has once again proven she’s a force to be reckoned with in the world of cozy mysteries. This book will leave you dying for more.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really just enjoyed being back in this world. But a small note: Catholic weddings would never, ever be in the evenings. Gotta get everyone out of there in time for Saturday night mass. (I absolutely believe that church wouldn't have had AC though. The church I grew up in didn't have AC at least in the early 90s, don't quite remember exactly when they put the AC in.)

[Cait · Rating 4 out of 5]

so fun, so great to be back with Ellison & Anarchy et al

[Avery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished!!! Or caught up. However, you want to phrase it, man that was a lot of little books in one series. Still enjoying them and looking forward to the next!

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series just gets better and better! Julie Mulhern’s writing flows so well that you get caught up in the story and the next thing you know, you’re almost done with the book and start wondering how long you have to wait for the next one. The characters are family now, and you miss them when they’re not around. The mysteries are always well-plotted and keep you guessing until the very end. I highly recommend the whole series but start at the beginning to really get to know everyone.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one as much as ever, though I am a little exasperated with the cliche of the murderer spouting a full confession (among the other illogical moments in the climactic scene) for no good reason. And the number of typos, misplaced words, and other editing errors was pretty extreme.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love this world and these characters and that the books touch on very real problems--in this case elderly people being preyed on for their money.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series.

Every installment gets better and better. The body count just keeps going up. Pretty soon there will be no one left in KC. Lol.

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book in a fabulous series

This series remains one of my top favorites. This book has everything I love: a mystery that isn't obvious, likable and relatable characters, comedy, romance, and a dollop of suspense. I hope Julie Mulhern keeps writing more Country Club Murders!

[Jamie Sterling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stayed up until 2am

This one is packed with action and more bodies than usual. Showed up on my tablet and kept me riveted until the finish. I love all the characters, and Ellison's and Anarchy's marriage only make the story more enjoyable. Recommend this series

[Micky Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is so much fun! I love that it is set on the plaza/country club area of KC which I grew up visiting. It is also set in the 70's so a lot of the landmarks mentioned are ones that I remember from my childhood. The author has created incredibly realistic characters that are full of wit and humor. The plot is extremely well crafted and typically has one or more mysteries or puzzles woven into one fabulous story line. I have to say that this series is on my must listen list as the narrator is absolutely outstanding. I mean she can seriously bring "Mr. Coffee," yes, I am referring to the coffeemaker brand, to life and make you believe it! Ellison has to be my all-time favorite amateur sleuth as she is a smart, brave and incredibly creative in her investigative plans even when stumbling onto the true culprit. All the characters are perfect whether you are meant to love or hate them! This book in particular was well plotted so that you had multiple suspects and multiple mysteries to untangle. I am now back to waiting for the next book to be available on audiobook so I can keep enjoying this series!

[Sara Santiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love every single one of these cozy mysteries. Always entertaining and solid twists.

[Tammy O · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun characters— I will read more from this series.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

So nice to wrap up the year with one of these books, the cast somehow keeps getting better and better. Though just reading through what Ellison has dealt with in like, a year, made me exhausted.

[Joelle Grun · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this series. I liked this book. If you’ve read the previous books in the series, and Mulhern’s other series, you’d have noticed a change in writing style and editing quality over the last few installments. I continue to read new releases in hopes that they will return to the outstanding reads that they were earlier in the series. This book has improved some from the previous, although there were still some clear editing mistakes and rushed writing with little detail. I loved how Mulhern integrated another story line highlighting the social injustice against women in her high class circle. That is one of my favorite features of the series. It’s like a sociology lesson combined in a cozy mystery. The ending was weird. The killer just shows up and admits to everything, then it’s done. Overall, I’d say if you can look past the mistakes, errors, and a few rushed scenes, then it’s an enjoyable read.

[Loretta TheMoodyRedhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like Aggie who is more than a housekeeper, she’s also a good friend and a Jackie of all trades; however, paying her $700 a week ($2,200 in today’s money) is outrageous! That has to be an error on the author’s part. Same with the $50/week ($300 in 2025) to the gardener and $100 ($600 in 2025) a week for groceries. I would have submitted this info as an error to the editor, but my iPhone doesn’t allow it.

Ok, but other than that, this series is always great. I adore the 1975 time period and everything associated with it. That may be because I was born in the 1970’s, so everything is reminiscent to my childhood.

There were a lot of murders in this read. So tragic. And who should find the first body but Ellis? How did Frances feel about her daughter finding another victim? Well, surprisingly she wasn’t angry this time. In fact, she was happy because the blood spilled from the victim will get new carpet in the bathroom lounge area at her country club. Yay! Lol.

Ellis is once again going around asking questions of people in order to discover who the killer is. Then another crime is discovered that I feel is equally as awful as murder and that crime is fiduciary abuse. I hate when people take advantage of trusting people. It’s wrong and it’s criminal.

Ellis gets herself into… deep water when she finds herself too close to the suspect, but her hero arrives in the nick of time.

Next for my reading pleasure is book 19 from this Country Club Murders series which was released only 3 days ago on March 25, 2025: “Tight Rope.” Can’t wait!

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great book. I love visiting this series. the writing is fantastic but I really think that this series is better in audio book version. The only thing is, I think the mystery felt a little confusing for a while until the threads started connecting all the dots.

[indu p · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up randomly on Libby and zipped through it. Fun characters…would make for a great TV series. Really enjoyed the lighthearted writing, the characters’ unique personalities. I just wish I didn’t find this series 18 books in. Would have been great to have known the backstory a bit more.

[marita lazarus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful book

What works great with this author All the murders are original and the culprits are well written Motive and opportunity perfect

Solving crimes in 1975 with no computers or forensics like we have now is challenging - and creating ways to solve them even harder

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series!

[Alix · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series and was just so happy to be back with Ellison, Anarchy and the whole cast of characters!

[Elaine C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these books ... the mysteries are complex, but they are an easy read. I love the sarcasm of the lead character, and her snide put-downs of the country club set, her Mother especially. The recurring characters have been like a second family to me.

[Emmalynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was both good and sad!! The last two murders, did they really need to happen?? Ugh. This one highlighted elder financial abuse especially when kids live far away.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a delightful total fun series

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are near and dear to my heart. I love the jones family and Aggie and their dogs. I love the unapologetic embracing of the country club life of the 70s (even though I also despise the hypocrisy of a lot of the members). I love the insight into why couples stayed in bad marriages.

[Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is something deeply unfair about inviting your chic New York friend to Kansas City for a nice country club lunch and accidentally giving her the full Ellison Russell Jones Experience, which now apparently includes cocktails, gossip, social warfare, murder, and at least one elderly woman being financially terrorized by a con artist. At this point Ellison should honestly start putting “corpse possible” at the bottom of invitations like a weather advisory.

And wow, these women are awful in the most entertaining way possible. Kay Morrison arrives from New York carrying enough fashion credibility to make every wealthy Kansas City woman immediately start spiraling internally. She attended the Battle of Versailles. She wears clothes that probably make department store mannequins cry. And the second she walks into the country club, every woman over forty starts smiling at her with the kind of brittle politeness that says “I’m about to ruin your entire afternoon over chicken salad.” Honestly the tension at this luncheon was thicker than the humidity.

Then Ellison finds a body in the ladies’ lounge because apparently the women’s restroom at the country club now has a higher murder rate than Cabot Cove. And from there this book just fully descends into chaos. Not just one mystery either. Multiple. There’s murder. There’s another death. There’s financial abuse targeting elderly women that honestly made me want to start throwing expensive handbags at people. And somehow Ellison’s juggling all of this while attending funerals, managing family drama, dealing with Frances, and trying to survive Missouri heat so oppressive it practically becomes its own supporting character.

What I loved about Back in Black is that underneath all the gossip and murder, it’s really about cruelty. Quiet cruelty specifically. The kind wrapped in pearls and social etiquette. Women trapped in bad marriages because leaving would cost too much socially. Older women being preyed on because people assume they’re too lonely or confused to fight back. Friends smiling through resentment so intense you can practically hear their teeth grinding. Ellison spends the whole book noticing all these tiny ugly fractures in people’s lives because she’s gotten so good at seeing what everybody else pretends not to.

Which honestly sounds depressing until somebody shows up sweaty, drunk, emotionally unstable, or wildly inappropriate and the whole thing becomes hilarious again.

The wedding scenes alone nearly killed me because Julie Mulhern perfectly captures the specific misery of formal summer events before modern air conditioning became reliable. Everybody’s damp. The groom’s hungover. Makeup is sliding off faces in real time. Ellison’s trying to solve murders while slowly melting into the upholstery. It felt less like a wedding and more like a hostage situation with cake.

And meanwhile Anarchy Jones continues his reign as the sexiest emotionally functional man in fiction. The man is patient. Competent. Secure. He trusts Ellison completely at this point, which makes their relationship so much more satisfying because there’s no fake drama left between them. They’ve settled into this incredibly lived-in marriage where they’re basically solving murders between family dinners and swim meets. Honestly, goals.

Also, Frances Walford somehow becomes funnier every single book because she’s still terrifying, but now she occasionally weaponizes her terrifying powers for good. There’s something incredible about a woman hearing “someone was murdered in the country club bathroom” and immediately thinking, finally, new carpet. Frances approaches every crisis like a hostile corporate takeover and I mean that affectionately.

And I swear these later books keep sneaking emotional damage into the middle of all the chaos. Beau fully becoming part of the family got me again. Grace keeps getting sharper and more observant in ways that make her feel so much like Ellison it’s scary. Aggie remains the only emotionally stable person in a fifty mile radius. Even Max and Finn somehow feel like fully developed members of this weird little household now.

The mystery itself gets delightfully messy because everybody’s lying about something, and for a while it feels like Ellison’s trying to untangle half the social circle at once. Rich people in this series truly refuse to commit just one crime when several will do. But honestly, by book eighteen, the real joy is just spending time with these characters while they gossip, panic, investigate, and emotionally support each other through increasingly absurd homicide situations.

And somehow the series still has emotional momentum this far in, which is kind of impressive. Ellison’s changed so much since The Deep End. She’s more confident now. More willing to trust her instincts. Less afraid of disappointing people. But she’s still deeply compassionate in a way that makes these books work because even while roasting everybody around her internally, she genuinely cares about people. That warmth keeps the whole thing from becoming cynical.

By the end I was furious on behalf of every elderly woman with a bank account, emotionally attached to this entire neighborhood again, and honestly ready to fistfight at least three country club members in the parking lot. Four and a half stars easily. These books still feel like hearing unbelievable gossip from your funniest friend while she casually dismantles social injustice between martinis.

Whodunity Award: For Making the Country Club Ladies’ Lounge More Dangerous Than Most Dark Alleys

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

It may be winter in real life, but for Ellison and Co. it is July in Missouri. Hot and humid! You step outside and feel like you run right into a wall of wet heat. No wonder they were reveling in the places where AC was cranked up on high. And those tasty cold drinks sounded so good, too.

Kudos to the author for such a strong sense of place. Hanging out with Ellison is like being with old friends. (She still spends too much time talking to her Mr. Coffee, though.) A murder at the club has everyone stumped and while investigating they stumble into different kind of crime. They couldn't possibly be related, could they?

Then there are the outings -- to a wedding with no AC and a hungover bridegroom, a golf scramble, dinner at Ellison's parents, and more. Inch by inch, they are going to solve this one. Grace is becoming quite a help with her observational skills, too. And the dogs do what they can. Max and Finn were pretty well behaved in this one.

Love the way Julie Mulhern pulled this narrative together in the end. Linear readers like me are so satisfied with closure.

May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand. ~ From a funeral Ellison and her mother attend

[colleen m stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again Julie Mulhern takes us back…

…back to a time of less stress. Yes, there are difficult mothers, dogs that misbehave, and ok, a few bloody murders, but this series, this beloved series, has gotten me through this past year. I want to go back in time and put on a Lilly Pulitzer dress, grab a gucci bag (hmm would a gucci go with a Lilly? I think not) grab my pearls and bridge cards and go back to a simpler time. A time before cell phones and 24 hour news cycles.

This series bring me back to a time when the stress of life was your mother calling and someone was trying to kill you (ok that’s not actually a stress I remember from the 70’s, but I was in high school then).

Please turn off the news (hint…it’s all bad) and dive into this series from the very first novel (the Deep End). I promise it will help keep you sane …and BTW Etsy -and eBay have 1970’s dresses for sale. Wear one and grab a G&T and meet the amazing Ellison (I really want to buy one of her paintings!).

I can’t wait for book 19.

[Pat McGhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always the Best Read

Country Club murders is one of my most favorite mystery series. Back in Black kept me reading for a one day indulgent splurge! I love Ellison, who has class and style while taking the stuffiness out of the country club set. It is a relief to my anxiety that Anarchy is now closer to rescue scene(s) with their relatively new marriage. I didn't have a clue who was behind the murders this time until close to the end, but even then, I didn't have it totally figured out with the surprise twist reveal! I loved the elaborate but tortuous wedding at the beginning. The humor in this series is part of what makes for a great read. The interplay between Ellison and her proper society mother gives a great edginess between the proper 70's 'what will people think' and women breaking out of the mold to discover their voices. And Aggie is the best! Love the fun adventure. Highly recommend!

[amp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I binge read this series every year because it's just so delightful and pre-order the new ones time they pop up on Amazon. (And as a fan of classic rock, it took me far to long to realize the titles were all songs) Back in Black is the eighteenth book in a series that still packs as much charm and heart into its storytelling as book one and still sparkles with swoon-worthy romance (Protective Anarchy is the best) and intriguing mystery. These cast of characters are like family with Ellison being one of my favorite characters of all time and the setting of 1970s Kansas City has me wanting a time machine to travel back in time. Once again, Ellison finds bodies, but vows to stay out of the murder investigation and instead involve herself in another terrible crime, that of someone preying on little old ladies and stealing their life savings. Will steering clear keep Ellison out of trouble, or are the cases somehow related? Bring on book nineteen!