Welcome Guest Julie Mulhern!

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I’m so delighted to welcome Julie Mulhern to the Wicked Cozy Authors! Julie is celebrating the release of her fifth book, Watching The Detectives, in her Country Club Murders series. This fun series is set in the 1970s and if you aren’t friends with her on Facebook you should be her posts of 70s ads are a hoot. I’m never quite sure whether to laugh or cringe. Julie is giving an ebook of the first in the series The Deep End to one of our commenters! Welcome, Julie!

I remember the first time.

My hands shook.

Tears filled my eyes.

My heart seemed too big for my chest.

The first time. It was pure magic.

The fifth time was no less magical.

I’m talking about the arrival of books on my front porch. My books. Delivered by UPS in a brown cardboard box that barely contains the happiness within.

In the past two-and-a-half years, five of Ellison Russell’s adventures have made it into the world.

Five Country Club Murders.

Five release days.

When The Deep End released, I waited for a confetti cannon to go off, showering me with glitter, confetti, and massive sales.

I don’t wait for that cannon anymore. If I want confetti or glitter (frankly I’m not big on either—it gets in the carpets and I have to vacuum), I need to provide them myself.

This release day, I was a guest on a Kansas City morning show (much more fun than waiting for non-existent cannons) then I went out to lunch with my oldest daughter, visited with some of my favorite readers on social media, and went out for wine with a friend then dinner with my husband.

Did I leave out the part about checking my numbers on an hourly basis? Oops!

I did that too. Because sales matter.

Most cozy readers know about the discontinuation of beloved series. It’s painful. For devoted readers. For the publisher who wields the axe. And—most of all—for the writer.

Sales matter. Maybe not to the reader, but I can guarantee the publisher and the writer care. A lot.

Thank heavens, writers aren’t like used car salesmen. We don’t corner readers, put our books into their hands, and tell them they’ll regret it if they don’t buy. We might want to. We don’t. Except that one…never mind.

I am so thrilled to be with the Wicked Cozy Authors today. I have purchased and loved books by each of them. I buy their books new. From Amazon or Barnes & Noble or my local bookstore. I hope you have too.

Because sales matter.

Readers: Do you have a favorite fashion memory from the 70’s?

Julie Mulhern is the USA Today bestselling author of The Country Club Murders. 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.

 

 

Published by Sherry Harris

Sherry Harris is the author of the Agatha Award nominated Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery series and the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Mystery series.

76 Thoughts

  1. My favorite fashion memory from the 70’s is my mom dressed in a flare legged jumpsuit. And once, my friend and I dressed up in our mothers’ 70’s clothes and skated around the living room in them. And we put some of the clothes on my dog April, a German Sheperd, too.

    Congratulations on the release of your 5th book.

      1. She had on some sort or sloppily arranged dress if memory serves, and a hat. She was the best dog. I still miss her 32 years later!!

  2. Welcome, Julie! Yes, that thrill of the box of books never goes away. Fashion? 70s? I spent my time in thrift store jeans, self-embroidered work shirts, and muslin blouses. To dress up we’d put on long skirts. Yes, I was in college and we were all proud we didn’t care a bit for fashion – except we all ended up dressing alike. ;^)

    1. I was seven in 1974 and I remember a pair of turquoise shorts that went with a white halter top piped with orange and turquoise stripes.

      Not one single natural fiber. Not one. Cotton ran in fear. Linen turned up its nose.

      I loved that outfit and cried when I outgrew it.

  4. To all my Wicked friends, thanks so much for having me today! Wishing you the brightest of holiday weekends!

  5. Congratulations on your fifth book! I remember VERY short skirts and flare legged pants. I had a lot of outfits that I loved.

  6. Congrats on the release Julie! I really enjoy this series! I do remember all of my teenage babysitters having the long straight hair of the decade! Mine was pretty short then and by the time I got older, the style had definitely started to veer into 80’s range!

  7. I wasn’t born until the late 1970’s, but I remember pictures of my mom in bell-bottoms. I am just starting this series and look forward to reading the books.

  8. Congratulations on the new book, Julie. I was born in 1973, so I have no memories – but I do have lots of pictures of me in some pretty hideous pantset clothes and a lot of me in those stretchy, ruffled “tube” summer tops with strings that tied around your neck. It was fairly awful, but it gives my daughter some laughs.

    1. Fifty years from now, our grandchildren will be cringing over what we’re wearing now…

  9. I love your books, Julie! I do have a very distinct memory. When I was 13 my family went to Europe. Before the trip, my grandmother took me shopping for some comfortable traveling clothes. She got me a seersucker pantsuit–plaid, orange, green, and brown–with a bright orange t-shirt to wear under the short-sleeved jacket. Ah, the horrors!

  10. As a child of the, ahem, 80s, the 70s are history for me but I remember seeing pics of my mom in some impressively short dresses. 😉 Congrats on the book!

    1. You children of the 80s can throw no stones. Two words. Leg Warmers! And thank you, for you good wishes. They are appreciated!

  11. I had this yarn knitted cape-shawl thing that adored. I wore it all the time. The other thing I remember is the polyester uniform that I wore for Brownies with big wide legs. Ah…the ’70s.

    2. When I was a Brownie we had shapeless tunics. I would have killed for pants! And that knitted poncho was the height of style!

  13. I love your fashion posts on Facebook, Julie! So hysterical. What an unfortunate fashion era….I remember a pair of yellow patent leather shoes that I adored. Thick soles and big clunky heel. I attended Catholic school and the only part of our uniforms that was not regulated were shoes, so I wore the traditional white blouse, navy pleated skirt, and my yellow shoes. I was fine. No one can convince me otherwise.

    Congrats on the series. And yes, buy books!

    1. You were PERFECT! I love that you found a way to express yourself!

  14. I can’t wait to read Watching the Dectectives…the Country Club Murders series has quickly become one of my favorites. I graduated from high school in the early the early 70s, and in the late 70s got a job with the local city government. I retired from the City 27.5 years later. The 70s were definitely my coming-of-age decade.

  15. I was so glad to see Watching the Detectives pop up on my kindle a few days ago. Pre-ordering always manages to surprise me. My favorite fashion of the seventies was the Little House on the Prairie bonnets that I wore from pre-school on. Almost every picture my parents have of me from ages four to eight has my face completely covered by the brim.

    1. Sarah, I don’t know how to reply to those bonnets. I had a friend who wore a dimity head scarf for five years (she might have slept in it) but I never encountered a bonnet. Wow.

  16. My Lilly Pulitzer white pique shift! (I’m expecting that carton of my Book#5–Grave Errors– in August–the thrill never ends, does it?)

  17. I have a friend whose family unfortunately decided to have a formal family portrait taken in the mid-70’s. The photographer specifically told them to wear something that looked “timeless” so that the picture wouldn’t date itself (yeah, right). It is the funniest “timeless” portrait I have ever seen — micro-mini dresses, wide, long collars, hair pulled back with the ringlets in front of the ears, and the colors (maybe even a purple shirt!)!

    My favorite ’70’s outfit were bell bottoms with purple, green and white flowers all over them that I wore with a chartreuse shirt. I wore those pants until they literally fell apart!

    Congratulations on Book 5, Watching the Detectives. Macrame owls everywhere are smiling!
    (And it’s an awesome book!!!)

    1. I need to see that pic! And how I wish you had a photo of those pants. They sound…groovy.

      So GLAD you enjoyed Watching the Detectives! Have a fabulous holiday!

  18. Hey girl,
    Happy Release day! I am in AWE that you are on your fifth in the series in 2 1/2 years- you’re a goddess! Looking forward to this one as much as the other four–congratulations! 🙂

    A 70’s memory…really? 🙁
    I was rockin’ plaid dresses and knee high white vinyl boots in a lot of pics. The cringe-worthy part of those pics was the pride in my smile, cuz I thought I was hot stuff!
    Have a great Memorial Day weekend, Julie! Nice to meet all the blog hosts…fun site! 🙂

  19. ’70s — college, antiwar protests, long straight hair, the pencil test to decide if one needed a bra.
    My favorite bell-bottom jeans, holes patched with India print fabric, looking like a quilt almost, until one day they fell apart in the wash, just a tangle of patches. My dad would have said, “Well you got your money’s worth from those jeans.” <3 Congratulations on new book arrival!

    1. I had jeans like that. Patched and patched again.

      What is this pencil test????

  20. Congrats on the new book!

    I wasn’t old enough to have a fashion memory from the 70’s but let’s be honest, I pay so little attention to fashion I wouldn’t have one anyway.

  21. Hi Julie! Yay for the new release!! Many happy sales. 🙂 I was a kid in the 70’s, and the favorite outfit I can remember was a pair of jeans with a little flare at the bottom and some kind of gold stitching up and down the leg. I had a matching t-shirt with a burger and fries on the front made of that same shiny gold material. I thought I was HOT! 🙂

  22. Congratulations on #5!

    My favorite fashion memory of the 70s is that it’s comeback wasn’t as bad as the 80s clothing comeback. Bell-bottoms and loose India block print blouses aged much better than neon and parachute pants. 😀

  23. Most of my time in the 70s was spent in school uniforms so I guess my favorite clothing would be my flare jeans I could kick back in and forget about school for awhile when I wore them.

    1. Yeah, jeans. Yeah, kick back! Boo, school uniforms. Unless your a mom, in which case school uniforms are THE BEST!!!

  24. My mom had a green and white dress. First time she wore it and came outside to call us kids inside before she and dad left. Part of her dressed glowed in the dark. After that she only wore the dress in the daytime.

  25. Halter tops! I had the build and the nerve to wear them then. My favorite item was my Gunny Sack wedding dress.
    Congrats on #5! I’m excited to learn of a new (to me) series.

  26. I love this post Julie and always love your 70’s FB posts. I wore whatever my mother put on me in the 70’s. We have a horrid family portrait of the whole family wearing matching red, white, and blue leisure suits. It doesn’t get much worse than that! <3

  28. Hi Julie!

    Wow! I can’t believe this your fifth book! You are cranking those puppies out! I can’t wait to read this one!

  29. Hi Julie,
    I adore your 70s ads on Facebook almost as much as reading your books! I don’t have many fashion memories from the 70s, but for some reason I do remember brown tights with itchy seams that I had to wear with my Brownie uniform. That’s why I never made it into Girl Scouts. I wouldn’t wear the tights and was asked to leave the troop. I was in third grade and already causing trouble. LOL.
    Congratulations on your newest release!

    1. I’m with you on those tights. I HATED tights. They always seemed to twist or itch or constrict.

  32. I remember the bell bottoms from the 70’s, the bigger the better. Thank goodness they haven’t made a come back yet.
    diannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com

  33. Great interview. And wow!! I am super impressed that book five is coming out – that’s a heck of a lot of work in 2 1/2 years!

    I too am a child of the 80s, but my parents in pics are classic 70s fashion. Most memorable for my dad is that powder blue, frilly-front tux. That summer, he wore I believe 5 of them, since he was best man in five weddings. One of them was orange.

    Mom, on the other hand, had the long hair, peasant tops, and flown dresses. One of those who could make the style look good. All I can say is I’m glad I didn’t have to try, because I don’t think I would have been able to pull it off, LOL!

    1. Colored tuxes with ruffled shirts. Not the 70s finest moment…

  34. I have dust rhinoceri (and rhinos is correct, but I like the sound of rhinoceri),

  35. I had a favorite pair of flowered bell bottom jeans that I wore until it literally fell apart. I loved those jeans.

  36. I was all about the clogs in the 70s. Mom wouldn’t let me wear platform clogs because she said I’d twist my ankle. So I borrowed my friend’s for a dance and mom was right. I did twist my ankle. 🙂

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