Power Trip

If someone were to ask me what the Country Club Murders are about, I’d tell them, “Women finding their power—and murder. Lots of murder.”

Ellison Russell has spent most of her life being safe and protected. Now a single mother, she has the opportunity to take risks, to stand on her own, to own her life.

The problem is that almost everyone in her life would like her to stay safe. Even her mother. Especially her mother.

“Ellison, we want you safe. Just like you want to keep Grace safe.”

            I wanted Grace to be safe but I didn’t want her to be packed in cotton until she found a man to take care of her. I wanted her to have a life. I wanted a life. On my own terms. “I appreciate the sentiment. I do. But I’m not going to apologize or consign myself to marriage just so I can have a man take care of me.”

            The theme, which was valid in the seventies, is still valid today.

            For Ellison, power is the freedom to make choices.

            For Ellison, power is owning the consequences of her choices.

            For Ellison, power is the ability to protect herself from predators, from gossip, and from well-meaning family members who would map the course of her life.

            Writing Ellison’s journey, watching her find her power and realize she doesn’t have to do it all alone, has been a joy. And a learning experience.

            Thanks for joining Ellison and me on the journey.

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.

Ellison's next book, Back Stabbers, releases October 23.