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Friday, March 20, 2015

Excerpt of The Deep End by Julie Mulhern

Julie Mulhern, author of The Deep End and Guaranteed to Bleed (October, 2015), joins us today to tell us about the questions she hears most often since she’s been published.


Tell me about yourself.
Not exactly a question but those four words strung together can make me straighten my spine, paste on a polite smile, fold my hands in my lap, and cross my ankles.

I feel compelled to make a good impression. In that, I have much in common with the heroine of The Deep End, Ellison Russell. We might also share a certain tendency toward snark but I’m trying to make a good impression so we won’t go into that.

How did you start writing?
Is there ever a clean, easy answer to that question? I had a dream about a sparkly vampire in a field of flowers…. It’s not so clear cut for me. The truth? I’m happier when I’m writing. I might even be easier to live with.


Why mysteries?
I love a puzzle and I like thinking about the why of murder. What drives someone to take another’s life? The reasons—jealousy, greed, self-preservation, love—fascinate me. Hopefully they’ll fascinate the people who read my books as well…


Excerpt from The Deep End

Chapter Two

            I got home and glanced at the clock on the wall—a quarter ‘til ten, a full fifteen minutes before Frances Walford ever got up.
Par for the course of my morning—not only was Mother up, she’d driven to my house and taken up a strategic position in my kitchen, ready for battle with a helmet of teased white hair and her everyday armor—diamonds on her knuckles and a serviceable navy dress. Someone must have called and told her that her odd, artistic daughter had found a body.
I’d wanted nothing more than a quiet moment to reflect, a shower, and a decent cup of coffee. Instead, I got my mother demanding to hear about my morning. At least she’d made coffee.
            “Are you all right?” she asked.
            I stared at her in disbelief. Was I all right? “I found Madeline Harper floating in the pool, spent a two hours at the police station dressed in a damp swimsuit and a shirt with frayed cuffs, and I’m a murder suspect.”
            Mother drew in a sharp breath then her eyes narrowed. “No need to get testy. I’m just trying to help.”
            Of course she was. Just like the Romans were trying to help the Christians when they introduced them to the lions.
            “You look like hell,” she added. So much for being solicitous. Mother reached into the refrigerator and pushed things around until she found the cream, then opened the container and sniffed.
            “I bought it yesterday.”
            She sniffed it again. “Why did they take you to the station?”
            “I told them about Henry and Madeline.”
            My mother froze. The cream spilling from the carton into her coffee cup froze. Max, who’d padded into the kitchen in hopes someone would leave food unattended, froze. I’d broken the cardinal rule of the Walfords. Thou shall not air dirty laundry in public.
            “Why would you tell them that?” Her voice was arctic.
            “It was hardly a secret. They were going to find out anyway.”
She arched a brow.
            “Madeline was murdered.”
            She wanted to tell me I was being fanciful. Her mouth opened, her lips even formed the words—but she couldn’t do it. The morning’s events supported me. Madeline was dead and I’d been hauled to the police station in my swimsuit.
            In a classic Frances Walford maneuver, she changed tactics. “I simply can’t believe you wore that to talk to the police.”
            I took a very deep breath and reached for the coffee pot. “I didn’t have much choice.” All things being equal I would have preferred to wear actual clothes to a testosterone-filled squad room.
            “I blame that woman.”
            Yes. It was all Madeline’s fault. How inconsiderate of her to get murdered.

About the Author

Julie Mulhern 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. She is a 2014 Golden Heart® Finalist. The Deep End is her first mystery and is the winner of The Sheila Award.


4 comments:

  1. Love the interview and the excerpt. I have this near the top of my TBR pile when I can get off deadline and back to reading. Can't wait!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, just wanted to share that this blogpost motivated me to read this book sooner than I had planned to, and I am glad that I did so as I found it an enjoyable read :-)

    ReplyDelete

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