Set in the fall of 1974 in Kansas City, Ellison Russell is part of the elite WASP crowd and, while at an event her mother has organised, she is saved from a marble bust falling on her which is brushed off as an accident, later that night her house is firebombed and she's shot at as she tries to put out the fire. With no idea why she's being targeted, or by who, her father enlists the gorgeous detective Anarchy Jones, who she has complicated feelings for, to stay at her house to protect her while the investigation into who wants her dead continues.

Add in her older sister Marjorie, her aunt Sis, her current beau Hunter Taft and a sprinkling of secrets and you have what is destined to be a crazy and fun time.

This is the first book I've read of this series and by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it, the characters are well written, the setting wonderfully evocative and the mystery well plotted.

I will pick up more by this author in the future.

*Huge thanks to Julie Mulhern, Henery Press and NetGalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review*

Characters in serious need of family counseling and life. Dithering, dithering dithering main character suffering from serious swings between love and hate, decision and indecision, generosity and pettiness.

Comedy of errors? Austen's Emma is in part a comedy of errors, the movie While You Were Sleeping was a comedy of errors. This was just a novel about not even opening one's eyes in favor of keeping up appearances.

As a mystery, it was a no-go either. The answer just came tumbling down on the "investigator".

My first run at this series. Wish I had started with book one. This will be a decent series I think. The last 1/4 of the book was a little annoying, it was as if they wanted to deal with drama more then the actual murders.

re-reading this excellent series and finding Ellison's family as horrible as I did the first time around. However, having finished the series I find myself thinking "just you wait" as various self-centered characters spew abuse. Ellison grows stronger with each book and will eventually stand on her on. Her determination to insure a better emotional life for her daughter is heartwarming.

This series is addicting! I can't wait for more!

OK, so I was never a card-carrying member of the Kansas City country club elite during the early 70s, but reading this top notch and entertaining series makes me feel like I vould have been. Ellison Russell has earned a career as a painter of some note after the death of her sleazy womanizing ex. She and her teenage daughter are getting along. Then her mother sends her world-traveling chameleon aunt to stay at her house just when her sister arrives to stay too. The characters are delicious and the details of the time and place are impeccable. And the mystery has enough twists to kerp you guessing.

The "mystery" was not at all mysterious. The family conflict all erased in an instant. Even the 70s atmospheric notes were heavy-handed. A disappointing read.

As always, MC is great and I enjoy the audiobook narration a lot