What a great series, I truly enjoy visiting Kansas City in the 1970's with this crew. Ellison's life never slows down. Her high school boyfriend has moved in next door (making Mother very happy), her engagement to detective Anarchy Jones just needs a wedding date and her Mr. Coffee is perking along to greet every day. The ins and outs of the country club crowd are not lost on Ellison, which makes her a great resource when a local produce company's financial officer is killed. Ellison can learn a lot more from her bridge partners than Anarchy and he can then try to follow up. One of the best parts of these mysteries are the relationships, that continue to be real, messy and relatable. Whether Ellison and her mother, daughter or friends, there is a thread of real relationships that continue in each book. ( )

Ellison Russell is deliriously happy as she is now engaged to homicide detective Anarchy Jones, much to her mother's chagrin. Since Anarchy is the one investigating the death of the husband of one of her friends, maybe Ellison has stopped finding dead bodies. She has plenty of other problems to solve - a badly behaved dog, a former boyfriend moving in next door, her mother trying to change her matrimonial mind in favor of the old boyfriend, and oh, yes, a dead body.

I love, love, love this series. I don't know if it's because it's set in the 70's, the descriptions of Ellison's mother's reactions to whatever doesn't please her. It doesn't really matter because I laugh, I cry, my heart races - it's just terrific! I finish the book in a day and then I have to wait months for the next one. I will wait -IMPATIENTLY! ( )