Julie Mulhern: It’s All About Voice
In this interview, author Julie Mulhern discusses how women’s history helped inspire her new historical mystery, Murder in Manhattan.
USA Today bestselling 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. 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. Action, adventure, mystery, and humor are the things Julie loves when she’s reading. She loves them even more when she’s writing! Sign up for Julie’s newsletter at JulieMulhernAuthor.com, and follow her on Facebook.
In this interview, Julie discusses how women’s history helped inspire her new historical mystery, Murder in Manhattan, which real-life person her heroine is based on, and more.
Name: Julie Mulhern
Literary agent: Gordon Warnock, Fuse Literary
Book title: Murder in Manhattan
Publisher: Forever
Release date: December 9, 2025
Genre/category: Historical Mystery
Previous titles: The Country Club Murders series and The Poppy Fields Adventures
Elevator pitch: An entertainment columnist with a wry wit and exceptional observational skills involves herself in the murder of a bootlegger in 1925 New York.
What prompted you to write this book?
Decades that see enormous changes for women fascinate me. I already had a series set in the 1970s. The 1920s seemed the obvious choice for a new series. Watching an independent woman navigate casual misogyny (of course she’ll quit working when she lands a husband) as she drinks her way through Manhattan’s speakeasies (and writes about them) appealed to me.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
The idea for Murder in Manhattan was one of several that I pitched to my agent. It sort of went meh, meh, meh. That one! It took me about a year to write the novel. And then came a year of being out on submission. After I signed the contract, things moved very quickly.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
My heroine, Freddie Archer, is based on a real-life writer. Lois Long was an early hire at The New Yorker. She wrote several columns–my favorite being Lipstick, in which she regaled her readers with stories of New York nightlife. What a blessing to be able to access The New Yorker’s archives and read her columns. They were invaluable when it came to honing Freddie’s voice and sensibilities.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
Freddie’s adventures take her from rooftop gardens to dilapidated buildings on the Lower East Side. Being separated by half a country and 100 years from 1920s New York meant lots of time spent on research. There were many rabbit holes (and I cannot resist a rabbit hole)—the Tenement Museums website claimed at least a day. I learned more about New York history than I ever dreamed I’d know. And, since I have a brain like a sieve, I am relearning it as I write the second book in the series.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I desperately wish I could have met Lois Long. I like to think we might have been friends (although Lois, who never turned down a martini, probably would have found me dreadfully dull). I hope readers will want to be friends with Freddie as she gets herself in and out of hot water and solves a murder.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
It’s all about voice. I’ve read technically perfect mysteries that felt flat, and deeply flawed mysteries with voice for days. It’s the voice that keeps me reading long into the series.
