Shucked Apart

Shucked Apart by Barbara Ross is the 9th A Maine Clambake Mystery. It can be read as a standalone for those new to the series or may have missed a book or two. Reading the earlier books, though, will provide more background on Julia, her family, friends, and the business. It is May and the season has not begun yet in Busman’s Harbor, Maine. Julia Snowden is surprised when her boyfriend, Chris Durand brings his poker buddy, Andie Greatorex to visit her (where she learns Andie is a woman). Julia is told that Andie was attacked and robbed of the oyster larvae (spat) she had just purchased. Andie would like Julia to use her sleuthing skills to see if she can uncover the guilty party. This is a different type of case for Julia. She does have some extra time on her hands, so Julia agrees to do a little digging. Julia questions several people including Andie’s ex-partner (business and personal), a lobsterman, a rival oyster farmer, and a neighbor of Andie’s. Julia has barely begun her investigation when Andie is murdered. The mystery provides us with a couple of suspects, a red herring, and subtle clues. There was a nice surprise in this whodunit. It was nice to catch up with Julia before the busy season begins. We do see Chris, but the other regulars are largely absent (one or two only briefly mentioned). I must admit that I am not a fan of Chris’s. He is a nice man, but he does not seem like the right person for Julia. I could tell the author did her research on oyster farming. It was interesting learning how oysters are raised and harvested (not that I would ever eat one). I enjoyed the beautiful descriptions of Maine as well and I liked that we left Busman’s Harbor to visit nearby Damariscotta. We also learn about the rivalry between lobsterman and oyster farmers plus how residents feel about the oyster beds. I thought Shucked Apart was easy to read with a likeable main character. The pacing varied in this story. While Shucked Apart is not my favorite book in this series, I still enjoyed my visit. Shucked Apart is a charming tale with oyster offspring, rival lobsterman, employee problems, lease barriers, and sly sabotage.

oyster-culture, clams, Maine, law-enforcement, amateur-sleuth, murder-investigation, theft, greed, family-dynamics, friendship, tourist-town***** Julia Snowden was born and raised in the small tourist town but went away to college and then to Manhattan for a career in high finance until it got the better of her. Now she is back and is a major force in the family clambake business and is back with her old flame (Chris) who runs a landscaping business based on the desires of the summer folk. Chris introduces her to Andie who runs an oyster farm nearby and who has had $35,000 worth of "seeds" stolen in a hit and grab (the first mystery). While working on that, Julia finds Andie's body in the wet and wit an oyster knife in her neck. Being a small town, it's the state police who bring in detectives and forensics, but sifting through the evidence isn't as useful as it might be. Lots of twists and red herrings complete with a pair of familiar state cops, odd behaviors by main characters, and other peculiarities. I loved it! I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Great read. Very few grammatical errors. Looking forward to the next one.