Julia Snowden is preparing for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend and the advent of tourisy season for the Snowden Family Clambake. Before the craziness begins, her boyfriend, Chris, asks her to look into a theft and harassment that one of his poker buddies is experiencing. That leads to many complications including murder. Solid entry to an excellent series with tons of info about oysters and oyster farming. OK to read as a standalone, but I would recommend starting earlier in the series if possible.

This book was full of charm and warmth, even though it was a mystery/thriller. Chris is Julia's boyfriend and he has a friend in trouble. Somebody robbed Andie and Chris and her seem to think Julia has what it takes to get to the bottom of the case. Many suspects and motives kept the story entertaining. My favorite part was the description of the scenery and how much I learned about the oyster and clam business. Thanks to NetGalley, publisher and author, for allowing me to read a copy of this book.

This is book 9 in the Maine Clambake cozy series and I enjoyed the story very much. Andie Greatorex is robbed of two buckets of oyster seed worth $35,000, she wonders if somebody’s trying to mussel her out of business. She hires Julia from Snowden Family Clambake Company to find out what's going on. The police think it's just a robbery but when someone kills Andie, Julia is a few steps ahead of the police. Lots of suspects and one of them doesn't care that Julia has lived her whole life in the small Maine town. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Princess Fuzzypants here: Le Roi is back. He is the Maine Coon who is helping his humans prepare for the new season for the Snowden Family Clambake. Julia is trying to get her staffing completed but her attention is diverted by a friend of her boyfriend Chris. A very good friend with whom he plays poker and whom Julia is shocked to learn is a woman. Julia has issues with Chris about keeping secrets away from her and she considers this is a big one. But she is willing to help Andis, the oyster farmer, figure out who is behind the attacks on her and her business.

The sabotage quickly turns to murder and Julia is once again asked to do enquires. This time it is Andie’s former partner and now prime suspect in her death. It seems there is a lot of rancour and competition going on. Between lobster men, oyster farmers and summer residents, there is no shortage of people with motive. While she is learning more and more about the rivalries, she is also learning just how much Chris has kept back from her and she begins to wonder if they have a future.

I always find the characters and the story lines interesting in this series so Le Roi is just a bonus. A big bonus. The reader learns new things about the professions tourists only know from what is on theirs plates. It’s a solid mystery with enough twists to keep the reader wondering.
Five purrs and two paws up.

If you're into a cozy mystery with some ocean background, this is for you! It was a fun read, and I hope to read more.

Shucked Apart by Barbara Ross
Publisher: Kensington Books
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Release Date: February 23, 2021

Shucked Apart by Barbara Ross is the ninth book in A Maine Clambake Mystery series. I had not read the previous books in the series and was easily able to read this one. (Some of the other books are also on Kindle Unlimited, so they are definitely worth checking out!)

This was a fun story! I love that it was set it Maine, it brought back so many happy memories of visiting there as a child! I loved the characters, they were so interesting! The mystery was great and filled with lots of twists and turns to keep it interesting.

I'll definitely be reading the other books in this series!

I'm so grateful to Barbara Ross, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

It’s almost time for The Snowden Family Clambake Company to open for the season. Manager Julie Snowden should be hiring employees and making sure everything is in place to open but her boyfriend Chris has asked her to help one of his poker-playing friends. First, Julie was to cover her surprise that his friend, Andie Greatorex is a woman, and then she has to figure out why Chris thinks she can help her. Andie is an oyster farmer and she was attacked and robbed of 2 buckets of oyster seed (spat) valued at $35,000. There are several would-be suspects but before Julia has time to do much legwork she finds Andie dead. The suspects remain the same but Julia feels time is of the essence if she is going to catch the cold-blooded killer.

I have never eaten an oyster, the sliminess just turns me off, so I never really thought about where oysters came from or were cultivated. Ms. Ross gives us a delightfully detailed account of what it means to be an oyster farmer. It was very interesting but while I am sure many love the delicacy, no, I still won’t be eating any. I like many other forms of seafood so I can handle missing out on a few oysters. Ms. Ross also shines a light on how important tourists are to these small towns.

I really enjoyed catching up with Julia before the season starts. Because of the timing, all the usual characters do not make an appearance or just make cameos but a major change does occur within these pages. A change that made this reader pretty happy. We are introduced to several new characters and the author does an excellent job making them relevant to the mystery.

The murder this time takes place in Damariscotta, not too far from Busman’s Harbor. Ms. Ross’s descriptions really make every setting come alive. I was intrigued by several places including a few homes. Life along the river was very easy to visualize.

This was another complex mystery full of red herrings and surprises. The pace started a little slow but picks up nicely as the story continues and Julia starts to eliminate suspects. Julia is a fine sleuth and tagging along with her this time was extra fun. We both figured out the real culprit at the same time and almost too late.

I love the way Barbara Ross tells a story. She draws you in with the fantastic characters you have become invested in over the series and she tangles them up in a complicated mystery that holds you tight until the final page.

This is one of my favorite series. Shucks, Shucked Apart is a captivating cozy that takes readers on a mini-vacation to the beautiful coast of Maine. I have enjoyed every trip and plan to return as soon as the next book is released.

This is a new to me author and the ninth book in the Maine Clambake Mystery series.
I have wanted to visit Maine and learn more about the area there and this is a wonderful first step in doing so and makes me more excited to start planning my trip there with the wonderful descriptions of coastal Maine included.
Oyster farming is something I've really never thought about but many in the Maine area make their living doing it. It was fascinating learning about the different types of oysters,the quality of them and how they grow and are farmed.
Great character development as the main character is working on solving another murder mystery.
A;so included in the back of the book are some delicious sounding recipes. Books that have recipes that go with the story really make it for me.

Pub Date 23 Feb 2021
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.

Julia's boyfriend asks her to help out his friend Andie who has been robbed and thinks someone is out to ruin her business. Two buckets of oyster seed has been stolen and is worth a whopping 35,000 dollars but it's only useful to someone who would know what to do with the seed. Julia isn't sure she wants to get involved but eventually says she'll try but can't make any promises. She begins asking questions and soon comes up with several suspects but no one person stands out. When Andie herself ends up dead Julia has a new mystery to solve. Does the robbery connect with Annie's death or are these two separate incidents. Julia realizes she has to delve deeper to find the answers. Meanwhile her relationship seems to be taking a turn and not for the better. Follow as Julia tries to solve the case and to keep her once good relationship alive.

Another great story by a great author. The plot of the story was very well written. The author really draws the reader in as you read.

I honestly don’t know how Barbara Ross does it, writing such a terrific cozy culinary mystery series filled with consistently intriguing puzzles and fresh social dynamics for our heroine, Julia Snowden, to navigate as she solves crimes while trying to run her businesses. Tourist season in Busman’s Harbor, Maine, is about to get underway, so she’s focusing on hiring and prepping for the Snowden Family Clambake, setting aside the off-season restaurant she runs with her boyfriend Chris Durand. Chris, however, thinks that this between-season lull might be the perfect time for her to turn her crime-solving mind to helping a poker buddy of his, Andie Greatorex, figure out who recently robbed her.

Andie runs the Great River Oyster Company, based out of the neighboring town of Damariscotta. While she was coming home with two buckets of valuable oyster spat (eggs, to us laypeople) the other day, she was assaulted and robbed only of the buckets and their contents. The police are focusing on the $35,000 price tag of the stolen spat but Andie is convinced that the robbery was less about money and more about sending her a signal. The success of her company has her planning to expand her lease in the Damariscotta River, and not everyone is happy about it. From rival oyster farmers to grumpy lobstermen to snooty landowners who think that her “fish farm” spoils the view, it seems that a lot of people are opposed to her efforts. At least one of these folks, it seems, is willing to stoop to criminal mischief -- though given the value of the stolen items, technically commit a felony -- in order to show her how they really feel.

Julia would be more enthusiastic about aiding Andie if not for two things. Firstly, she’s surprised that Andie is not, as she’d long assumed, a guy, which leads her to wonder what else Chris has been keeping from her and why. Secondly, Andie herself seems weirdly secretive about who could possibly mean her harm. She keeps insisting that no one she knows could have robbed her, even though Julia points out that random assailants rarely steal buckets filled with very niche items on purpose. This mostly becomes moot, however, when Julia finds Andie’s stabbed corpse floating in the waters right behind the Great River Oyster Company store. Determined to find justice for her newfound and lost too soon friend, Julia will set about investigating Andie’s murder, even if it means that she might lose everything in the process.

This was another great installment of the series, with a cleverly built murder mystery layered over a moving subplot about trust in relationships. I’m still not over that ending, and am already so impatient for the next book in the series so I can find out what happens after this! In the meantime, I’ll have to console myself with cooking my way through the five recipes included here, though I chose this one in particular for this column (because potatoes are my comfort food):

QUOTE
Lobster Mashed Potatoes

4 russet potatoes
2 cups lobster stock
8 Tablespoons butter, divided
2 large shallots, chopped
¼ cup heavy cream
12 ounces cooked lobster meat, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste
snipped chives for garnish
green olive stuffed with pimento for garnish

Peel the potatoes and place in a pot of water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool. Cut into cubes.

Heat the lobster stock in a small saucepan.

Melt half the butter in a large sauté pan and add the shallots. Sauté for 3 minutes.

Add the potatoes and heat for one minute. Begin adding ladlefuls of stock one at a time, stirring until absorbed by the potatoes, before adding the next until the stock is depleted. Stir in the cream and continue cooking until mostly absorbed. Add remaining butter and season with salt and pepper.

Mash the potato mixture. Gently fold in the cooked lobster meat.

Place in 6 to 8 martini glasses. Garnish with chives and green olive.
END QUOTE

I love, love a decadent potato dish, and this absolutely fit that bill! I do recommend boiling your potatoes for as long as you think they’ll need: ten minutes seemed a little on the low end to me, as I generally dice my potatoes before boiling them for eighteen minutes to get a nice mashable consistency. I actually did boil these whole potatoes -- and you’ll notice I did only two, as this recipe halves nicely -- for eighteen minutes and still found them a little more raw than I’d prefer. It was definitely a workout to mash them down in the end, even after cooking in stock!

That said, this was such a delicious dish, and well worth the effort. I actually added a whole bunch of olives and pretended that that counted as vegetable enough for this to be considered an entire meal. I’ll definitely be preparing this again the next time I feel like making myself a not-too-difficult lobster and potato treat.

Next week, we travel over a few states to bake a yummy twist on your usual cookies while solving a murder in a series debut. Do join me!

This was another wonderful visit to Busman’s Harbor, Maine. As things are gearing up for the new season at the Snowden Family Clambake as well as other businesses that rely on the summer tourist trade. Local oyster farmer, Andie Greatorex is robbed of two buckets of oyster seed worth $35,000. She is a friend of Chris, Julia's partner, and they come to ask Julia to help investigate. Julia asks a few questions of various people that she thinks might want to ruin Andie's business, but when Andie ends up dead, the investigation ramps up and Julia needs to be very careful.

Once again, there are a few suspects that Julia has to consider and tiptoe around. She continued to ask questions, but there are too many motives. The closer Julia gets to figuring out what has happened, the more danger she puts herself in. The buildup to the investigation was wonderful and the climax and reveal were tense. I enjoy Barbara Ross' books for a variety of reasons. One is that I usually learn something, and in this book, I learned about oyster farming. I also enjoy the various secondary characters in her books. That was a bit disappointing in this one as we didn't see much of the characters that I have grown to love over the previous 8 books, but there were a few new ones that added to the story. Overall, this was a great cozy mystery, with a well written and paced plot, and some wonderful sounding recipes at the end. I was gifted a copy of this book upon request, the rating and opinions shared are my own.

I have read all of the clam bake mysteries and have really enjoyed watching the relationships grow as the books progress. This installment focused less on the clam bake and more in a “side” mystery. Chris asks Julia to investigate a burglary at his friends house, in which tens of thousands of oyster spat is stolen. Julia of course agreed to help but is take aback when she learns that the mystery involves, Andie, Chris’s poker buddy. Julia mistakenly thinks Andie is a man and when she learns that she is indeed a woman she starts to wonder what else Chris is holding back. Andie eventually ends up murder and Julia solves the case, but the story focuses a lot on Julia and Chris’s relationship. I found Julia to be a lot more emotional than usual and reacting very strongly to Chris. I do love these mysteries and will definitely continue reading them.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

Julia Snowden runs the family Maine Clambake business, which has been successful so far. It's getting close to the beginning of the season, and she's just going through applications for summer employees when her boyfriend Chris shows up with his friend Andie Greatorex. It seems Andie was attacked and robbed recently of $35,000 worth of oyster seed, and wants to know who's trying to intimidate her. But when Julia agrees to question people about it, she finds out that Andie wants to expand her business, and therefore is making enemies all around, which is making Julia's inquiries harder. When she goes to Andie's one morning to meet with her, she finds her dead in the river. Shaken, she calls the police and now her friend Binder and Flynn of the Maine State police major crimes unit are on the case.

But when Julia keeps asking questions, two things are also occurring: she's discovering that there are plenty of suspects, and that some of these answers are hitting too close to home. It's causing her personal problems, and if she doesn't put it aside, she might be the next one to go down permanently...

This is the ninth book in the series, and I have read them all. And I have loved them all -- except for this one. While I do enjoy hearing about the area around Maine, having never been there myself, I felt that this book was basically Oyster Farming 101. There was a lot of conversations and explanations about how oysters are grown and harvested, and much of it was repetitive, telling us that they live on the bottom of the riverbed over and over.

I imagine if you love oysters you might find this fascinating, but I don't like slimy food and I don't care for oysters, so none of this was interesting to me. What could have been said in one chapter was said all through the book. I felt that it slowed down the book. So this was a big downside to me, considering I felt that it took away from the mystery itself. Saying that, I did think the book was written well as Ms. Ross has never disappointed in that area. She manages to bring us to Maine throughout the various seasons, and shows us what life is like for the land dwellers and seamen both. Her descriptions of the area are delightful, and I do love reading about the area.

I also like the various people in Busman's Cove itself. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of them, either, in this book. It mainly centered on Julia's investigation, which didn't include any of them, and the fringe life of Chris, which, as all I will say, played a major part in this one.

What I disliked the most the ending. I felt it was extremely disappointing, and I have to say that if I had known, I would have probably skipped this one. I do not want anyone to think that this book isn't worth reading; it truly is if you're following the series, but you must draw your own conclusions about the ending, Saying all I have done, I will continue to read this series as I do like Ms. Ross's writing.

Andie Greatorex, owner Great River Oysters has
her oyster farm on the Damariscotta River. She
is the largest of the six oyster farms and has
filed to increase the area of her farm. When Andie
has two buckets of her oyster seed stolen worth
$35,000, she turns to Julia Snowden of Maine
Clambakes in Busman’s Harbor Maine for her help
in catching the culprit before all the oyster seeds
die. Julia has become known a a part time sleuth
in the area plus she is the significant other of
Chris who plays poker with Andi.
While the investigation is ongoing, Andi turns up
dead....Killed with oyster shucking knife.
Julia is determined to catch the culprit for both
the robbery and the murder.
I enjoyed learning about the oyster farming and
aqua-farming both from the business aspect
and political issues involving neighbors and
other fishermen such as the lobstermen.
The author takes the reader on a tour of this
area showing how tourists add to the financial
survival of these small towns.
This is book # 9 in the Maine Clambake Mystery
Series. I can be read as a stand alone as the
author ties the past and present together effortlessly.
I volunteered to read Shucked Apart. Thanks to
Kensington Publishing via NetGallery for the
opportunity. My opinion is voluntary and my own.

Another first class read from Barbara Ross. I love this series, it's one of my favorites. The ending made me a little sad, but still hoping for a happy ending for all involved. I love how the characters have grown and changed over the course of the series. Everyone needs to read this series!

I am a lover of seafood. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I like Julia, our sleuth, grew up feasting on the freshest of seafood. That is, all, except oysters. After finishing Shucked Apart, I am willing to expand my briny horizons. Ross sets the action in the short time before Memorial Day when the family us gearing up for the tourist season. The setting has moved to the oyster farms on the Damariscotta River. A real place, this location has become a burgeoning home for oyster aquaculture.

We meet Annie Greatorex, a young entrepreneur, who has created a highly successful oyster farm. When oyster spat valued at $35,000 is stolen from her, Julia is asked by Chris to become involved. I liked Ross' treatment of Annie. She is enthusiastic, intelligent, as well as savvy and kind. Annie will stay with me for a long time. Ross is someone who plays fair with her audience. The clues to solve the mystery are all there, but not easily solved. Her skill with both the A story line (who is harassing Annie?) and the B story line (will the clambake be fully staffed in time for opening day?) prompt page turning long past midnight. The change of seasons has also brought about changes in relationships. This allows Julia and her family to continue to learn and grow in depth. Well done.

Highly recommended for readers of all ages, especially those who love tales from Down East.

Full disclosure: I received this ARC from netgalley and Kensington in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you for this opportunity.

Another excellent book by Barbara Ross. I love reading the books in her series and look forward to the next one.
Barbara Ross keeps her readers engaged from start to finish!

Shucked Apart is the ninth book in Barbara Ross’s Maine Clambake mystery series. Julia Snowden returned from a successful career in NYC to run her family’s company after the passing of father. As well as run the company, Julia has become known for her investigative skills and her close ties to a pair of Maine State Police Major Crimes officers, Lt. Jerry Binder and Sgt. Thomas Flynn.

When her boyfriend, Chris Durand, brings his poker playing friend Andie Greatorex to see Julia, it is to seek help in figuring out who attacked Andie and stole the $35,000 worth of oyster spawn she had just purchased for her expanding oyster farm. The police believe it to be about the money. Andie feels that someone is trying to sabotage her business and her plans for expansion.

Julia begins asking questions, but only a few days later it is Julia that discovers the body of Andie floating in the Damariscotta River. As the mystery unfolds, the suspects grow to include Andie’s former business and life partner, her competitors, and the lobstermen that feel the oyster farmers are infringing on their area, including Julia’s Uncle Bob.

In the uncovering of secrets as the investigation unfolds, some of the things that have been kept from Julia are another facet of life for Chris. While she follows the threads of the investigation, and unwittingly discovers the actual villain, it is at the expense of things in her personal life.

This is a well woven mystery with strong characters and lovely settings. Although the first book in the series I have read, it won’t be the last! I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it!

A great mystery that also educates and is a cozy makes for a great read. It's time to make seasonal preparations for the Snowden Family Clambake Company and Julia has a lot to get done. Amidst all of that Julia's boyfriend asks her to help his friend Andie, owner of a local oyster farm who needs help help finding out who stole $35K worth of baby oysters from her. Before Julia gets to the bottom of the theft she is faced with the murder investigation of Andie's death.
Besides the lovely setting of Busman's Harbor and a very well crafted mystery the reader learns about oyster farming. At the end of the book there are some lovely seafood recipes. A great read from start to finish.
My thanks to the publisher Kensington and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.