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. ( )

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. ( )

Shucked Apart is the ninth book in the A Maine Clambake Mystery series by Barbara Ross.

Julia is busy reviewing applications as the clambake season her family runs is quickly approaching, and she needs to get the staff in place. When her boyfriend, Chris, asks her to help a member of his poker group find who had stolen $30,000 of oyster seeds that had just been picked up from their supplier, she reluctantly agrees. Julia heads to the oyster farm and is surprised that Andy turns out to be Andie. Chris with having some explaining about this. Andie will explain an oyster farm’s operation and add that she has experienced some minor sabotage, which she put to someone not happy with her plans to expand her oyster farm. The next day Julia has plans to visit with Andie and explore more of the workings of oyster farming. When she arrives, Andie is not waiting for her, so he walks to the end of the pier to get a better view of the river. When Julia looks down into the river, the body of Andie is floating near the dock. Even though Julia needs to get the staff assembled for the season’s clambake business, she can’t help from searching for Andie’s killer. Julia will soon learn that there are many suspects to be investigated. She needs to know more about Max, who was Andie’s former business partner and whose oyster knife was sticking in her throat. Also, there’s a struggling fellow oyster farmer who’s upset with Andie’s looking to receive additional oyster farming areas, lobstermen who don’t like the oyster farmers encroaching on their sites, and summer residents along the river who don’t like looking out on the oyster traps.

I’ve loved this series since book one, as I did this one. The books are well-written and plotted and give the reader a look at a small seaside community’s life. I particularly liked learning about the growing and harvesting of oysters.

There are also delicious sounding recipes with the book.

I’m eagerly awaiting the next book in this informative series. ( )

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! ( )