50 Book Reviews Reviews Published

Friday, August 2, 2024

Torn Asunder - A Maine Clambake Mystery by Barbara Ross

  Thank you to the authors, publishers, and NetGalley for providing these ARCs in exchange for honest reviews. The recipe reviews and food pairing found on my Instagram feed are of my own doing. 


Torn Asunder
A Maine Clambake Mystery
Barbara Ross
Kensington Cozies

 What a great way to end the series. Yes, that is right; this is book 12, the final one in the Maine Clambake series which means no more amazing lobster related recipes and the end of a well written story arc. Spoiler alert, there is an excellent epilogue as well as a very tasty orange and fennel salad recipe among many other tasty sounding recipes. On to the story…imagine your friend and business partner is getting married, it is her rehearsal dinner and you are the maid of honor, the wedding planner, the venue coordinator and the caterer (essentially). Zoey has all the confidence that Julia has this covered but Julia has a case of pre-wedding jitters. There are all sorts of people there at the Snowden Family Clambake venue from Zoey’s art friends to Jaime’s New England family. Now imagine there is one person that no one seems to know but everyone has talked to and he falls down dead. That gives a whole new take on party crashing. Something doesn’t make sense someone has to know him because people don’t show up a rehearsal dinner on a private island without knowing someone. To add a little more mayhem to this already tense situation, there is a storm and not everyone made it off of the island but they did make it to Julia‘s family home, Windsholme, which has become the venue. Then the story takes an even more unusual turn as people start answering Detective Tom‘s questions and a most interesting picture is painted because it seems that several members of the wedding party have had dealings with mysterious and somewhat conniving Mr. Clarkson. There are plenty of suspects, a surging storm, and misdirection at every turn. The story had me hooked and while I was distracted by the amazing foods being described I was able to figure out the “who” and the “why” but not the “when” or the “how”. I found this series about 6 books in and while I now know how it all ends, I am still going to go back to the beginning to see how it all started. I give this book 5 out of 5 lobsters or wedding cakes, your choice.


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