Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperbook; Digital Book (Audiobook Available)
ISBN #: 9781496717962
Kensington Publishing
240 Pages
$7.64; $7.26 Amazon
February 23, 2021
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When oyster farmer Andie Greatorex is robbed of a bucket of oyster seed worth $35,000, she comes to Julia Snowden for help. Who wants to sink Andie's successful business? Is it a rival oyster farmer, an ex-employee, a neighbor who objects to the oyster cages floating on the beautiful Damariscotta River, a lobsterman who feels pushed out by the farm leases, or someone from Andie's personal life?
Then Andie turns up dead, floating by her dock in the scuba gear she wears when harvesting her oysters. Julia's head start puts her in a perfect position to help her friends in the Main State police major crimes unit with the investigation. But can Julia make sure the right suspect gets sent up the river before she ends up in a watery grave?
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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.
More on Barbara Ross's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/barbara-ross/
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