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Iced Under: 02/28/24

Iced Under

Iced Under by Barbara Ross and Dara Rosenberg (Narrator) (2016) is the fifth Maine Clambake mystery. Busman's Harbor is essentially shut down for the year with only a handful of people and families around for the long snowy nights. Even Julia's business partner/boyfriend is down in Florida for extra work. The only thing on Julia's mind is her sister's pregnancy and impending due date.

An unexpected package arriving at the post office changes Julia's course for the winter. Inside is an expensive necklace, one that her mother recognizes from old family stories. The necklace has been missing for nearly a hundred years. A cryptic note implies the necklace is for rebuilding / repairing the family home that burned in Clammed Up (2013).

I've been trained by dozens of mysteries to immediately expect the expensive gift to either be fake or if real, be stolen and a murder tied to it so that both crimes are pinned on the main character or someone closer to her. That doesn't happen here.

Instead, we get more of a family drama, something akin to the The Whiteoaks of Jalna series by Mazo de la Roches. It's a story that covers multiple generations, genealogical research, and ultimately a trip to Boston. But this family drama is told with the conventions of a cozy mystery. The pacing, tropes, and investigations are all still there but the stakes are different and the rewards much greater.

The sixth book is Stowed Away (2017).

Five stars

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