Brenda H. (booksinvt) - , reviewed on 1/27/2016 + 459 more book reviews

Fogged Inn is the fourth installment in the Maine Clambake mystery series. The series centers around Julia Snowden who has left her venture capital job in Manhattan and moved back home to Busman's Harbor, Maine in order to help save her family's clambake business from bankruptcy.

After a lot of help from family and friends and a successful summer season, the clambake business is now solvent. With Winter fast approaching Julia decides not to return to the city and instead she and boyfriend Chris Durand lease restaurant space from Gus Farnham. The couple opens Gus's Too and begin serving dinner five nights a week while living in the studio apartment above the restaurant.

Gus is still running the restaurant for breakfast and lunch and has a reputation as being a bit cranky and picky, refusing to serve to anyone unless they are a local or come in with a local. So when Gus yells up the stairs early one morning, rousing the couple from a sound sleep, Julia expects him to complain that something was left on or unlocked or dirty. Instead, Gus demands to know why Julia has left a dead body in his walk in freezer.

Thanks to an ice storm the night before only four couples had come in to dine along with the single man who had been sitting at the bar. The couples acted as though they did not know each other and had little interaction all choosing booths in opposite corners of the restaurant. Local police officer Jamie Dawes had stopped in to tell them Main Street was closed due to an accident forcing the couples to gather in the bar and wait for the accident to be cleared. Julia couldn't help but notice that the couples really didn't warm up to each other and didn't interact with the single stranger, so she can't imagine who killed the man and left him in the walk in.

It also seems that the lone female driver of one of the car's involved in the Main Street accident had fled the scene and can not be located. Feeling the two events are some how related and determined to help the police, despite their warning her not to meddle, Julia sets off on her own investigation.

Following up on a tip from her mother's neighbors Fee and Vee Snugg, Julia discovers that the four couples were once a part of the Rabble Point set. Rabble Point Road was the location of a cluster of summer homes, and the couples had spent their formative years together each summer. A horrific accident had claimed the lives of a fifth couple after college, resulting in the group unfriending each other and growing apart.

Julia soon learns that someone had passed out Gus's Too gift certificates to the four couples which was the reason they had all descended on the restaurant the night of the murder. When copies of the gift certificates suddenly go missing from her apartment along with other evidence she uncovers, Julia becomes more determined to find out if the killer is the same person that keeps breaking into her apartment.

The Snowden family doesn't play a huge role in this mystery unlike the previous three books because it's off season for the clambake business. But the returning cast of characters does include Julia's sister Livvie and her husband Sonny, Officer Jamie Dawes and Officer Pete Howland. We still don't learn too much about Julia's boyfriend Chris although they seem to be growing closer at the conclusion of this story.

A fun, likeable cast of characters and a terrific plotline with plenty of suspects. The fast moving pace will keep you turning the pages, and looking forward to the next Snowden adventure.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley via Kensington Publishing. While I was not required to write a review I am more than happy to offer my honest opinion.

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