Torn Asunder by Barbara Ross

Available: April 23, 2024

Rating: 5 lobsters

Julia's BFF and winter boss, Zoey, is getting married! The groom is Julia's childhood BFF, Jamie. While Zoey's life has been anything but traditional, she wants her wedding to be classic in every possible way. Now that Windsholme is open, Julia wants the inaugural wedding to be Zoey's dream wedding come true. That means not only is Julia the bridesmaid, she's also playing wedding planner and coordinating the event space. But of course, nothing is as predictable in Busman's Harbor as... murder.

Zoey is a really sweet character in this series, she's steady and kind and creative, she's always there and is calm and easy to be around. I think long-time series readers are just as happy as Julia to see her dream wedding come to fruition and equally dismayed when things start to go wrong. First, a mysterious wedding guest who seems to know everyone though no one will admit to knowing him, dies under mysterious circumstances in the middle of the rehearsal dinner. What follows is a closed-room (or in this case, storm-isolated island) mystery. Whoever committed the crime was on the island... but there were a lot of people on the island. And for each person who was on the island there's a motive to want to con man gone.

This series has had its ups and downs, there were some books that were better than others and many that were really great. Unfortunately, the author reveals at the end of this book that Torn Asunder will be the last in the series. While I can appreciate what she wrote about wanting to basically retire from the series and from writing in general, I will admit that I uttered some unkind words when I read that. Because, really, how dare she? Doesn't she know my desire for more Clambake mysteries trumps enjoying vacations with her grandchildren? OK, no, it doesn't. In all seriousness, thank you, Barbara, for giving us a fun series. I wish there would be more but I'm grateful for the dozen we got.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.