Iced Under (A Maine Clambake Mystery)

Iced Under by Barbara Ross is the fourth book in A Maine Clambake Mystery series. It is February in Busman's Harbor, Maine. Julia Snowden is on her way to her mother's house and stops to pick up the mail. There is a package for Jacqueline, Julia's mother. Upon opening it, they discover a beautiful necklace inside with a note that states "For Windsholme" (the old family summer home that recently suffered fire damage). The necklace is called the Black Widow (contains a rare black diamond) and has been missing for almost a hundred years. There is no return address on the package and, as far as Jacqueline knows, she has no other family. Julia starts delving into her family history (hoping to find family for her mother) which sends Julia on a journey to Boston. It turns out that Julia and Jacqueline do have family, but one member just passed away. Jacqueline is to receive a nice inheritance from this lost relative (Hugh) but others are not happy about this revelation. Julia gets to meet new relatives, find out one of them is deceased, her sister is about to have her baby, a big snow storm is about to descent upon the area, and then the police show up. It turns out that Hugh did not die of natural causes. The suspect list is limited to the people inside Hugh's home. Which one of them did in poor Hugh? Then an attempt is made on the matriarch's life just after she stated she was going to change her will! Julia needs to flee and then find the culprit before the killer strikes again. Will Julia be successful? Join Julia on her latest escapade in Iced Under.

Iced Under is my favorite book in the series. I enjoyed Julia's search into her family history and how the Black Widow disappeared in the 1920s. I wish the mystery behind the matriarch's attempted murder had been as puzzling (easily solved). Hugh's death is also easily figured out (one question will give you the answer). Iced Under is well-written and has a good pace. While Iced Under is the fifth book in the series, it can be read alone. The author provides the needed information on the characters and previous books for the reader to catch up. I liked that we get to know more about Julia's ancestors and her mother's history. I found the history of ice very interesting (did not realize that it was such a cut-throat business). I found Iced Under a nice change of pace from the other books in the series. It was nice to get away from the family business. I give Iced Under 4 out of 5 stars (I liked it). I did feel that the ending was too abrupt. There needed to be a little more to the last chapter or an epilogue. I will be reading the next book in A Maine Clambake Mystery series.