Book Review: Hidden Beneath by Barbara Ross (Maine Clambake Mysteries #11)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Another strong entry in a great series

Cons: All cons hidden for me

The Bottom Line:

A disappearance

Five years later, what happened?

Strong book, strong series

What Happened to Ginny?

As much as I read a mystery for the plot, I read a series to find out what happens next to characters I love.  That means, I enjoy it when an author weaves several stories in and out of multiple books in the series.  We see a couple of those pay off in Hidden Beneath, the eleventh Maine Clambake Mystery from Barbara Ross.  And we get a great mystery, too.

For those new to the series, it features Julia Snowden who lives in Busman’s Harbor, Maine, and helps run the Snowden Family Clambake.  Since she returned home several years ago to keep the family business from failing, she has gotten involved in a number of mysteries.

With a business like that, summer is an extremely busy time, and we don’t have as many books set during the high season in this series.  This book is an exception.  Summer is just getting going, but Julia’s mother, Jacqueline, is heading to a nearby island off the coast of Maine to attend the memorial for a friend from her childhood, Ginny.  Ginny vanished five years ago, and right before she vanished, she’d reached out to Jacqueline.  Jacqueline feels guilty for not being able to get back to her before Ginny vanished.

Now, five years later, Ginny has been officially declared dead, and Jacqueline is going to attend a memorial that her friends have put together.  She asks Julia to accompany her, and so Julia meets this close circle of friends.  Something doesn’t sit well with Ginny’s disappearance, so Julia starts poking around.  Can she figure out what happened?

One thing that we’ve been watching over the last several books is the restoration of the old mansion on the island where the Snowden Family Clambake is held.  Now, for the first time, Julia and Jacqueline have moved into their finished apartments on the second floor of the mansion.  I loved getting to see that payoff.  Don’t worry, there is a logical reason why Julia is getting off the island to investigate what is going on in this book, but I liked seeing her new home base.

The other on-going storyline that progresses here?  I’m not going to spoil that other than to say that I liked where things went.

Obviously, both of these stories will mean more to you if you’ve been following the series.  Not that you couldn’t jump in here and enjoy the book, although some spoilers for past books happen by default.  No, the main mystery of the past books is never spoiled, but some of the personal storylines are.

And the reason we care about these stories is because we love these characters so much.  Honestly, I was smiling within the first couple of pages of the book as I was just so happy to be spending time with them again.  All of the series regulars get at least a cameo, and it was fabulous to check in and see how they are all doing.  The suspects are strong and helped pull me into the story.

Don’t let all this talk make you think the mystery was weak.  Yes, it took a bit of time to be fully set up, but even then, I was intrigued by what was happening and how Julia would figure anything out.  And the foundation for the case was being laid here, so when things really pick up, we are fully invested in the story.  By the end, the pages couldn’t turn fast enough for me as I needed to know what was really going on.  As always, the solution made perfect sense.

We also get some recipes at the end.  There are five in this book, only one of which involves seafood, so there is plenty for the non-seafood lover like me.

This continues to be one of my favorite series.  If you are a fan like me, you’ll be very happy with Hidden Beneath.  If you haven’t started it yet, you need to dig in today.

Be sure to reserve a spot with the rest of the Maine Clambake Mysteries.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.