Genre: Mystery

Published by: William Morrow

Publication Date: 8/12/2014

Number of Pages: 240

ISBN: 9780062317728

Purchase Link: 

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MY REVIEW

Clam Wake is a hilarious and enjoyable tale. Cozy mysteries are great summer reads, murder written with snarky dialogue and occurring in unusual places, like a retirement home.

Clam Wake is just such a novel. Mary Daheim, a USA Today and New York Times bestselling novelist, is a prolific writer and has many more mysteries just waiting to be read by me and you.

I saw the cover and it made me think of Cape Cod, so I had to read it. I have spent many summer vacations walking the flats and digging for clams. I can smell the odor of rotting vegetation when the tide goes out. I try to outrace the tide as it comes roaring in, much faster than most people anticipate. At first it is just lapping at my feet, then my ankles, then my knees……More than once, I have swam, instead of walked back in.

Cousins, Judith and Renie are house-sitting on Whoopee Island for their aunt and uncle, while they vacation.

Judith is an innkeeper and Renie, her best friend and cousin, works from home doing computer design. Even with their responsibilities, they have flexibility. Their many adventures seem to be because they are in the right place at the right time, or maybe, the wrong place at the wrong time. It depends on how you look at it.

Judith – funny, inquisitive and kind hearted. She seeks truth and justice with her amateur sleuthing. She is logical and a problem solver.

Renie – snarky with her sharp and cutting comments. She is very protective of Judith. She is always blurting out inappropriate jokes and I can’t help but laugh. She has a bottomless stomach and a vivid imagination. She is a character after my own heart and I fell in love with her.

Victim – hasn’t an enemy. Everyone liked him. Then why did a big knife take him out?

Judith even has her own fan club – FASTO – Female Amateur Sleuth Tracking Offenders. Her murder solving capabilities are well known, so when there is a murder at the retirement home, you can be sure her and Renie are going to be hot on the trail.

I know they are headed for trouble and I am eager to help them find their way out of it.

Clam Wake is a small town with all those pesky little secrets small communities harbor. The biggest hobby seems to be gossiping.

The retirement community does not have odd people, it has eccentrics.

I have listened to my hubby tell of the beach life on Cape Cod and the game of musical houses all the parents would play. His parents would host the cocktail hour one night, someone else the next, someone else the next….You get the idea. I am sure a great time was had by all. ^_^

Clam Wake is a fun mystery with a plot within a plot. Mary Daheim kept me wondering – who did it? I didn’t figure it out. Not because of a bunch of bells and whistles, just a lot of suspects that Mary twisted and turned around, keeping me guessing. Hmmmm, that doesn’t happen to me very often. Because of the great writing, easy reading and my inability to figure out the killer ahead of time, I must give this cozy mystery a 5 star rating.  Very good, Mary.

“I’m wondering about these Obsession Shores people. Do the retirees just sit around during the winter and wait for the cocktail hour?”

“Hey – I know a good game – ‘Categorize the killers.’ Let’s start with Crazy as a Bedbug and work our way up to Jolly as Old Saint Nick.”

I received this novel in return for an honest and unbiased review.

5 Stars – Would Highly Recommend To Others

SYNOPSIS

Innkeeper and irrepressible sleuth Judith McMonigle Flynn and cousin Renie face off against a cold-blooded killer in a beach community in this delightfully charming Bed-and-Breakfast mystery from USA Today and New York Times bestselling author Mary Daheim.

With the holidays gone and Hillside Manor almost empty, Innkeeper Judith McMonigle Flynn has a bad case of the blues. A housesitting stint at her aunt and uncle’s retirement home on Whoopee Island with cousin Renie seems like the ideal pick-me-up. Surrounded by retirees in the off-season sounds peaceful and pleasant–or so the duo thinks. But it isn’t long before a dead body pops up in their vicinity. Not surprising in an area full of older folks—until they learn it wasn’t a bad ticker that did in the victim, but a very sharp knife. With clouds of suspicion hovering over her and Renie, Judith reluctantly begins sleuthing—if only to prove they didn’t commit the crime.

But what she finds is puzzling. The victim reputedly didn’t have an enemy in the world–except for the killer. Digging for clams and answers, the cousins discover that retirement can be deadly—at least among the eclectic, eccentric residents of Obsession Shores.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Seattle native Mary Richardson Daheim lives three miles from the house where she was raised. From her dining nook she can see the maple tree in front of her childhood home. Mary isn’t one for change when it comes to geography. Upon getting her journalism degree from the University of Washington (she can see the campus from the dining nook, too), she went to work for a newspaper in Anacortes WA. Then, after her marriage to David Daheim, his first college teaching post was in Port Angeles where she became a reporter for the local daily. Both tours of small-town duty gave her the background for the Alpine/Emma Lord series.

Mary spent much of her non-fiction career in public relations (some would say PR is fiction, too). But ever since she learned how to read and write, Mary wanted to tell stories that could be put between book covers (e-readers were far into the future and if she hadn’t seen her daughter’s iPad, she might not know they exist). Thus, she began her publishing career with the first of seven historical romances before switching to mysteries in 1991. If Mary could do the math, she’d know how many books she’s published. Since she can’t, she estimates the total is at least 55. Or something. See below—count ‘em if you can.

At the time of her husband and mentor’s death in February 2010, David and Mary had been married for over 43 years. They have three daughters, Barbara, Katherine and Magdalen, and two granddaughters, Maisy and Clara. They all live in Seattle, too. Those apples don’t move far from the tree…literally.

Catch Up With the Author

Click on the cover below to get your Amazon copy of Clam Wake by Mary Daheim

GIVEAWAY

The giveaway is for one paperback copy of Clam Wake by Mary Daheim to one lucky commenter. US only, sorry to my international readers. Please leave your email and answer the question:

 What about the post spoke loudest to you?

Giveaway ends September 10, 2014.

Tour Participants

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8/14 Review & Giveaway @ 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too!

8/15 Review @ Melissas Mochas, Mysteries and More

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8/29 Review & Giveaway @ Once Upon A TIme

9/01 Review & Giveaway @ Marys Cup of Tea

9/04 Review @ Book Club Librarian

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9/10 Review @ Community Bookstop

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