Early October is âwinding downâ time in Busmanâs Harbor, Maine, but thereâs nothing relaxing about it for Julia Snowden. Between busloads of weekend leaf peepers at the Snowden Family Clambake and a gut renovation of the old mansion on Morrow Island, sheâs keeping it all together with a potentially volatile skeleton crewâuntil one of them turns up dead under the firewood.
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When the Russian demo team clearing out the mansion discovers a room thatâs been sealed off for decades, Juliaâs baffled as to its purpose and what secrets it might have held. Tensions are already simmering with the crew, but when one of the workers is found murdered, things come to a boil. With the discovery of another bodyâand a mysterious diary with Cyrillic text in the hidden roomâthe pressureâs on Julia to dig up a real killer fast. But sheâll have to sort through a pile of suspects, including ex-spouses, a spurned lover, and a recently released prisoner, to fish out one clammed-up killer.
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Praise for Steamed Open
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âSure to appeal to readers who treasure the Maine coast, Rossâs latest continues the lives and minor dramas of her fictionalized version of Boothbay Harbor with amiable characters.â
âKirkus Reviews