Barbara Ross

Jane Darrowfield is a year into her retirement, and she's already traveled and planted a garden. She's organized her photos, her recipes, and her spices. The statistics suggest she has at least a few more decades ahead of her, so she better find something to do... JANE DARROWFIELD, PROFESSIONAL BUSYBODY After Jane helps a friend with a sticky personal problem, word starts to spread around her bridge club-and then around all of West Cambridge, Massachusetts-that...

It's summertime in Busman's Harbor, Maine, and the clamming is easy-or it was until a mysterious new neighbor blocks access to the beach, cutting off the Snowden Family Clambake's supply. Julia Snowden is just one of many townspeople angered by Bartholomew Frick's decision. But which one of them was angry enough to kill? Beachcombers, lighthouse buffs, and clammers are outraged after Frick puts up a gate in front of his newly inherited mansion. When...

The snow is deep in Maine's Busman's Harbor and the mighty rivers are covered in ice. Snowden Family Clambake Company proprietor Julia Snowden and her mother, Jacqueline, are hunkered down for the winter when a mysterious package arrives-heating up February with an unexpected case of murder . . . Inside the mystery package is an enormous black diamond necklace that once belonged to Julia's great-grandmother and disappeared in the 1920s. Who could...

For Julia Snowden, the Founder's Day summer celebration in Busman's Harbor, Maine, means helping her family's clambake company to prepare an authentic taste of New England seafood. Any Mainer will tell you that a real clambake needs wood for the fire... so why is there a foot sticking out of the oven? The townspeople want to pin the murder of the RV park owner on Cabe Stone, a new employee of the Snowden Family Clambake Company--who bolted from the...

Jane Darrowfield is using her retirement years to work as a professional busybody, with most of her business coming from her West Cambridge, Massachusetts, community. This time her client is right next door... JANE DARROWFIELD AND THE MADWOMAN NEXT DOOR Megan, who's purchased the house next to Jane's, needs some help from her snooping neighbor. Megan's been having blackouts, hearing voices and feeling like someone's following her. Are these symptoms...

A short boat ride from Busman's Harbor, Maine, Morrow Island is a perfect spot for a wedding, and a Snowden Family Clambake. Julia Snowden is busy organizing both, until a mysterious wedding crasher drops dead amid the festivities... Julia's best friend and business partner, Zoey, is about to marry her policeman boyfriend. Of course, a gorgeous white wedding dress shouldn't be within fifty yards of a plate of buttery lobster, so that treat is reserved...

For Julia Snowden of the Snowden Family Clambake, Halloween takes on a whole new meaning in the coastal town of Busman's Harbor, Maine, when a seasonal activity turns fatal . . . With its history of hauntings and ghost sightings, Busman's Harbor is the perfect setting for Halloween festivities. Despite her busy schedule, Julia agrees to help out with a haunted house tour to protect her mother from overwhelming herself. But when a reenactment...

Barbara Ross returns to glorious Maine with a spooky but fun Julia Snowden mystery set during Halloween season. Three teenage girls having a sleepover on Halloween night get spooked when high schoolers crash the house for a party. But no one expected to find a crasher like Mrs. Zelisko, the elderly third floor tenant, dead in the backyard-dressed in a sheet like a ghost. With her niece traumatized, Julia Snowden must uncover who among the uninvited...

Previously published in Yule Log Murder Few things are as sweet as Christmas in coastal Maine. The only thing that can spoil the fun is murder . . . Realizing she can't make a decent Bûche de Noël to save her life, Julia Snowden enlists the help of her eccentric neighbor, Mrs. St. Onge, in hopes of mastering the dessert for Christmas. With everyone in the old woman's circle missing or deceased, however, it's up to Julia to stop the deadly...

Three novellas from three cozy mystery writers all feature murders that happen at Halloween parties, including a fête in a Victorian home where someone overdoses on tainted drugs and a teenage sleepover where the attendees discover a murdered neighbor.