Curses, Boiled Again! by Shari Randall

 I looked at this Title and knew I had to read it. Come on, who wouldn't smile? The Lobster on the Front just added more humor as did the almost 1950's illustration look to the Cover. This is a well- plotted book with a few twists easily finished in one night.

Aunt Gully, Owner of the Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack, entered a contest with her famous lobster roll. The Contest is televised and has footage. Along with three other entrants she watches in horror as the Judges show all the symptoms of poison. Each of the four Restaurant Finalists are under suspicion until the Police can find the guilty party. How much competition and jealousy among the Finalists I will leave you to read and enjoy. Because the plot builds a first- class, cozy mystery. The actual Detective work will be done by Allie, one of Gully's nieces, along with her Sister Lorelei. Oops, she prefers to be called Lorel. But I don't want to forget Allie's best friend, Verity, who runs a vintage clothing store with an eye for couture and drives a 1962 DeSoto with fins.

Mystery fans will like the twists in the plot and the warmth of the background. I mean how do you beat the Ocean for scenery? The driving question throughout the plot... would they overcome the rumors of food poisoning? Would they find the Lobster Libber? Yes, this has one and a lot of other surprises going on. Allie will have to find the key to it all and Readers will delightedly follow right along beside her.

Blurb:
Welcome to the seaside hamlet of Mystic Bay, where the fish is always fresh, the folks are ever-friendly, and murder is on a roll. . .
Allie Larkin was living her dream as a ballet dancer when a bad fall put her out of business. Now she’s back home in Mystic Bay to heal a broken ankle while also helping her dear Aunt Gully get her Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack off the ground. Nothing would help Gully more than winning the local food festival’s Best Lobster Roll contest. The competition is sure to be killer—especially after one of the contest judges dies after eating a roll from one of Gully’s biggest rivals.


Soon, all eyes fall on Gully as the prime suspect. Allie may only have one good leg to stand on, but she’s not going to let her aunt go down for a crime she never could have cooked up. Can Allie, along with her devoted crew of friends, family, and customers, find a way to trap the killer and claw herself out of this hard-boiled murder case?

Shari Randall:

A native New Englander, Shari loves hanging out with the gang at the Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack in fictional Mystic Bay, Connecticut, where the lobster rolls are delicious, the company’s good, and murder’s always on the menu.

When she’s not committing murder (on the page, of course), Shari enjoys walking the beach near her house, traveling, reading, visiting her globe-trotting children, and dancing. She’s currently trying to talk her husband into a tango class.