Atop Heraldsgate Hill, sits Hillside Manor, the bed and breakfast owned by Judith McMonigle Flynn. It's January, the holidays are over and so are the paying guests at the B&B. Judith is having the January blahs. Her husband, Joe, along with her cousin and BFF Renie's husband, Bill, are leaving for their long awaited fishing trip to New Zealand. They won the trip at the church auction for about $400 each when they tried to get the bidding higher for Father Hoyle, and their plan flopped. Instead of continuing to bid, the congregants suddenly became tight fisted and stopped bidding, Joe and Bill were declared the winners.

Auntie Vance and Uncle Vince Weber arrived bringing clams dug from their home on Whoopee Island. They asked that Judith house sit their home there as they needed to visit Aunt Ellen in Beatrice, Nebraska. She had just had shoulder surgery and could use their help. Judith asked Renie to accompany her and shortly they were aboard the ferry taking them across the sound to the Webers home in Obsession Shores, a retirement community. Within their first hour there, while walking on the beach, they stumbled over the body of a man. At first they thought he had a heart attack as he was lying face down in the sand. After a call to 911, officers arrived and examined the body. They announced that he was stabbed three times in his chest with a knife. He was, Ernie Glover, a neighbor living a few doors down.the street from the Webers. Let the sleuthing begin.

Mary Daheim writes Bed and Breakfast Mysteries and the characters of Judith and Renie are regulars. CLAM WAKE is my first acquaintance with the series and the characters. I found CLAM WAKE an enjoyable read with a surprise ending. Judith is smart with a stinging insight into people and their relationships. Renie, when her mouth is not full of popcorn, salt water taffy or dark chocolate, is sarcastic, sometimes funny but a worthy associate. A cozy mystery to curl up and enjoy in a lovely locale.

Book Summary

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.