Title: Against the Claw

Author:  Shari Randall

Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks

Publication Date: July 31, 2018

Page Count: 336

My rating: 3 1/2 stars

About the book:

Finger-licking delicious, Shari Randall’s Against the Claw is the second in the Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack series.

Welcome back to the seaside village of Mystic Bay, where someone’s been found sleeping with the fishes. . .

Ballerina Allie Larkin is still back home, healing up from a broken ankle and lending a hand at her aunt’s Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack. But now that the famed restaurant is branching out into the world of catering, Allie’s help is needed more than ever―even on the lobster boat. The last thing she expects to find once she’s out on the bay, however, is the dead body of a beautiful young woman.

When days pass and not even the police can ID the corpse, Allie takes it upon herself to learn the truth about what happened. Her investigation leads her all the way from the local piers to the secluded estates of Mystic Bay’s posh elite. But how can she crack this case when everyone seems dead-set on keeping their secrets beneath the surface?

Against the Claw by Shari Randall is the second book in the cozy A Lobster Shack Mystery series. The series is centered around dancer Allie Larkin who had to return home to Mystic Bay when she was injured and couldn’t dance so she took up working with her aunt at her Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack.

Working at the restaurant has been much more than just waiting on tables and serving up lobster to the customers for Allie. Aunt Gully has had her doing a bit of everything since she returned from helping with the lobster tasting to solving the murder that took place there.

Now Allie finds herself once again being asked to cover other jobs that come with running a lobster business when she’s sent out on the boat to check the lobster traps. Allie didn’t mind being out on the water until she pulls in a line and finds much more than lobster attached. Floating beneath the surface is the body of a young girl and once police are  involved and not finding out what happened Allie once again goes about solving the mystery.

The Lobster Shack Mystery series is not one that is overly quirky so to me that is one element that keeps me from gushing completely about this series. The lack of that certain element often leaves the characters feeling a bit flat to me and wishing they would stand out a bit more. However, on the flip side I do quite enjoy the whole “lobster” setting of the books and find myself quite interested in the mystery side of things so despite the lack of my favorite dash of uniqueness to the characters I do still enjoy the books with each installment leaving me to rate at 3.5 stars.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online: 

Goodreads  /   Amazon

About the author:

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.