1. What are you currently reading? Clammed Up by Barbara Ross. Julia Snowden left Maine and the family clambake business for the bright lights of Manhattan. But, like Michael Corleone, her family pulled her back in. So now she's back, helping expand the business to include events. Her plans go terribly wrong when one of the first wedding crashers is a murderer, and the best man ends up dead.
I'm liking this book so far because the backdrop includes peril and real tension, but not of the violent kind. A tourist-based company like the Snowden's only has a few summer months to make their money for the year. The longer the police keep their business shut down, the more difficult it will be for them to stay open. Maybe it's because so many independent companies and family-owned businesses didn't make it through covid, but I really feel for Julia.
I've always wanted to try the Maine Clambake Series -- Kwizgiver is a fan -- and when Book #1 became available from the library, I snapped it up. I always try to, as Julie Andrews sang, "start at the very beginning, a very good place to start."
2. What did you recently finish reading? Fatal Vision by Joe McGinnis. In the annals of true crime, the Jeffrey MacDonald case is legend. A handsome Green Beret captain, he was accused of killing his wife and two little girls in their home on the Army base. No one wanted to believe he did it. But he did.
For me, though, the most compelling character is Fred Kassab. His stepdaughter, Collette, began dating Jeff MacDonald when they were in the 9th grade. Fred watched Jeff grow up, marry his stepdaughter, and start a family. Shortly after the murders, he told the Army and the press he stood by Jeff, that if he'd been blessed with another daughter, he'd want the same son-in-law.
But slowly, he began to notice things were wrong with his son-in-law's story. (Example: why did Jeff insist they'd never owned an ice pick -- one of the murder weapons -- when Freddy had seen his wife use theirs last Christmas?) He didn't understand how Jeff could begin dating again so soon after losing Colette and the girls, or why he kept finding excuses not to share forensic and legal evidence with Fred.
Fred's evolving realization that the one who destroyed his stepdaughter and grandchildren was someone he loved is really the heart of this story. And once Fred truly understands, he won't let it go. He did not rest until Jeffrey MacDonald was brought to justice.
3. What will you read next? Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown.
I hope you enjoy the Clambake series!
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