Barbara Ross has concocted a wicked good series opener, Clammed Up, the first Maine Clambake Mystery. Echoing a refrain common to the cozy genre these days, Ross conveys her protagonist, Julia Snowden, back to her hometown to run a business, in this case the foundering Snowden Family Clambake Company. Julia leaves New York and her high-powered position as a venture capitalist, to employ her corporate skills to negotiate a reprieve from the bank seeking to foreclose on the family business. While Julia does succeed in creating a satisfactory business plan, the agreement permits the business only a few days of income-losing downtime. Nonetheless, Julia optimistically proceeds, beginning the season with a wedding event that she has agreed to host on the family’s island. This enterprise rapidly sours when the best man disappears, leaving the groom behind on the mainland to retrieve him. Yes, matters deteriorate further when the wedding party arrives and discovers the missing best man—hanging in the ancestral Snowden home. Immediately, Julia’s business plan is threatened because of days lost to the investigation. I won’t reveal additional plot strands—indeed, they are plentiful. Instead, I heartily recommend that you pick up this book and devour it forthwith. I ardently hope that Barbara Ross continues the momentum she has generated in this excellent series debut.