Barbara Ross

Barbara Ross returns to glorious Maine with a spooky but fun Julia Snowden mystery set during Halloween season.
Three teenage girls having a sleepover on Halloween night get spooked when high schoolers crash the house for a party. But no one expected to find a crasher like Mrs. Zelisko, the elderly third floor tenant, dead in the backyard—dressed in a sheet like a ghost. With her niece traumatized, Julia Snowden must uncover who...

Previously published in Yule Log Murder
Few things are as sweet as Christmas in coastal Maine. The only thing that can spoil the fun is murder . . .
Realizing she can't make a decent Bûche de Noël to save her life, Julia Snowden enlists the help of her eccentric neighbor, Mrs. St. Onge, in hopes of mastering the dessert for Christmas. With everyone in the old woman's circle missing or deceased, however,...

Summer has come to Busmans Harbor Maine and tourists are lining up for a taste of authentic New England seafood courtesy of the Snowden Family Clambake Company. But theres something sinister on the boil this season. A killer has crashed a wedding party adding mystery to the menu at the worst possible moment. Julia Snowden returned to her hometown to rescue her familys struggling clambake business--not to solve crimes. But that was before a catered...

"The busy summer tourist season is winding down in Busman's Harbor, Maine, but Julia Snowden senses trouble simmering for the Snowden Family Clambake Company. Shifty David Thwing--the "Mussel King" of upscale seafood restaurants--is sniffing around town for a new location. But serving iffy clams turns out to be the least of his troubles...When Thwing is found sleeping with the fishes beneath a local lobsterman's boat, the police quickly finger Julia's...

"Serving up mouthwatering shellfish, the Snowden Family Clambake has become a beloved institution in Busman's Harbor, Maine. But when new clues rise to the surface five years after the disappearance of Julia Snowden's mother's friend, the family business shifts to sleuthing . . . Julia and her mother, Jacqueline, have come to the exclusive summer colony of Chipmunk Island to attend a memorial service for Jacqueline's old friend Ginny, who's been officially...

Inside the mystery package is an enormous black diamond necklace that once belonged to Julia's great-grandmother and disappeared in the 1920s. Who could have sent it-and why? Julia's search for clues takes her on a perilous journey through her mother's troubled family history, from a squabble over the family fortune in "frozen water" to the recent unexplained death of Jacqueline's long-lost cousin Hugh-who'd been missing and presumed drowned for more...

"For Julia Snowden, the Founder's Day summer celebration in Busman's Harbor, Maine, means helping her family's clambake company to prepare an authentic taste of New England seafood. Any Mainer will tell you that a real clambake needs wood for the fire . . . so why is there a foot sticking out of the oven? The townspeople want to pin the murder of the RV park owner on Cabe Stone, a new employee of the Snowden Family Clambake Company who bolted from...

"Jane Darrowfield is using her retirement years to work as a professional busybody in her West Cambridge, Massachusetts community--but this time her client is a woman next door who thinks someone is following her... Megan, who's purchased the house next to Jane's, needs some help from her snooping neighbor. Megan's been having blackouts, hearing voices--and feeling like someone's following her. Are these symptoms of an illness--or signs that she's...

Julia's best friend and business partner, Zoey, is about to marry her policeman boyfriend. Of course, a gorgeous white wedding dress shouldn't be within fifty yards of a plate of buttery lobster--so that treat is reserved for the rehearsal dinner. Julia is a little worried about the timing, though, as she works around a predicted storm. When a guest falls to the floor dead, it turns out that no one seems to know who he is, despite the fact that he's...

HAUNTED HOUSE MURDER : Lucy Stone must determine whether the arrival of an eccentric couple and the disappearance of a local boy are linked. DEATH BY HAUNTED HOUSE : Hayley Powell investigates a mysterious property and a missing realtor. HALLOWED OUT : a killer Halloween party leaves an actor dead and Julia Snowden searching for clues. In this trio of novellas, tricks and treats keep the Halloween spirits alive in coastal Maine. But this year the...