Drawn and Buttered

February 15, 2019
Fall leaf-peeping season makes for a busy time at Aunt Gully's Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack on the Connecticut coast, so it's all hands on deck, including Allie Larkin, a ballerina recuperating from an ankle injury. Then Bertha, of Bertha Betancour's Learn to Lobster tour, returns, with a near-record-size lobster on board. Quickly dubbed Lobzilla by the press, the creature attracts the attention of the marine biologist at nearby Greystone College, who came by with his student assistant, Max Hempstead, to arrange Lobzilla's transfer to his lab for further study. But Lobzilla goes missing, only to turn up near Max's body, found by Allie on the grave of the town founder during a Halloween party at the estate of his descendants. From there, the stories of Allie's return to dance and those of several suspects?Allie's ballet mentor, a disgraced historian, the daughter of the estate owner, the leader of the local coven, and Max's fraternity brothers?intertwine as Allie and her friends Verity and Bronwyn talk through the possibilities and help Allie with the sleuthing. Fans of coastal New England cozies, such as those by Sally Goldenbaum and Jenn McKinlay, will relish this one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)