Book excerpt: 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? “Suspenseful and entertaining—left me longing to visit the Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack!” —Donna Andrews on Curses, Boiled Again! “Delightful...Full of New England coastal charm...and clever sleuthing [that] will keep you turning the pages.”—Krista Davis, New York Times bestselling author of the Domestic Diva mysteries