Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Trade Paperback
ISBN #: 9781635115024; 9781635114997
Henery Press Publishing
286 Pages
$29.80; $15.95 Amazon
May 14, 2019
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Paramedic Zoe Chambers hoped a week at the Monongahela County Fair, showing her horse and manning the ambulance, would provide a much-needed diversion from recent events that continue to haunt her. An old friend, a bossy nemesis, and a teenage crush from her 4-H days fail to offer the distraction she had in mind. But ever the caregiver, she soon bonds with a troubled teen and a grieving father.
Back in Vance Township, a missing woman turns up dead, leading Police Chief Pete Adams into a journey through her mysterious final hours. With each new clue, the tragic circumstances of her death grow increasingly muddied.
A cryptic phone call leads Pete to join Zoe for an evening at the fairgrounds where the annual school bus demolition derby concludes with a gruesome discovery and a new case that may or may not be connected to the first. Pete's quest for the motive behind two homicides -- and Zoe's stubborn determination to reunite a family - thrust them both onto a collision course with a violent and desperate felon.
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Zoe Chambers is a paramedic in rural Pennsylvania. She owns a farm that needs work before she can move in, but it is where she houses her beloved horse Windstar. Her cousin Patsy is showing her own horse Jazzel at the county fair, and has convinced Zoe to do the same. Because of this, Zoe has volunteered to work her shift at the fair, which will allow her to do both.
Zoe is also an ex-4H member who learned under Diane Reynolds, who is still teaching and at the fair. She's also surprised to find out that her ex-crush Cody DeRosa is the judge, and quite a hit with the ladies. Add to that an old nemesis in Merryn Schultz, a woman who's been in and out of jail and whose teenaged son is at the fair hanging out with her partner Earl's boys, much to the dismay of his mother. You would think this would be enough to keep Zoe busy, between her horse and work, but more awaits her...
Meanwhile, Pete Adams, Zoe's boyfriend and Vance County sheriff, has received a visit from a businessman informing him of an argument at a local hotel where two men were talking and one threatened to kill someone. Pete, of course, is going to investigate and see if there's anything to the threat, but doesn't expect much will come of it. Then he receives a phone call from a local waitress of an abandoned car. When he investigates that, he discovers the body of a woman in the brambles of wild roses. It doesn't take long to find out she's Vera Palmer, and her husband Jack is at the fair.
When Pete locates her husband through Zoe, he's devastated by the news. Jack had recently helped Zoe corral a young girl's runaway pony. Zoe, also a deputy coroner, wants to attend the autopsy to find how Vera died. For all intents and purposes, it appears she was struck on the back of the head and fell into the brambles. But who would want to kill this woman, who apparently had no enemies? From everything Pete has learned, she wasn't much of a drinker, and everyone liked her. Yet there's a body in the morgue that states at least one person wasn't happy with her...
Zoe's also had an offer that could change her life forever - and Pete's, too; and Pete has a decision of his own to make that will change their lives regardless of the outcome. With both of them wrestling with their personal dilemmas, it only adds to the chaos going on around them, including another relative of Zoe's, who surprised her by showing up and telling her she was getting married.
When there's another murder at the fairgrounds and Zoe discovers it to be someone she knew long ago, she can't imagine anyone wanting him dead, either. But it soon becomes more of a puzzle than she thought when both she and Pete start coming to the conclusion that the two deaths might be related. Their personal lives are on hold while they try to find out the truth and discover why two people have died who didn't seem to have any enemies at all...
I loved this book. The story line was intriguing, and there were plenty of subplots that wove themselves in with all the threads beginning separately and twisting together slowly. Starting with the beginning thread - a man reporting a possible murder - it began a chain of events that deliberately initiated this thread and made for a riveting tale that keeps one engrossed in the tale.
Zoe's wrestling with the decisions she needs to make in her life coincide with the decision that Pete needs to make in his. While Pete's is almost immediate in the story, it takes some time before we get to Zoe's. But we find that both of them are wondering about the path their lives will take if changes are made; and we also see that both of them - without actually speaking to each other about it - are committed to the fact that whatever decisions are made, they aren't willing to do so without considering the other person. It's done so well that you would think the author was actually on speaking terms with both Pete and Zoe (which, of course, Ms. Dashofy is indeed); and it attests to the fact that she knows her characters well and their actions and reactions to any situation.
The same can be said about these characters regarding the deaths of two people; Zoe and Pete have very different reactions but it all winds up in the same place. Yet Zoe has more on her plate by far, and she's trying very hard to do the right thing while questioning her own judgment. It's a dark place she's in, and not one in which I would want to find myself.
I love Zoe and Pete, and even Wayne. You can easily tell that he value's Pete's friendship and his input. Zoe and Pete are intelligent, caring; while Pete can keep his personal life out of his professional one, Zoe differs in that she allows her emotions to enter into her actions. Never does it infringe on her professional status as a paramedic/coroner, but it attests to the fact that because chosen a career in which she helps others that she is also willing to help others in her daily life. It makes for two very dynamic people who are very different externally and internally.
The story was taut and written well; the mystery itself was quite different and believable; while there were a few red herrings strewn about, the ending came as quite a surprise and was both sad and bittersweet, making one wish the outcome could have been different while understanding just the same. Yet there was still another surprise to come that gives us something to look forward to in the next in the series. Highly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Fair-Game-Zoe-Chambers-Mystery/dp/1635114993/ref=
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2779529384
More on Annette Dashofy's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/annette-dashofy/
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