Book Review: Cry Wolf by Annette Dashofy (Zoe Chambers Mysteries #7)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters and plot

Cons: Pete still bothers me some

The Bottom Line:

Facility death

Are more people in danger

Excellent story

It’s Not Crying Wolf to Say This is a Great Book

I had hoped to get back to Annette Dashofy’s Zoe Chambers Mysteries earlier in the year.  But too many books, not enough time.  I was finally able to sneak Cry Wolf, the seventh in the series, into my reading schedule for this month, and I’m so glad I did.

Zoe Chambers is a paramedic and deputy coroner with a rural county in Pennsylvania.  Her boyfriend, Pete Adams, is the local police chief.  Between the two of them, they manage to find some interesting cases to investigate and they make a great team at figuring out exactly what was going on.  The books are a little darker than my typical cozies, but they rarely get too dark.  Likewise, these are more PG-13 than my typical cozies.  As long as you know that going in, you’ll be fine.

Those who have read up to this point in the series will have already met Pete’s father.  Unfortunately, he is suffering from Alzheimer’s, and has good days and bad days.  He is insisting that something strange is happening at the care facility where he lives since people die there on a regular basis.  Pete has investigated a little in the past but found nothing out of the ordinary.

On this particular visit, Pete and Zoe meet a new resident at the care facility – Pete’s first training officer John Kinney.  Pete figures that asking John to keep his eyes open around the facility will be a great way to help ease his father’s mind.  That is until John dies just a few hours later.  It isn’t long before it is determined to be murder.  Was Pete’s father right?  Or was John a target for some reason?

This book jumps right into the story and doesn’t let up until we reach the end, which isn’t a surprise to any of the author’s fans.  There are a couple of interesting subplots as well, which helped keep me engrossed in the story.  At the end, I was in awe over how everything was woven together for a logical outcome.

I continue to like Zoe and Pete.  They are strong main characters.  We split time between them as our third person viewpoint characters.  While I really do like both of them, I am still bothered a bit by how Pete reacts to things.  He is a bit too protective of Zoe.  And they are both stubborn.  While I like both of them, I do hope some things mature in their relationship soon.

We don’t see too much of most of the other series regulars in this one.  A few do pop up, but more in cameo positions.  The ones we see more play key parts in the story, so this isn’t a complaint.  And the new characters are strong enough to more than make up for it.

Needless to say, Cry Wolf was another outstanding book in the series.  I’m already hoping I can make the time to visit Zoe again soon.

Check out the rest of the Zoe Chambers Mysteries.