Book Review: Til Death by Annette Dashofy (Zoe Chambers #10)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters, strong story

Cons: None

The Bottom Line:

Two weeks til wedding

But mysteries abound first

Fans must attend book

Will Death Keep Zoe and Pete from Walking Down the Aisle?

I’d started reading Annette Dashofy’s books by the time Til Death, the tenth in her Zoe Chambers series, came out. But I was multiple books behind and knew I wouldn’t get to it for a while. Well, the day has come, I was finally ready for it, and it was worth the wait. 

Zoe and her fiancé, police chief Pete Adam’s, are finally getting married. Their Valentine’s Day wedding is two weeks out. Naturally, that means they have lots of last-minute details to take care of. But their jobs also aren’t slowing down. 

For Pete, that means one of his early murder convictions has come back into his life. Dustin Landis was convicted of killing his wife, but, after nine years, a judge has over turned the conviction. The DA plans to retry him, so Pete is going back over all the details, trying to make sure the man is convicted again. After all, he is guilty, right?

Meanwhile, Zoe has left behind her job as a paramedic and is working full time as the chief deputy coroner for the county. A casual friend from high school has just died, and the autopsy hasn’t revealed a cause of death. In fact, it’s a complete mystery. As she begins to investigate, someone else dies. Can she figure out what is going on?

When author Annette Dashofy was writing this book, she thought this might be the final book in the series. As such, there are lots of references to earlier books and she works hard to wrap up various storylines that have been weaving through the books. As a result, I don’t recommend you start here. While there is a spoiler for the previous book (there pretty much had to be), that’s about the only book that is outright spoiled. But you won’t fully appreciate what is happening here if you don’t have the background. 

But if you already know and love Zoe and Pete, you’ll love every page of this book. It is wonderful to see so many things from the series be woven effortlessly into this book. The growth we see in some of the regulars is great as well. And I may have cried happy tears during the last chapter. In the break room at work. 

There is a lot going on in this book, which again, isn’t a surprise to anyone who has read the series before. The result was a book I never wanted to set down. There was always something happening on some storyline. And don’t worry, the mysteries stay front and center. The climax made perfect sense when I got there. 

Given the main characters, I’m sure it’s no surprise that these go a little further than the cozies I often read. There’s just a smattering of foul language, and the violence is kept tasteful given who the characters are and the fact that this is a murder mystery. This is more a disclaimer than anything else. 

I know I’ve talked about how this book feels like it is wrapping things up. Yes, the series does have another three books in it to date. I can see a couple of threads that were planted “just in case.” I’m looking forward to seeing what comes of them in the next book. 

Fans who have yet picked up Til Death are in for a treat. And if you haven’t started this excellent series yet, you really should do so today. 

Be sure to check out the rest of the Zoe Chambers Mysteries.