GUEST POST BY ANNETTE DASHOFY

ABOUT THE BOOK

Paramedic Zoe Chambers and the rest of rural Monongahela County’s EMS and fire personnel are used to wading into the middle of trouble to rescue the sick and the injured. But when someone with an ax to grind seeks retribution by staging accident scenes and gunning down the first responders, Zoe finds herself forced to not only treat her own brethren of the front lines, but also, in her role as deputy coroner, seek out whoever is killing her friends.

At the same time, Vance Township Police Chief Pete Adams races to track down a gun, a mysterious all-terrain vehicle, and the sniper before Zoe goes back on duty, placing herself—and Pete—firmly in the gunman’s crosshairs.

Related subjects include: cozy mysteries, women sleuths, murder mystery series, whodunit mysteries (whodunnit), book club recommendations, audio books for download, police procedurals series, amateur sleuth books.

Books in the Zoe Chambers Mystery Series:
• Circle Of Influence (#1)

• Lost Legacy (#2)

• Bridges Burned
(#3)

• With A Vengeance (#4)

GUEST POST BY ANNETTE DASHOFY

A Little Murder, A Little Romance

I once tried my hand at writing romantic suspense. That pitiful effort is filed away on a CD somewhere, never to see the light of day again. It soon became apparent to me that I don’t “do” romance. I kill people. It’s so much more fun!

Except . . . I guess I do do romance.

When I started writing the Zoe Chambers mystery series, I had Zoe and Chief of Police Pete Adams set up to be friends. Both sucked at relationships, so I imagined them as being attracted to one another, but determined to remain just friends. Romantic tension. Nothing more.

Then The Kiss happened. It was one of those scenes that took me by surprise as I wrote it. Wow. I didn’t see that coming. Neither did some of my beta readers of an early draft. Too out-of-the-blue, they said. So I went back and added a few hints that these two liked each other. Still, they resisted the idea of being a couple. I write murder mysteries, not romance. Right?

In the second book, I introduced Harry Adams, Pete’s father who suffers early stage Alzheimer’s. The disease frequently leaves him at a loss to come up with someone’s name, and he’s lost his ability to edit his thoughts before speaking, but not to see some things darned clearly. He’s the one who asks Pete “When are you gonna marry that girl?”

But I think the moment I realized just how much readers were vested in Pete and Zoe as a couple came when I attended an event for another author. The bookstore owner pointed me out in the crowd prior to the author’s arrival. At that point, a bearded gentleman wearing camo and a ball cap covered in fishing lures trudged up to me and gruffly demanded to know, “When are Pete and Zoe gonna get together?”

First off, this guy was not whom I pictured as my target audience. Secondly, if he was hooked by Pete and Zoe’s romance-that-wasn’t-a-romance, what were my female readers thinking?

The third book in the series, Agatha nominated Bridges Burned, Zoe’s eye wanders just a bit. She finds herself attracted to another man, but doesn’t act on it. I got my most scathing review ever. Reading between the lines, I finally figured out, this reviewer was mad at Zoe for her treatment of Pete in the book!

Wow.

I told you, I write murder mysteries. Not romance.

Anyhow, in With a Vengeance, there are no outside attractions, and Pete and Zoe are on stronger footing as a couple, deeply concerned about the danger they each face with a sniper who’s killing emergency responders in Vance Township. And they end up in a very interesting place.

You’ll have to read the book to find out where.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Annette Dashofy is the USA Today best-selling author of the Zoe Chambers mystery series about a paramedic and deputy coroner in rural Pennsylvania’s tight-knit Vance Township. Circle Of Influence, published by Henery Press, was a finalist for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel and for the David Award for Best Mystery of 2014. Lost Legacy, was released in September 2014 followed in April 2015 by Bridges Burned, which has been nominated for the Agatha for Best Contemporary Novel. With A Vengeance, the fourth in the series, will be available May 3.

Connect with Annette:
Website  |  blog  |   Facebook  |  Twitter 

Buy the book:
Amazon   |   Henery Press

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