Cry Wolf - Annette Dashofy, Curses Boiled Again - Shari Randall

Well....we had to cancel our Mystery Book Club for this month. Such a drag. We were going to talk about Award Winning Books given this year. And we were going to have snacks. Always so much fun to hear what everyone read and munch.

But we will pick up where we left off in July and talk about the Award Winning Books we read in addition to our July selection. I will give you that list, in July.

Meanwhile, I did read two books for the meeting; one that won an award and one nominated for an award.

Cry Wolf by Annette Dashofy was nominated this year for an Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel. 

Cry Wolf is the seventh book in the Zoe Chambers Mysteries series.

About: "Rural Pennsylvania’s Vance Township Police Chief Pete Adams is down an officer and has been dealing with extra shifts as well as a pair of bickering neighbors, one of whom owns a machete and isn’t afraid to use it.

Golden Oaks Assisted Living is outside Pete’s jurisdiction, but a murder in the facility his Alzheimer’s-afflicted father calls home makes the case personal.

Paramedic and Deputy Coroner Zoe Chambers has been itching for an opportunity to take the lead in a death investigation. She gets her chance when her boss is hospitalized and not only assigns her to the Golden Oaks homicide but puts her in charge of the county coroner’s office.

As if she doesn’t have enough to handle, a long-lost, over-protective, older half-brother walks into her life threatening to drive a wedge between her and the man she loves.

A second dead body leads them to realize the case may have dark ties to a distant past…and if Zoe doesn’t untangle the web of lies, Pete will be the one to pay the ultimate price."

A really good book, I was able to pick up the story of Zoe without having read the other books. I liked the setting; rural small town, Zoe has horses, the characters are interesting and you can empathize with them. Zoe and Pete are an item. The mystery of the murders in engrossing. While Zoe investigates the murder, she also has to take care of her horses. She is trying to fix up the farm she now has, but is lacking funds and time. She wants she and Pete can move out there permanently. But Pete is a city boy. He isn't too sure about that. Luckily her newly found half brother is helping fix things up and footing the bill. Hmmm. 

As all good amateur sleuths, getting too involved, Zoe really gets in the middle of things. A very exciting ending and a really good cliff hanger. I kept flipping the page or rather swiping the screen not believing that was the end. On to the next book in the series...Fair Game.

Curses Boiled Again by Shari Randall won an Agatha for New Best Novel. 

About: "Welcome to the seaside hamlet of Mystic Bay, where the fish is always fresh, the folks are ever-friendly, and murder is on a roll. . .

Allie Larkin was living her dream as a ballet dancer when a bad fall put her out of business. Now she’s back home in Mystic Bay to heal a broken ankle while also helping her dear Aunt Gully get her Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack off the ground. Nothing would help Gully more than winning the local food festival’s Best Lobster Roll contest. The competition is sure to be killer―especially after one of the contest judges dies after eating a roll from one of Gully’s biggest rivals.

Soon, all eyes fall on Gully as the prime suspect. Allie may only have one good leg to stand on, but she’s not going to let her aunt go down for a crime she never could have cooked up. Can Allie, along with her devoted crew of friends, family, and customers, find a way to trap the killer and claw herself out of this hard-boiled murder case?" 

I really enjoyed this book. It is engaging from the beginning. The setting is new and different. As a person who likes to watch food contests on t.v., I thought this was a great scenario - a lobster roll contest where several contestants are poisoned. In addition to the who did the poisoning, there are some side mysteries; what is going on with Megan (a contestant along with her husband) and another man, Chick. What is the story behind Juliet and Contessa, the aging sisters who live in the big house in town. Contessa was movie star in her youth, and Juliet is "crazy". Part Murder She Wrote with a twist of Baby Jane, there is a really good twist at the end. And you will really start craving Lobster Rolls or Chowder. Neither of which I have ever had. But they sound delicious.

I did win my copy of Curses Boiled Again and voluntarily provided this review. I want to read the next two in the series too.