Zoned for Murder:
Sound Shore Times Mystery (Volume 1)
Cozy Mystery
Trace Evidence Press (May 17, 2012)
Paperback: 232 pages
E-Book File Size: 335 KB
ISBN-13: 978-0615643854
Maggie Brooks is a former reporter for Newsweek whose life has been turned inside out. Her husband was killed by a hit and run driver a few months ago and she is still trying to come to grips with a life without him by her side. Two kids, a mortgage to pay, and unemployment at an all time high just as she tries to renter the workforce. Landing a job at the local paper does help with the bills but the work is almost mind numbing. Not much happens in this little town.
Things start to get interesting when a major developer wants to build an outlet mall in the neighboring town close to where the two burgs connect. People are in an uproar as the words eminent domain are tossed around and people are being pushed out of their homes to make way for the mall.
Dirty money and dirty politics drives someone to the brink. The construction has to be stopped no matter the price. Maggie journalist instincts kick in. This could be a scoop to rejuvenate her career. “When murder is added to the mix, she realizes that meeting her deadline might be the last thing she ever does.”
Dollycas’s Thoughts
I picked up this book because I needed a “Z” book for my A-Z Reading Challenge. It was icing on the cake that is a really great cozy mystery.
Maggie is a protagonist that is very easy to identify with and we get to know her very well in this first installment. I have to admit that when I read that her husband was dead the mystery reader in me thought it would be his murder that she would be solving. Maybe in a future edition we may find there was more to that story 🙂 Maggie’s reporter instincts ring true as does her life as a mom juggling various schedules.
The story is timely and very well written. It amazes me when 2 authors team up to write one story that the flow is so natural. A true credit to wonderful writers. The addition of emails and chats sent between friends was woven in nicely. The new technology of the day is working into novels more and more.
I now have another cozy author (duo) to be following. I will be loading up my Kindle!!
About Evelyn David
Evelyn David is the pseudonym for Marian Edelman Borden and Rhonda Dossett.
Marian lives in New York and is the author of eleven nonfiction books on a wide variety of topics ranging from veterans benefits to playgroups for toddlers! For more information on these books, please visit her web site at http://www.marianedelmanborden.com .
Rhonda lives in Muskogee, Oklahoma, is the director of the coal program for the state, and in her spare time enjoys imagining and writing funny, scary mysteries.
Marian and Rhonda write their mystery series via the internet. While many fans who attend mystery conventions have now chatted with both halves of Evelyn David, Marian and Rhonda have yet to meet in person. Please check out Evelyn’s website at http://www.evelyndavid.com
This book was from my personal library.
If I had not read Zero Mostel’s biography for my Z, I would have liked to use this one. It looks very interesting.