Review of Lost Legacy

Synopsis:

On a sultry summer afternoon, Paramedic Zoe Chambers responds to a call and finds a farmer’s body hanging from the rafters of his hay barn. What first appears to be a suicide quickly becomes something sinister when Zoe links the victim to a pair of deaths forty-five years earlier. Her attempts to wheedle information from her mother and stepfather hit a brick wall of deception, one that brings into question everything Zoe knows about her late father, who died in a car crash when she was eight. Or did he?

Police Chief Pete Adams fears Zoe’s inquiries are setting her up for deeper heartbreak and putting her in danger. As Zoe and Pete inch closer to the truth, they discover that a missing gun links the crimes which span more than four decades. But the killer isn’t done. Two more Vance Township residents fall victim to the same gun, and when tragedy strikes too close to home, Zoe realizes her family is in the crosshairs. (Goodreads)

Review:

Lost Legacy by Annette Dashofy is such a great read. There is a little bit of everything here, friendship, mystery, romance and compassion.

Zoe Chambers is a paramedic who is called to a barn for an apparent suicide. The same barn where her great uncles died forty five years ago. The uncles deaths were ruled a homicide/suicide from a dispute over a woman. Zoe finds it too much of a coincidence that two hangings happened in the same barn. She is determined to get to the bottom of both hangings. And when a letter is found in the dead man’s house stating that Zoe’s father was not killed in a car crash many years ago, as she was lead to believe, Zoe has hope that maybe her father is still alive. She needs to find out the truth about her dad.

Pete Adams is the Police Chief in Vance Township. He also finds the two hangings to be very suspicious and knows he has to try to figure out what happened, both in the past and the present. When more residents turn up dead or injured, both Pete and Zoe have their hands full.

Not only is Pete dealing with the murders, he also is dealing with a foot injury. He cannot investigate like he wants to because of his injury. And to top all that off, Pete’s father, Harry, has been dropped of by Pete’s sister for an extended stay. Harry suffers from Alzheimer’s and his sister needed a break from caring for Harry. So Pete has an injured foot, a escape artist dad and homicides to deal with. Oh, and did I mention, Pete has feelings for Zoe? Pete and Zoe are caught in the “friend zone” and Pete does not know how to move the relationship forward.

The mysteries in this book are carried on throughout the book, and by the end of the book, there are a handful of mysteries to solve. There are many twists and turns and just when I thought I had it figured out, something happened that shot down my guess. From the very beginning with the dead body hanging in the barn until the very last pages, the action and suspense kept building.

But as good as the mystery and suspense are, the thing I like the best about the book are the characters and their relationships. All the characters are well developed, well round and three dimensional. I found myself really liking the characters and caring about what happened to them. Harry was one of my favorite and the portrayal of Alzheimer’s was very realistic. Most of the characters are very likable, but there is a villain amongst the characters. And I’m not talking about the murderer but about Zoe’s mother. She is a character that is very easy to hate and I wanted her to get what was coming to her.

I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who enjoys a well written mystery. The characters and the mysteries are so well blended that I just found myself turning page after page and forgetting about what was going on in reality. That is what a good author is able to do and Annette Dashofy sure did it for me. I now have to get book one in the series so I can continue to get to know Zoe and Pete even better. I sure hope there is going to be a book three to read in the near future.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. I would like to thank NetGalley and Henery Press Publishers for the opportunity to read such a fantastic book.