An Interview
with Annette Dashofy by E. B. Davis
From behind the barn, Duchess the
Digger had moved to the door
and started pawing at it with a
demanding thud thud thud.
“Quit!” Zoe yelled in her deep
I-mean-business voice.
Wayne snapped to attention. “Yes,
ma’am.”
She shot a look at him. “Don’t mess
with me, Detective.
I can kick a thousand-pound horse’s
ass.”
Annette Dashofy, Cry Wolf, Kindle Loc. 1637
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.
One of the hallmarks
of Annette Dashofy’s Zoe Chambers mystery series is the unexpected depth of
emotion it evokes in the reader. As an EMT, Zoe experiences many extreme
situations, but it isn’t on the job where Zoe has to deal with emotional
zingers. She’s a professional and keeps her temperament on the job. It’s her
personal life that has required her to build layers of thick skin. As a reader
who “knew” Zoe and experienced the ups and downs in her life, this book
surprised me—Zoe surprised me.
For those of you who have read the series, Cry Wolf continues the suspense and
extends the emotional smacks Zoe must endure. But for those of you who are new
to the series, please start with Circle
Of Influence, the first book. You’re in for a wild ride, and I’m envious.
I’d like nothing better than to read the series afresh and savor those books
back-to-back.
Near the inception of this blog, about eight years ago, I
asked Annette to blog for WWK. She resisted, saying her fiction writing came
first. That was four years before her first book came out. I think she made the
right decision then, but I’m happy she finally decided to blog with us.
Welcome home, Annette. E. B. Davis
Thanks, E.B.! I’m happy to be
here!
In the beginning of the first chapter, you brought up an
issue that has no resolve in the legal world. No one can be arrested for
attempted murder of an animal. Even with PETA and the known predictors of
animal cruelty, most offenses are still treated as misdemeanors. Would the animal’s
owner at least have legal recourse in the civil courts?
First, let me clarify that NO
ANIMALS, even fictional ones, were harmed in this book! To answer the question,
I’m not a lawyer, although I did read up on the charges Pete mentions later in
the story, but I doubt any of the charges would stick. I do believe a good
lawyer could make a case to get the farmer’s vet bills reimbursed. I’d love to
have seen the Professor being hauled before a judge. It might be the only way
to knock some sense into his head.
That situation defined differences in Zoe and Pete’s
approach to problems. Was it a “right or wrong” situation? A difference due to
a female vs. male approach? Or was it in the legalities?
All of the above? Zoe, as
always, reacts from her heart and is far more farm-savvy than Pete, who grew up
in the city. Plus, as a cop, he has to look at the situation from a law
enforcement perspective. He doesn’t have the liberty to play judge and jury at
a crime scene.
Before Zoe’s mother
gave Zoe the family farm, which requires tons of money to rebuild, Zoe wasn’t enamored of her part-time job as a deputy coroner, but now she needs the money.
The coroner, Franklin Marshall, is being opposed in the upcoming election. His
opponent is a forensic pathologist. What’s the difference between the coroner
system and the Medical Examiner system?
The coroner system is much
older than the ME system, and many counties here in Pennsylvania (including my
own) still use it. Laws vary state to state, but here, the coroner is an
elected position. They don’t have to have a medical background, although there
are educational requirements once they’re in office. And pathologists are
called in to do the actual autopsies. A Medical Examiner is generally a medical
doctor and often a forensic pathologist and is hired, not elected. It’s my
experience that an ME will swear their system is the best while a coroner will
insist theirs is. I think the biggest issue of one versus the other is
resources. Most rural counties don’t have the need or finances to pay for a
full-time forensic pathologist.
I was surprised that the coroner’s position was an elected
one. How do people evaluate the merits of coroners to elect?
The same as any elected
position, I suppose. Our own county coroner (a funeral home director by trade)
has held office for a very long time. The coroner has to answer to his
constituents. If he’s deemed to be doing a poor job, we can vote him out when
his term is up.
Why does Zoe have Franklin’s ring tone set to The Who’s “Who
Are You” song? What’s the significance?
It’s a bit of an “Easter
Egg.” The joke is that Zoe originally wanted to become a coroner because she
was a fan of the TV show CSI, and quickly learned the reality was nothing like
the Hollywood version. “Who Are You” is the theme song for CSI so that’s what
she has set for the coroner’s ringtone.
When Franklin is hospitalized with dangerous health issues
related to diabetes, he asks Zoe to take over his office, but he’s extremely
critical of Zoe’s performance. Is he territorial and particular about his job
or do health issues poison his evaluative gauge and temperament?
Franklin is fastidious about
the way his office is run. He’s always secretly believed that Zoe would be a
good person to take over as coroner if she applied herself, which is why he
tends to be hard on her.
When Franklin tells Zoe she must have missed something, she
takes it to heart. Words linger and resound with people. Why do we always hear
the negative more than the positive?
I wish I knew! Zoe’s a good
paramedic but this deputy coroner thing, especially being forced to be in
charge, has her insecurities showing. I’m the same way. Self-doubt is nasty!
John Kinney, Pete’s Field Training Officer (FTO), resides at
Golden Oaks, the same facility where Pete’s dad, Harry, lives. When he is
murdered, there’s a long line of suspects because of his personality, his relationships,
and that, as a cop, he arrested his share of lawbreakers. As a reader, I hoped
many of the suspects were innocent. Why?
I’m a big believer in making
all my characters 3-dimensional. The good guys have a little bad in them, and
the bad guys have some good in them. I try to understand motivations and explore
how bad things can happen to good people and drive them to do things they
otherwise wouldn’t do. Within the series, I’ve had sympathetic killers as well
as some downright vicious ones. Also, one of the themes I wanted to delve into
with this particular story is the idea of consequences of our actions and how
one past action or reaction can follow us for decades and impact those around
us. So, I’m not at all unhappy to hear you felt sympathy for some of the
suspects!
Zoe’s dad died when she was eight. What did he die of?
He died in a car crash. If
you want to know more than that, you’ll have to read Lost Legacy, the second in the series.
When Jason Cox contacts Zoe saying she’s his half-sister,
she’s skeptical. But after meeting him, she a believer. What changed her mind?
As you mentioned, she lost
her dad when she was eight, and she’s never been close to her mother. She’s
always had a big empty space in her heart. Meeting Jason was like finding a
missing part of herself. Zoe’s had to take care of herself since she was a
teen. Suddenly, she has an older brother who wants to protect her and help her
out. It’s heady stuff!
Seth Metzger, the officer who saved Zoe’s life in Uneasy Prey, is having trouble coming
back to the job since he shot and killed a killer. I’m sure you researched this
phenomenon. What are the issues police face after killing?
We’re getting back to the
self-doubt issue again. Police officers are human and handle stressful
situations differently. Training helps. But there’s a reason they’re required
to see a therapist after a shooting. In Seth’s case, he has the added doubt of
wondering whether the person he shot was really a danger to others. No one will
ever really know, because the person in question is dead. And these things
happen so quickly, as a cop, the decision to use deadly force has to be made in
a split second. Poor Seth is left to wonder if he’ll be able to react if faced
with something like that again. (Let’s face it, he’s a character in my books,
so odds are good that he will!)
Wayne Baronick is in charge of Kinney’s murder investigation
since it happened in his jurisdiction. Wayne and Pete often spar in cases. Wayne
asks Pete to look at his sister’s resume because he’s down personnel with Seth’s
continued absence. Pete hires Baronick’s sister, Abby. Will this change Pete
and Wayne’s relationship?
No. Their relationship has
evolved through the series from antagonistic to respectful, although they still
take pleasure in annoying the heck out of each other. Abby won’t change that.
In tracking Kinney’s killer, Zoe and Wayne review the video
of Golden Oaks cameras, which are positioned in various public locations at the
facility. Zoe doesn’t realize how much she uses her arms and hands when
talking. Have you ever viewed video of yourself? Any surprises?
Video. Still pictures. Audio.
Yeah. I don’t sound like I think I should, and I make a lot of “weird” facial
expressions when I talk. At least that’s how it seems to me.
Why do city and country cops have differences in how they
investigate?
The easy answer is money. Big
city departments have bigger budgets, better toys (equipment), more man power.
Smaller departments often have to improvise or call in help from other
jurisdictions. Plus, the crimes are different in rural areas. No less deadly.
But different.
Your present case rests upon a previous case. How do you
create a past case of such devastation to all involved?
As I mentioned earlier, the
theme I wanted to explore here was consequences of past actions and how they
can haunt those affected for decades. And also how our actions can alter lives
in ways we never know. It’s thought-provoking stuff.
Do cops have the legal and technological ability to ping
anyone’s phone to find out its location?
Yes and no. This was one of
those situations where I took a bit of creative license for the sake of keeping
the story moving. YES, the technology is available, usually through the cell
phone service providers. Legally, a warrant would be a good idea.
Realistically, they could get close but probably not to the specific location
as I had them able to do. I figured my readers didn’t want to sit and wait for
the warrant and the footwork involved, so I fudged a little. Sorry.
Why does Zoe keep information from Pete, especially personal
information?
Pete would like to know the
answer to this one too! I think Zoe always intends on telling Pete stuff eventually,
but she’s been on her own for so long, she’s used to taking care of herself and
wants to deal with her problems and conflicts on her own. Plus, she knows he’s
a cop and doesn’t really want to have the man she loves arrest her when she
pulls some stupid (and possibly illegal) stunt.
What’s next for Zoe and Pete?
I’m wrapping up the 8th
in the series, tentatively titled FAIR GAME, which is due to my editor in
October. It’s a bit of a nod to my old 4H friends and takes place at the county
fair. Let me just say murder at the school bus demolition derby and leave it at
that for now!
