An Interview with Annette Dashofy by E.B. Davis

When a local Erie vet is shot during a robbery, Erie City Police Detective Matthias Honeywell and his partner Cassie Malone are tasked with pursuing the perpetrators. But as they close in on the truth, a mysterious sniper targets those involved in the case.

Emma Anderson has seen more than her share of cases since becoming a journalist in Lake Erie, and with news of the shooting becoming local interest, her instincts kick in. What she didn’t expect to uncover was a secret that could cause an ethical dilemma between Matthias and Cassie.

As the search for the sniper continues and the investigation taking a dark turn, Cassie and Emma find themselves caught up in a kidnapping plot. As the women are forced to draw on their resourcefulness to survive, will they manage to escape or is time against them?

Amazon.com

What’s the sign of a great series? Wondering what happens next to the characters after you turn the last page. In No Stone Left Unturned, Annette Dashofy writes suspense in every page. Luckily for us, the book is now on Kindle Unlimited.

 

In the first three books in the Detective Matthias Honeywell mystery series, I’ve grown to love Honeywell’s partner, Cassie Malone, who is his senior, a black, female grandmother, which may make her one of the deadliest creatures on earth. Unfortunately, in No Stone Left Unturned, her family becomes the main focus when her veterinarian husband is shot in the chest for no apparent reason. It’s up to Matthias and Emma to solve the mystery as Cassie is sidelined from participating in the case.

 

Do yourselves a favor and download this book. It’s suspense at its finest. You care about the characters, who find themselves in a downhill avalanche trying to stay alive.

                                                                                                                                         E. B. Davis

 

Aw, thanks, E.B!

 

I forget. How did Matthias get from Oklahoma, where he was raised, to Erie?

 

When he was a young cop, he fell in love with a woman from Erie and followed her there when she moved home. However, when he proposed marriage, she turned him down and married an attorney instead. She and her new husband returned to Oklahoma. A heartbroken Matthias stayed in Erie and has been there ever since.

 

Emma is at the crime scene outside of Shawn’s veterinary clinic after the police have been notified. As a newbie photojournalist, why is she uncomfortable in her job?

 

Emma never wanted a career in photojournalism because she feels it’s intrusive, taking pictures of people on their worst days. However, she has this “fantasy” of being at crime scenes, working with Matthias. I put that in quotes because she realizes it isn’t going to happen. If anything, it puts them at odds.

 

Shawn and Cassie are fiercely loyal to Shawn’s employees, as they are to him. How does Cassie react when he questions her about them?

 

Cassie’s defensive because Shawn trusts his employees like family. On the other hand, as a cop, she knows Matthias is only doing his job, and his questions raise concerns of her own.

Shawn Malone, Cassie’s husband, is known for his kindness, especially when it comes to treating pets who have low-income owners. Because of this policy, when his office manager, Bethany, accepts a last-minute appointment with a man who can’t afford his dog’s care, it’s treated as routine. But before the conclusion of the appointment, three masked men raid the office for drugs and cash, and then shoot Shawn in the chest. Why does Matthias suspect that Bethany may have been in on the attack on Shawn? 

Since the men gain access through a side door that’s locked to the outside, and since Bethany had just let the dog and its owner through those same doors, she’s immediately suspect. How else could those gunmen have gotten in unless she’d left the door unlocked for them?

 

Finding a motive for the shooting is the hardest part of the case. No one disliked Shawn. The detectives on the case, Matthias, and his underlings, Frazier and Roth, wonder if it is Cassie that the shooter was trying to hurt. Why do they eliminate that motive?

 

Cassie doesn’t recognize any of the gunmen, although since they’re masked, it’s difficult for her to be 100% certain. Once the police identify them, though, she’s positive she’s not encountered them in any of her past investigations. And the Erie police can’t find any connections to Cassie, either.

 

Why is Emma’s friend, Eric Baker, who lives in their hometown in Southwestern PA, so interested for Emma to sell the land that Emma and her younger sister, Nell, have inherited? Does he get a commission? Shouldn’t he know she can’t approve the sale without her sister’s consent?

 

There’s more going on there than meets the eye. Emma did leave the care of her property in Eric’s hands, so it’s logical that any offers would come through him, and he definitely knows that Nell’s consent is necessary to sell the land. As to why he’s being such a pain about it, you’ll have to wait for the next book!

 

Emma has to make a decision about her living arrangements. It’s August and the campground where she is living in a mobile home will close in October. What is she contemplating?

 

It’s not a mobile home; it’s a 17-foot camper with no insulation, so even if the campground stayed open, she couldn’t survive an Erie winter in her current residence. She doesn’t really have plans, although she needs to give serious thought to the situation. The idea that Matthias might invite her to move in with him is appealing, but she’s afraid too much togetherness might sink their fledgling relationship. A lot of Erie homeowners winter over in southern locales and rent out their northern homes for the season. That feels like a better option, but Emma doesn’t have the time or inclination to give it a lot of thought right now.

 

Because Matthias is busy trying to solve the case, he relies on Emma to give Cassie friendship and company while Shawn is in and out of the operating room. Emma is put into a dual role. She’s on the inside of a journalist’s story and yet, because the two couples socialize, she’s also a casual friend. How does Emma resolve the two?

 

Emma tries her best to avoid being put in the position of spy, but her loyalties are sorely tested! We are talking about Cassie Malone, after all, and Cassie is a force of nature, so when she demands details of the case, Emma can’t really say no. 

After Cassie talks to Shawn once he is stable, Shawn tells Cassie about the shooter. They conclude it was a racially motivated attack, but as it turns out, it was not. Is this an emotional response? Do people overcompensate by blaming what is convenient rather than looking at the facts?

It’s a logical assumption for them to reach, and it goes beyond emotions. They’ve experienced racism all their lives. It would be naïve to ignore the possibility in this case.

 

Among the things on Matthias’s mind while trying to solve the case is his relationship with Emma. He’s afraid she will leave Erie after her lease is up at the campground. What is the basis of his fear?

 

Matthias and Emma definitely have communication issues! From his perspective, he’s not had a lot of luck with women. He’s only been in love twice and both times, it ended badly. He built walls around his heart, and it’s been ages since he let someone get close. Now that he has feelings for Emma, he worries he’s going to lose her, too.

 

With one of the clinic’s suspected attackers found dead, they go after the second suspect who enters a warehouse area. While investigating, a sniper opens fire from an upper window. Unknowingly, Emma and her journalist partner enter the scene where Emma finds herself pinned down by the shots. Why doesn’t she dive for cover? Why does she hold the button on her camera down for automatic and continuous picture taking?

 

You get totally focused on that viewfinder and lose sense of what’s really going on. It happened to me. Well, not getting shot at, but I was photographing a wild coyote that was posing beautifully for me! I was so intent on getting the shot, I didn’t comprehend how close the coyote was getting until my husband shouted at me. I looked up from the viewfinder to realize it was very close! As for keeping the shutter depressed, when you’re dealing with action, you don’t try to compose the photo. You simply keep firing. If you’re lucky, when you go through a thousand images, you’ll find that one perfect shot.

When Emma allows Matthias to have a copy of her photos, she gets reprimanded by her boss at the online newspaper. Why? And what is Emma’s reaction?

The memory card Emma turned over to Matthias is property of ErieLIVE. The police may need those original source files when the case goes to trial, so they give her a copy to take back to the news outlet. But Emma’s boss sees it as a breach. Journalists don’t cater to the police, at least not without approval from management. Since Matthias saved her life, Emma doesn’t feel she could turn him down on the matter. It’s another case of Emma’s loyalties coming into question.

 

Why do guns and cameras have a lot of the same terminology?

 

I honestly don’t know. You aim both. You shoot pictures. Weapons obviously came first, but I’ve always found it interesting that photography stole so much of the terminology.

 

When investigating, secrets are revealed. But when the subjects of the case are friends, it is especially difficult to ask questions about them. Both Matthias and Emma dig up secrets of Shawn’s and those close to him. What is so hard about revealing the truth?

 

Some secrets are kept hidden to avoid re-opening old injuries. Haven’t we all made youthful indiscretions that we prefer stayed buried?

 

You chose to set your novel in the heat of August, which made for great January reading by your freezing audience. But as the motive turned out to be revenge, I question if you flaunt the quote about revenge being a dish served cold?

 

It wasn’t intentional. It takes the biggest part of a year to write a book, and I have no control over when it gets released. Believe me, having a mid-winter launch in snowy Pennsylvania would not have been my first choice!

 

Emma needs to go home and asks Matthias to accompany her. What’s next for them?

 

The fifth Honeywell mystery picks up right where this one leaves off, with Matthias and Emma headed back to her hometown to deal with Eric, Nell, and the land situation.  Watch for it in September!