Reflections - Til Death

I read Til Death in less than a week and a half. The tenth mystery is a page turner. Annette ratcheted up tension and piled on complications throughout. I spotted her red herrings but didn’t figure which was hiding in plain sight until Zoe was poisoned.

Character conflicts permeate the mystery.

Franklin’s bitchy estranged wife annoys everyone but turns cooperative when she discovers Franklin was murdered. She gives Pete the clue that solves the mystery.

Charles Davis, the obnoxious political opponent who lost to Franklin, offers to work under Zoe because she hasn’t finished the training. Zoe accepts. She needs help. But was this a mistake? 

The solution to the problem of who will walk Zoe down the aisle—which Annette admitted to me she didn’t know when she started the novel—was most satisfying. Zoe’s estranged step-father Tom, who wouldn’t talk to Zoe because she falsely thought he murdered someone; Pete’s father Harry, who has Alzheimer's and could be too confused to manage the role; and Zoe’s half-brother Scott, who said he wouldn’t attend the wedding because Pete is trying to convict Scott’s son, were her choices. She decides to walk down the aisle alone. But on her wedding day, all three offer their hands and walk her down the aisle together. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I read. 

As if I needed more romance, Annette pleased me by ending the mystery and the series with Zoe and Pete exchanging vows they’d composed. In the emotion of the ceremony, Zoe forgets hers part way through. Pete whispers, “Just talk to me.” (page 260) 

She does.

Annette tied up loose ends but left plenty of character conflicts in case editors request “A Zoe Chambers Mystery #11.”