Great idea and concept for a book. A thoroughly enjoyable read. Highly recommended. .

I started this series recently and each book has been tightly plotted and moved at a good pace. This book kept me in suspense from the beginning. Some is shooting at first responders and Zoe and Pete are both on edge. Pete doesn't have any suspects in the beginning or many leads, but everyone is on alert and waiting for what will happen next. Also, Rose and her family have returned and Zoe is staying with them, now that she is homeless. There was a lot of action in this book and there were a lot of red herrings. I was surprised at the motive and who the shooter was. This was a great story.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is the first book in the Zoe Chambers Mystery series and I am definitely going back to read the first three. This can be read as a stand alone, as I had no problem following the story, but previous situations were mentioned that I was not sure about.

Zoe Chambers is a paramedic who has some training with guns and police procedures as well as being the Deputy Coroner. She is dating Police Chief Pete Adams in rural Monongahela County. When emergency personnel are being set up and shot at, the police investigate and accompany the EMS persons on suspicious calls. Zoe works with Pete to question and investigate as one of her colleagues has been killed by this madman. Looking for an ATV that fits the tire tracks found, someone who is a sharpshooter and has a specific kind of rifle is harder than you would think when everyone in the area has an ATV, a rifle for hunting and are all pretty good shots. There are many, many, suspects.

This is not a typical cozy mystery. It has many cozy elements, but the main one missing is that this is not an amateur sleuth investigating and solving the crime. This protagonist, Zoe, is smart, is a survivor and is a trusted colleague to all. This book was hard to put down. The story flowed smoothly with just the right amount of clues and red herrings spread throughout. This plot was very realistic and I was drawn in quickly. I felt nervous and scared for the characters as the story progressed, worried whether they would be shot at. I had not idea who the actual culprit was, but when it was revealed, it all made sense. I recommend this one to mystery lovers as well as cozy mystery lovers.

When I first requested Vengeance from Netgalley (in exchange for my honest review) I was expecting more of a cozy read based on the cover. Despite the lack of sex, descriptive imagery of the violence and gore and vulgar language, I would say this series falls into the true mystery category based on the developed, action packed plot lines and how we get to see what/how our amateur sleuth (Zoe) and the police are investigating. So many of the cozies I've been reading barely even have the police showing up.

Vengeance deals with the sniper shooting of first responders and I really liked how Home was completely different dealing with both drugs and a murder due fracking/big money. The author really provided decent, full, detailed plots in both books. More in Vengeance than Home, previous events were just briefly mentioned and didn't impact my reading being new to the series. It was easy to jump in here.

I'm definitely looking forward to reading the first three books and the 6th when available.