Sunday, March 25, 2018

ACCIDENTAL EYEWITNESS




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Accidental Eyewitness, Alice Zogg, Aventine Press, 2017, 219 pp
 
 
This is the latest mystery from my friend Alice Zogg, who has been writing and self-publishing her twelve books for over a decade. I have read them all and each one gets better. Alice is a self-taught writer though she is a member of Sisters in Crime and participates in their workshops. She is living proof that a person can learn to write by writing. See my interview with her.
 
The accidental eyewitness in her current book is a child. (Not a spoiler. It say so on the dust cover copy.) Evie and her mother are guests of her uncle, Kurt Nobel, on his own private island where he has built a mansion. Sound familiar? Well, he is a real estate tycoon in southern California.

The occasion is purported to be a celebration of his recent marriage to a pop singer much his junior. The guest list is odd however, including a former fiancee and a political opponent. It doesn't take long before a guest is found dead.

This is one of Ms Zogg's stand alone mysteries. Rather than featuring a private investigator, as most of her earlier books have, the crime must be solved by the nearest off-shore police detective. That turns out to be an excellent device, opening up what is essentially a locked room mystery to include the stories of several characters. Every character is well drawn but eight-year-old Evie is a total gem.

The pace is fast, the clues are lying everywhere, but as usual in an Alice Zogg mystery, I could not figure out who the murderer was until it was revealed.


(Accidental Eyewitness is available in both hardcover and paperback by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

10 comments:

  1. How great to have an author as friend! This one sounds intriguing.

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    1. It has been great to be an eyewitness to her growth as a writer.

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  2. Wow, sounds like a great read!! I want to by a mystery writer some day and learning about Alice Zogg's history gives me hope!!

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    1. I did not know that about you. Are you writing one now?

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    2. I have not started writing a novel yet. But last year, I wrote down a few ideas. I am hoping to start writing a novel some day (???)... I just need to make myself sit down and start writing. May be I should make myself write during NaNoWriMo if I don't start before then.

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    3. Yes, just sit down and write! Try for 100 words a day to start. You can do it!!

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  3. Go Evie. You mean sort of like the Wrigleys on Catalina? Good for Alice, on finishing another mystery.

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  4. I admire your friend's tenacity in pursuing her writing career. Good luck to her. Maybe we'll see her name on the best seller list some day and I'll remember that I first read it here.

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