Zoe Kergulin, private investigator extraordinaire, is still recovering from the death of a dear friend and her ouster from the Justice Department. She's living in a quaint Queen Anne house in West Virginia, surrounded by friends and family.

Zoe's cousin, Sheriff Ethan McKenna, and a female deputy are ambushed, leaving the deputy dead and Ethan hanging on to life. Rumors spread through Bickle County and they aren't pretty. Everywhere Zoe turns, there are whispers of an illicit affair. The deputy's husband is arrested for the crimes. Zoe knows there was no affair, but to openly tell the truth would ruin Ethan's career.

Ethan McKenna is gay.

Zoe must find the real criminals and save her cousin's reputation. During her investigation, Zoe stumbles upon a frustrated undercover narcotics agent, a trouble teen, and a mystery man who is scouring the county in his silver Jaguar. Zoe's tenaciousness is almost her undoing, but she is determined to find the killers, clear her cousin's name and bring some closure to a painful chapter in her family's history.

This is a pleasant night's entertainment. I wish the author would have given us more insight into Ethan and his personal life, but I suppose that will be another story.

Enjoy!

Thus far in this reviewer's experience, a mystery by Spinster Press tends to be well thought out, entertaining, and will probably include animals. A mystery writing instructor once commented that there are two types of mysteries: those which include cats and those which don't. Deadly Embrace is, obviously, the latter. Trudy Labovitz presents her second Zoe Kergulin mystery to us in lively fashion, as Zoe hones her private investigator skills after her first adventure in Ordinary Justice.

This time, it is Zoe's cousin, Sheriff Nathan McKenna, critically injured after an ambush that kills Deputy Rosalyn Fitzgerald. The trouble is, it looks as if Nathan and Rosalyn might have been having an affair. The positioning of the bodies places them in close contact, and they were ambushed in Nathan's car outside of Rosalyn's house:

"Listen, Zoe, it's not that I enjoy hurting a friend, but you've got to know this. All of Ethan's wounds are from behind. If he'd simply been sitting at the wheel, the entry wounds would have been from the front--or at least the side. From the position of Rosalyn Fitzgerald's wounds, Ethan's wounds, and the bullet holes in the car, the police know the shooter was standing just about where you figured--where you were just looking for evidence--about thirteen feet away from the passenger-side front fender and above the car. If the shooter had moved, going around the car to shoot the other after hitting the first, either Ethan or Rosalyn would have had a chance to draw a weapon, but neither had the opportunity. Both of them were shot at exactly the same time."

It is Zoe's job to not only find the killer, but to disprove the F.B.I.'s glib assumption that Rosalyn's husband shot them in a fit of jealousy. Pitting a private investigator against the resources of the government is always a good time for the reader. But Labovitz throws in a few curves that lead the reader on a merry goose chase.

We also get to know Zoe, an inveterate do-gooder who is vilified by almost everyone, and who, in the end...but that would be giving too much away. Suffice to say that Zoe is a lovable character and her house is control central for cats, members of her large, wonderful family.

Shelley Glodowski, Reviewer

The shooting that killed Deputy Sheriff Rosalyn Fitzgerald and left Sheriff Ethan McKenna fighting for his life stunned the residents of Bickle County, West Virginia. Rumors spread by the outside media covering the case claim that the two law enforcement officials were having an affair under the nose of her spouse Kirk. Ethan's cousin private investigator Zoe Kergulin would have had a good laugh over the affair angle if the crimes were not so serious because Zoe knows her cousin is gay.

Zoe begins her own investigation to not only save Ethan's reputation for clean living and running a clean department, but to also bring a cold blooded killer to justice. The state police believe Kirk committed the shooting in a rage of passion for his wife cuckolding him with the sheriff. As she digs deeper, Zoe soon realizes that a very disturbed teenage girl has many of the answers to the tragedy. All Zoe needs to do is to persuade Ren to tell what she saw, but the girl is afraid that no one will believe her and the culprit will come after her next.

The second Kergulin West Virginia mystery is an exciting who-done-it that brings the Mountaineer State alive. The mystery is intriguing and as in her first appearance (see ORDINARY JUSTICE), Zoe remains a fresh character. The support cast, especially the interaction between the outsiders and the locals, augments the mistrust and innuendoes that grow on each page. Although more information on the victims' would have added an empathic element that the plot lacks, Trudy Labovitz writes an engaging tale.

Harriet Klausner

Zoe Gergulin is a fugitive from her former job at the US Justice Dept. who is haunted by a guilty conscience. Although she's happily settled into her home in the wilds of West Virginia, she's always looking over her shoulder. She fears not only repercussions from investigations she did in her old job, but revenge from the brother of her best friend's husband, whom she had shot when he ambushed them.

When secretive Susan Rourke moves in nearby, then disappears, Zoe suspects she has been murdered. Handprints in dried bloodstains, a dented front door hanging by one hinge, a history of abuse by her husband Patrick -- all seem to confirm her suspicions. Then Patrick turns up dead. Zoe's investigation uncovers unsuspected secrets as this lively story progresses.

Labovitz definitely has a knack for telling a riveting tale, and for creating characters that are intriguing. We can hope that the author will entertain us with more stories like this. The main character, Zoe, is amusing and resourceful and readers will look forward to hearing more about her adventures.

I enjoyed the characters in the book and also the story really kept my interest. The one thing I did not like about the book was the counties that were mentioned are not counties of West Virginia. I am from WV. Charleston and Huntington were mentioned though which is accurage.

Ms. Trudy Labovitz is an exciting new writer who has written a winner with her recently published book, Ordinary Justice. Ordinary Justice focuses on some eccentric characters in the West Virginia mountain town of Ordinary. Ms. Labovitz weaves these characters into a tapestry of mystery and intrigue. Zoe Kergulin is a new and powerful woman on the mystery book scene, as is Trudy Labovitz. Ordinary Justice deserves a 5-star salute, and Ms. Labovitz deserves 5 stars for her first published book. We can only hope that Zoe will be back again soon, sleuthing her way through tangled evidence and broken lives.