I remember how excited I always was as a kid when the county fair approached. Back then, I didn’t have my own horse. My 4-H leader loaned me one to use for my project animal. I won a lot of ribbons, although very few were blue. It didn’t matter. The fair was more about fun than about winning. At least for me.

Held two weeks before Labor Day, the fair is the last vestige of summer. For an animal-crazy kid, it’s heaven. All breeds of horses, cattle, goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits, and pigs in one place. I remember adults complaining about the smells around the barn. To me, it was perfume.

It still is. Now, I’m in my mid-thirties. . .okay, getting close to forty. . .with two jobs and my own farm and horse. I never in a million years thought I’d be competing at the fair again. Ever. But my cousin has talked me into it. We have our horses plus two boarders on my farm. Those boarders are both 4-Hers, so they’ll be stabling their animals at the fair for the week. My cousin decided she wanted to show her Arabian mare this year too. Why? I have no idea. But as she pointed out, that means my Quarter Horse gelding, Windstar, would be the only one left behind. Horses are herd animals. Safety in numbers is engrained in their DNA. He’d be a nervous wreck the entire week.

So I’m taking him to the fair.

I’ve been griping about it, but between you and me, I’m kinda looking forward to it. I know my old 4-H leader will be there. She’s a fixture. I wonder if any of the gang I showed with back in the day will attend. Hard to believe it’ll be their kids in the 4-H classes.

When did I get this old?

There’s more to the fair than the livestock though. The food is amazing. . .unless you’re into a healthy lifestyle, in which case you’re screwed. Lots of fried everything. I remember the aroma of sausage with onions and peppers sizzling on the grill. Funnel cake and cotton candy for dessert. To die for. I’ve gained ten pounds just thinking about it.

Once you’ve loaded up on calories, there’s the evening entertainment, with something different each night. Tractor pulls—and I do mean tractors. Big modified monster machines that belch smoke and flames while shattering your eardrums. On the quieter end of the scale are the horse pulls. There’s usually a concert or two as well. But the highlight is the school bus demolition derby. Never heard of it? Well, it’s exactly what the name implies. Old stripped-down school buses, each painted by the kids of the different school districts, try to ram each other out of commission until only one continues to lumber under its own power.

Crashing school buses. Fire-breathing monster tractors. City people and their kids who don’t know a Holstein from a Merino (one’s a cow, the other’s a sheep, FYI)—or the front end of a horse from the rear—all in the same place at the same time.

What could possibly go wrong?

(Find out in Fair Game)

You can read more about Zoe in Fair Game, the eighth book in the “Series” mystery series, released May 14, 2019.

Paramedic Zoe Chambers hoped a week at the Monongahela County Fair, showing her horse and manning the ambulance, would provide a much-needed diversion from recent events that continue to haunt her. An old friend, a bossy nemesis, and a teenage crush from her 4-H days fail to offer the distraction she had in mind. But ever the caregiver, she soon bonds with a troubled teen and a grieving father.

Back in Vance Township, a missing woman turns up dead, leading Police Chief Pete Adams into a journey through her mysterious final hours. With each new clue, the tragic circumstances of her death grow increasingly muddied.

A cryptic phone call leads Pete to join Zoe for an evening at the fairgrounds where the annual school bus demolition derby concludes with a gruesome discovery and a new case that may or may not be connected to the first. Pete’s quest for the motive behind two homicides–and Zoe’s stubborn determination to reunite a family–thrust them both onto a collision course with a violent and desperate felon.

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About the author
Annette Dashofy is the USA Today best-selling author of the Zoe Chambers mystery series about a paramedic and deputy coroner in rural Pennsylvania’s tight-knit Vance Township. Annette has garnered four Agatha nominations including Best Contemporary Novel for Cry Wolf. She is active in her local Sisters in Crime Chapter and is on the board of directors of Pennwriters. Fair Game is the eighth in her series.

To learn more about Annette, visit her website at annettedashofy.com, or on Facebook, or on Twitter.

All comments are welcomed.