Small town turns out to be full of ‘Chaos’

“Chaos In Little Leaf Creek” by Cindy Bell was a nice break from the gritty mystery I had just finished. It was listed as the first in Bell’s Little Leaf Creek cozy mysteries. I would have liked to have a little more character background, but I guess it might be in the second book.

The story opens with Cassie Alberta entering the small town of Little Leaf Creek. We don’t have much information about Cassie other than she is widowed and ready to leave city life behind. She has longed for one of those small towns where people are warm, open and welcoming. Cassie’s Realtor has assured her that Little Leaf Creek is exactly what she dreamed of.

Since the moving truck won’t arrive until the next day, Cassie unloads her the things she’s packed into her car. Suddenly the dog that barked from behind the neighbor’s fence is at her side. When she tries to let him in the gate, two goats escape.

As Cassie chases the animals, she meets their owner, Tessa Watters. Tessa is gruff, but kind and Cassie likes her immediately.

When Cassie discovers she has no water, she heads into town. There she meets Sebastian Vail. He is a local farmer and jack of all trades, and he quickly agrees to help her.

Before heading home, she walks down the street and sees a young man creating a metal sculpture. The artist is Trevor Danel, and he agrees to sell her the sculpture and to deliver it that afternoon but warns her that the local historical group would have to approve where it would be placed.

Minutes later she meets Rose and Charlie, Miles, Karen and Avery. All are members of the historical society. Miles tells Cassie he will drop by that evening and check the sculpture placement. Cassie is a bit uncomfortable knowing that the entire town has known about her home purchase and arrival, yet they reveal very little about the town or themselves.

She discovers Sebastian waiting on her porch. To her chagrin, the water was only shut off. Trevor arrives with the sculpture as soon as Sebastian leaves. Once again, he warns her about the historical society, explaining that the whole town hates him and always has.

Planning to relax with a cup of tea, Cassie turns off the shrieking kettle and hears a shrill scream. She runs outside to find Miles dead body beside her sculpture.

Within minutes half the town is there to watch as Detective Oliver Graham grills her on how Miles died. Cassie is shocked that he is treating her like a suspect. Suddenly Tessa is there chiding the detective to leave the young woman alone.

In an instant, his suspicions fall on Trevor. It appears that Graham isn’t willing to look beyond Trevor or Cassie as suspects, and she’s sure Trevor is innocent.

As the investigation continues Cassie feels that Tessa is her only real friend. Though they spend time together and Tessa offers tidbits of advice, she refuses to share anything about her past or her relationship with Oliver Graham.

Cassie has always been careful about locking her doors but comes home to find the door unlocked. Puzzlement turns into fear when someone in a blue pickup truck runs her off the road. Sebastian has a blue truck.

When she returns to her house, the door is unlocked again and a note warning her to leave is on her counter. As Cassie focuses on finding the killer, she stumbles into a trap the killers have set just for her.

Between intuition, the gossip mills and some luck, Cassie is found safe, and the killers arrested. That sets things up for book number two, where I hope to learn the histories of all the characters.

No one has to tell us that the places we dream of seldom turn out to be as perfect as we hope. At least we can count on your public library to fulfill our reading dreams. This would be a good week to go in and check it out.