Review (+ Tour GIVEAWAY): Unnatural Causes

Unnatural Causes
By Dawn Eastman
A Dr. Katie LeClair Mystery #1
Crooked Lane Books, 2017


Summary

Katie LeClair has finally settled down as the new doctor in Baxter, MI. After years of moving, schooling, and training, she wants nothing more than to find a place she can call home, and a small town outside of Ann Arbor seemed perfect.

Katie quickly gets to work in building a life for herself in Baxter, and beyond reviving her love life, she also finds a pair of business partners in a team of father and son family practitioners. But that idyllic dream is immediately shattered when one of her patients is found dead. That wouldn’t be the worst thing, except the death is ruled a suicide, and as evidence has it, the suicide was a result of the medication Katie had prescribed. But she doesn’t remember writing it.

When a closer investigation reveals it was murder, Katie is catapulted into an off-the-books investigation that leads her down a dark path of past secrets. But someone is willing to kill to keep part of the town’s history in the shadows, and Katie must race to find out who before it’s too late in nationally bestselling author Dawn Eastman’s riveting series debut Unnatural Causes.


My thoughts

Unnatural Causes is a very good mystery that begins a new series by Dawn Eastman. From the book’s description and cover, I suspected that it might lean more toward suspense than I cared for, but that wasn’t the case at all. Unnatural Causes has more character depth than the average mystery, and it combines elements of both cozy and traditional mysteries. The story is clean, which I very much appreciate, and there’s even a hint of romance.

A story is only as strong as its lead character, and Dr. Katie LeClair is a winner – intelligent, caring, and with a gentle sense of humor. She has a weakness for animals, which endeared her to Chief Carlson when she rescued his dog from injury. In the early stages of medical practice, Katie has a love for her patients, an eye for detail, and a willingness to spend the time it takes to get things right that I hope she never loses. An insight into her medical practice is one of this novel’s strengths.

The small-town setting of Baxter, just outside of Ann Arbor, is very appealing. The mystery itself is very well plotted and I enjoyed trying to figure things out along with Katie. The only difficulty I had was in trying to keep suspects’ relationships straight, but that didn’t lessen my enjoyment. I also loved the relationship between Katie and Caleb, her computer-genius brother, and hope to see a lot more from him as the series continues.

Recommended.

I was provided a copy of this book through Great Escapes Tours and the publisher. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

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National bestselling author Dawn Eastman was a family medicine physician in Michigan. Now she lives in Iowa with her husband, son, and daughter. When not writing, she keeps busy catering to the whims of a bossy bichon-shih tzu mix who wants to rule the world.

This is her first Dr. Katie LeClair mystery. She is also the author of THE FAMILY FORTUNE MYSTERIES .

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