A Small Town Can Be #Murder by Julie Seedorf is the first book in the “Whistle Stop” cozy mystery series. Publisher: Skye Bridge Publishing, coming December 21, 2019

A decrepit Victorian house in the small town of Whistle Stop, Minnesota, drew Angel Delaight to relocate from the big city of Chicago, hoping for a more peaceful, simple life. But this small town held secrets: a dead body hidden in her new home, townspeople who always knew what she was doing, pets turning up at her door, and a long-kept secret hidden in the walls of the carriage house.

In her former life in Chicago, Angel worked for her father’s company, Delaight Construction. She could wield a hammer with the best of them and was capable of overseeing the biggest projects, but the men in Whistle Stop always thought they had to help the “little lady” out.

Then Angel saw shadows moving in the big house at night while watching from her temporary trailer on her property and started to believe the townspeople that Orvis the ghost haunted her Victorian. Then Matthew Harkin, local owner of the Brick Schoolhouse B & B offered her a room and a place to stay, but did he have a different motive for wanting to know Angel?

Can Angel settle in to small-town life that holds so many secrets – and sometimes murder?

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I had a good time visiting with the residents of Whistle Stop, Minnesota. This was a well-executed story that quickly became a page-turner as I had to know how this was going to end. The tone was comfortable and the pacing which was on par with how well this drama was being told. I like the idea of this murder mystery not solving itself until enough of the people realized that the way it happened, could not have and it was fun to see how things were pieced together.

The author kept me on my toes with multiple plot scenarios – who is the homeless man? who is letting the cat out? and is Angel really seeing things? An intriguing secondary plot evolved giving credence to some occurrences that Angel was experiencing and I liked how it all played into the inquisitive nature of the circumstances laid out by the author. I liked how each character was introduced, some a bit quirky, giving us enough to get a feel of them and how they fit in this tale.

This was very enjoyable and a welcome addition to the traditional/cozy genre.

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FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the author.