Chaos in Little Leaf Creek

Little Leaf Creek #1

by Cindy Bell

Her new home in the country comes with an antiquated historical society, a sour-faced next-door neighbor, and a murder victim on her front lawn…

Cassie Alberta needs a fresh start. Leaving the big city to put her husband’s death behind her, she’s immediately charmed by the quaint little town of Little Leaf Creek, even though her first encounter with her neighbor’s dog and goats shows her that she has a lot to learn about country life. But her delight quickly turns to alarm when one of her first visitors is a dead body.

Shocked when she’s accused of the crime, Cassie partners with her reclusive ex-cop neighbor to find the real killer. And when two handsome locals grab her attention, she finds the simple life she had hoped for in the small town has just become a whole lot more complicated. As the suspect list grows and the attempts on her life increase, simply surviving may be an impossible feat.

Can Cassie catch the true culprit before her final address is jail?

Recipe included: Vanilla Cake

Chaos in Little Leaf Creek is the fast-paced first book in the Little Leaf Creek Cozy Mystery Series. If you like unexpected twists and turns, lively personalities, lovable animals and a never-ending list of suspicious characters, then you’ll love Cindy Bell’s heartwarming whodunnit.

Buy Chaos in Little Leaf Creek to start solving the murder today!

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Ebooks, Amazon, Contemporary

234 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 6, 2020

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't make it past the first chapter. Buys a house sight unseen, plumbing problems despite the house inspector saying everything's fine, exceptionally crabby neighbor... too dumb for me.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kept me reading

I like the characters and the mystery kept me reading. Love "grumpy" Tessa and her goats. I feel invested enough to want to learn more

[Sandy Bartles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe this might be the best first book in a series that I have ever read. Cassie moves to a small town after the death of her husband and from the very first day things go wrong. I enjoyed learning about the townspeople and how close knit they can be. There are no secrets in this town. That is until there’s a murder to be solved. I fell in love with the dog and goats. I hope to see more of them in the future!

I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.

[gary c lehn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Series......

I've enjoyed reading your story of the characters together in another great mystery story. The heroine is going to have a good time! The author has done another great job.

[Shannon M · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I can say is WOW! What an amazing start to a brand new series by Cindy Bell! Once I started this book, I could not put it down. I don't like to give too much away in my reviews but I know you will love both the protagonist, Cassie, and the secondary characters you are introduced to throughout the story. Cassie is easy to relate to and I'm looking forward to what happens to her next. I cannot recommend this book as well as Cindy Bell's other series. I hope you love it as much as I did! Enjoy!

[Sandy Sonnenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read

[Cinda Inman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cindy Bell has hit it out of the park with this new series! When Cassie Alberta moves to Little Leaf Creek with hopes of starting a new life, she winds up in the middle of a murder investigation. She starts out with a plumbing problem and is lucky enough to find Sebastian Vail, a local farmer, who also does odd jobs, at the hardware store. After buying a piece of art from Trevor Danel, she learns at Mirabel's Diner that the Historial Society must approve the placement of it in her yard. She has Trevor place it in her front yard and is waiting on Miles, a member of the Society, to come look at the art for her. When she hears screaming outside her house while fixing herself a cup of tea, she runs outside to find Miles dead on her lawn. Oliver Graham, the local detective, immediately suspects Cassie because she is new in town and it is in her yard. Cassie's next door neighbor, Tessa Watters, who has an apparent past relationship with Oliver, comes to her rescue and tries to help her.
Cassie knows she must find the killer before either Tessa, Trevor or herself are arrested and charged with murder.
There is so much more to learn about the characters in this book. It appears they all have a past life that makes us want to know more. I cannot wait for the next book in this series.
Way to go Cindy!!! I have received an advance copy of this book but I have also pre-ordered a copy. This is my honest review.

[Christine Goodnough · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I'd give this new series a try. Chaos is a good title for this tale, since no one seems to know how to deal with the murder. I didn't find it very realistic, with characters seemingly more into drama rather than common sense.

If a main character should get into some trouble right off, this story qualifies. The MC, Cassie arrives in a totally unfamiliar town where she's bought a house at a whim, hoping for better days -- which makes her seem more naive than smart. Stopping downtown she buys a sculpture, meets some people, visits the diner, gets hired as a waitress by the desperate owner, and in the evening while she's making tea a man is stabbed in her front yard.

Though she's only just arrived and briefly met the man, the detective (incredibly) suspects her -- and she reacts defensively. She in turn suspects almost everyone she's met so far. The story goes on with the characters constantly accusing each other, so a lot of dramatic dialogue keeps the story hopping. No one at any point even asks WHY the man was killed, though the characters each make their own wild guesses, based on nothing much.

If you enjoy a mystery with a lot of drama and don't mind the lack of realistic behaviour, this is a quick, fast-paced read. Warning: no clues are ever brought out, so readers can't solve it along with the MC. The reveal is completely "out of the blue."

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very quick and entertaining read.

Cassie is a young widow who has moved to Little Leaf Creek from a large city. She has a home to fix up and she is excited to move to a small supportive community.

Her second day in town, she finds a part time job. Life is good.

Except, life is not all that good.

A man is killed on her front lawn. He was there to either approve or disapprove of a sculpture she just purchased.

Cassie becomes the main suspect, or at least one of the main suspects.

I am a fan of Ms Bell’s writing. And I enjoyed this book. But, I also felt that there were too many red herrings thrown at me.

Cassie seemed to dither at times….who can she trust? I believe that from her past life, she should have had at least a modicum of intelligence. I did not expect her to read everyone really well. But, I would have expected that she could have found at least some of the people to be honest with her.

But, these things are just me being picky.

A quick read, a good mystery and a lot of characters who will make the future books in the series interesting.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being the new gal in town can be a challenge. Especially when a person you just met hours before ends up dead in your front yard! For Cassie Alberta, Little Leaf Creek is the quaint small town she has been looking for. Although she may not have received a warm welcome from everyone, she does meet members of the historical society, who invite her to lunch and proceed to inform her, they must approve a sculpture she recently purchased for her home. When Miles, a member of the society, ends up dead in front of the sculpture, Cassie realizes she might have trouble convincing some of the residents she is not a murderer. With the help of an unlikely ally, Cassie discovers there are a number of suspects who may have wanted to see Miles dead. She seems to find suspects wherever she looks, making it difficult to trust anyone. Not knowing who to trust could be the end of her life in Little Leaf Creek. Will Cassie find out who murdered Miles before she can even enjoy her idyllic little town?

[Genevieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read a lot of Cindy Bell's books and I usually end up loving them. This series was no exception. I really loved the story line and I was totally wrong on who I thought the murderer was. The story is so well written and I loved the glimpses we got into some of the secrets of Little Leaf Creek.

That being said the MC Cassie wasn't my favorite. She didn't seem confident and kept second guessing everything but I think that she has a bad past though we didn't really get to hear it all. I also found her wishy washy and one minute she is best friends with a person then thinking they could be a murderer.

Even though I didn't fall in love with Cassie the book was well written and I would like to know more about Tessa's secrets and I think we are going to have a love triangle with Cassie and a couple of the guys so I am looking forward to getting to know the guys so I can choose my favorite.

[Cynthia J. Contreras · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read! I couldn’t put the book down! I can’t wait to read the next book!

[Pat Cray-Hollis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. Already downloaded the next one in this series.

[Kandi A. Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really Enjoyed this One

This was a quick and enjoyable read. All of the characters really came to life in this story of a small town with secrets. Cassie, the main character with secrets of her own, comes to little Leaf Creek to escape her own reasons when she walks into the chaos of this little town. The story then takes off and the cozy mystery begins. As with most good copies there is the hint of romance, and the feeling of further adventures at the end. I did not guess the culprit so as I always say, that to me is th mark of a good murder mystery.

[Sandee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Small Town Secrets

A nice cozy read, with plenty of interesting characters, a mystery to solve, and more. I enjoyed it and looking forward to the rest of the series.

[Kathy L. Schott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lighthearted who dunnit

Sometimes it feels good to read a book with a lot of likeable characters. I still was kept guessing who was the perpetrator.

[Neena Christianson Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

New life.

That's all Cassie wanted when she moved to a small town in the country. What she got was to be the main suspect in a murder her first day in town. The rest of the week was quickly going downhill too. A cute book with quirky characters, and I look forward to learning more about life in Little Leaf Creek in the following books.

[JANE VAN HORN · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great new series by Cindy Bell. Please keep them coming.

[Tess Ailshire · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author has a strange relationship with time.

I thought it was me, at first. Cassie gets to town in the morning, checks out her new house, has a run-in with the neighbor (and her dog and goats), tries to take a shower, decides she needs a plumber, drives to the hardware store, meets another neighbor, watches an artist, buys a statue, and *still* makes it to the diner in time to get a job for the lunch rush. Wow.

She makes a cup of tea. By the time the kettle boils, a murder has taken place on her front yard, and *several* people have gathered.

And she visits the neighbor, Tessa, who makes *and* bakes *and* frosts *and* serves a cake in the time it takes two women to decide they'd better figure out who killed the victim.

The story isn't bad, if you can ignore time. Lots of "I'll tell you in the sequel" - but I don't think I'll bother. I didn't find either the tension with the neighbor, the "what's going on with Trevor" or the conflict with two interesting men enough to make me run right out to get book 2.

[Lisa J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was skeptical about this one as it’s a shorter book than I am used to reading but was pleasantly surprised!

[Barbara Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

by Barbara Kelley

Chaos in Little Leaf Creek is Book #1 in a new series by Cindy Bell. Cindy Bell is one of my top cozy mystery writers: the other 4 are J. A. Whiting, Wendy Meadows, Mildred Abbott, and Agatha Frost.

This was a really good book with a storyline that kept my attention until the end. The story flowed well, but was sometimes disrupted by a slew of fragments and complete sentences that were separated by commas instead of periods. I have read many books by Cindy Bell and she did not have this problem. In this book, too many places that she saw while driving through town were in fragments, instead of full-length sentences, and some of those fragments could have been put together to make full sentences.

The mystery was "who killed the dead guy on Cassie's front lawn?" She's the new kid in town, so she is automatically assumed guilty by some of the town's people. However, there were an equal amount of people who knew she had to be innocent because she didn't have a substantial motive to kill the man who was a member of the Home Association Society. My favorite characters, besides Cassie, were Sebastian (the neighbor who lives on the property behind Cassie), Mirabel (the café waitress), Tessa (Cassie's next door neighbor, who used to be a police detective), Oliver (the town's current police detective), and Tessa's dog. My absolute favorite was the dog. I predict in the future that Cassie is going to have 2 men vying for her attention.

I gave this book 4 stars, only because of the fragments and comma splices. Otherwise, it was a 5 star book. I recommend it to anybody who likes cozy mysteries, Cindy Bell, and lovable dogs.

Also, try Tessa's Vanilla Cake recipe that is in the back of the book. I am on a ketogenic diet, so I substituted almond flour, almond Milk, and Erythritol for the flour, milk, buttermilk, and sugar. You can also use Splenda, instead of the Erythritol, because Erythritol sometimes makes a person too gassy and Splenda doesn't.

[Julie Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. This was a fun start to a new series but very predictable formula used. A fresh start after a tragedy but soon has the young hot eligible men throwing themselves at her, she is accused of murder despite having no real motive when a body is discovered on her property, the usual. Having said that, it is predictable for a reason and the author makes It work for her, as long as you don't want any surprises. Yes I had guessed who the killer was. I liked the characters who will get more interesting as we get to know them and their secrets, there is a lot of history between the town's folk that is hinted at in the book but not actually told. The book has some humour but I would have liked some more hilarity and mischief with the goat, a fun and unusual surprise to the story. A quick cozy that is easy to read.
Cassie moves to Little Leafy Creek for a fresh start but before she can even introduce herself she is calling fowl of the historical society when she buys a sculpture to put in her garden. The man who comes to inspect it and give permission as to it if stays or is moved is found murdered in her garden. She becomes one of the top suspects and it is up to Cassie to find the real killer before she is arrested. The problem is someone doesn't want her nosing around and being new in town she doesn't know who to trust.

[Zermeena · Rating 1 out of 5]

OMG! The grammar in this book is terrible. There are so many unnecessary and distracting commas that I could barely follow the story. At least one paragraph was composed of a single long sentence. It read like an assignment for a high school creative writing class instead of a published novel. I am amazed by how many 5 star reviews there are for this book and that it is not the author's first work. Some serious editing is needed.

I forced myself to read about 15% of the book. In that time about half a day had passed. During that half day, Cassie had arrived in town, moved into her new home (that she bought sight unseen), had an altercation with next door neighbor, discovered her plumbing needed a repair, visited a hardware store, watched a local artist create a metal sculpture, discussed the work, bought it and FINALLY arrived at the local diner for lunch. I had to reread that it was really lunch and not dinner. I know author's sometimes take artistic license with time, but this was extreme.

I don't often give a one-star review, but this is a book and author to review.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick and enjoyable read.

Amazon synopsis:
Her new home in the country comes with an antiquated historical society, a sour-faced next-door neighbor, and a murder victim on her front lawn…

Cassie Alberta needs a fresh start. Leaving the big city to put her husband’s death behind her, she’s immediately charmed by the quaint little town of Little Leaf Creek, even though her first encounter with her neighbor’s dog and goats shows her that she has a lot to learn about country life. But her delight quickly turns to alarm when one of her first visitors is a dead body.

Shocked when she’s accused of the crime, Cassie partners with her reclusive ex-cop neighbor to find the real killer. And when two handsome locals grab her attention, she finds the simple life she had hoped for in the small town has just become a whole lot more complicated. As the suspect list grows and the attempts on her life increase, simply surviving may be an impossible feat.

Can Cassie catch the true culprit before her final address is jail?

[Tari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cassie definitely got introduced to her neighbor in a strange way when the goats got loose, but it seems like Tessa next door took a liking to her, and since everyone else considered Tessa nothing but an old grump, Cassie apparently lucked out. Especially after Tessa's past was revealed. Although poor Cassie, brand new in town had a little more pressing problem than making friends. She needed to prove she didn't kill the man from the historical society.

Cassie also never expected to find two guys who were somewhat interested in her, but was one of them a killer? I had a feeling I knew who did it and ended up being right, but for a while it was tempting to follow the red herrings. The showdown was pretty exciting with backup coming right on time. I definitely plan to keep reading in this series. I've been meaning to start it since it came out!

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extremely quick read. The mystery portion of the book was rather lacking. But, the story as a whole was quite enjoyable. There is not a great deal of character information given. There's also not a lot of description of the environment. This may seem like a flaw but there is enough information given to where the reader can fill in the blanks with their own imagination. Sometimes authors go way overboard in the information area making reading the book tedious. I have a clear idea of how the places in the book look even though they weren't given a lot of description. Even though there's not a lot of info given about each character, there are enough questions asked about them to where the desire to read the next book in the series to find out the answers is heightened.

I liked this book a lot. And, yes, I will be reading the next book in the series.

[Lee Brothers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a new author for me along with her new series. I really enjoyed the book; I thought it was well written, very well thought out, and the killers were a surprise. I like twists and turns and surprises in books!!! Ms Bell didn’t tell us very much about Cassie, who she is and why she’s moved to a small town. That gives us good reason to read the next book. I also like the other characters, Tessa, hunky Sebastian, and detective Graham, he sounds very handsome. We aren’t told very much about them either except that there’s a lot of history between the characters and another reason to read the next book.

[Sue Ruhl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Really Good Start to This Series!

I knew this was going to be a "big read", meaning a lot of books to the series. Typically I will choose a short series of around five or six books after I finish a big read. A lot of times I wish there were more books in the short series' because there just aren't enough installments to finish everyone's stories. Now I've decided to go with what I know I'll like, mainly because I have read the author's work before. Such is the case with Cindy Bell's books. She has all the things I like and nothing I don't like. I can tell that this one is going to be very good!

[wayne peters]

Review of this book.

This was a delightful, entertaining, and dramatic book. There was a murder, a little bit of romance, and some comedy to lighten it up. The beginning was hilarious. It just kept going from there. The ending was a shocker! I had my suspicions about the picnic. It was just too convenient. I was right. An excellent book. Well worth reading. I look forward to reading the rest of the series. It cannot help but be as entertaining as the first first book in the series. The author has done an excellent job of grabbing the interest of the reader.

[Marseydoats · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a huge disappointment. I had been wanting to read this series since it first came out. A Stupid City Person (Cassie) moves to a small town and then immediately proceeds to take on the historical society. She acts more like a middle schooler than a grown woman. The characters in the town just seemed completely phony, and the police detective was an absolute jerk.
My library only had the audio book and the narrator is terrible. I really hate to waste my limited Hoopla borrows and I may suffer thru the next one if I run out of books...