This is a cozy mystery sort of, by that I mean it follows the cozy mystery formula of a sleuth with a police connection out to solve a crime surrounded by eccentric characters. That being said I knew this was going to be over the top because the main character, Becky McAllen wife of the Chief of Police sits down to smoke her pipe. My gosh where are we .. in the Ozarks in the 1890's!

While the story had a good plot there was too much misdirection to the eccentricity of the characters. I might read another in this series if only to see if a little more clarity and actual character development. ( )