Sheriff Kendrick (Kenni) Lowry, granddaughter of the late sheriff Elmer Sims, was elected sheriff in Cottonwood Kentucky, two years earlier. Now that her deputy has retired she works alone. This is not usually a problem as there has been almost no crime in her two years in office until now. There is a murder and a break-in in just one day. The town must call in someone to help. Finn Vincent arrives from the Kentucky State Reserve. Kenni also asks Wyatt, the jailer, to also be part of the investigation. The stress seems to have gotten to Kenni as she begins hearing things.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I laughed out loud at the colloquial sayings used in the story as well as the down home southern expectations, especially Kenni's mother who wants her to get married and settle down with a good man and have children. The way the other characters in the story was well done. There were many townsfolk but they were introduced relatively gradually with enough information to get to know them. Kenni and Finn work perfectly together. I loved their chemistry and could not help but laugh when he schmoozed all the other ladies in the book. young and old. I had no idea who the murderer was which always makes for a good mystery in my mind. Usually in a cozy mystery, the protagonist is an amateur sleuth and this one is actually the sheriff, but as she is relatively new to the role and all the other aspects of a cozy mystery are there, it definitely fits the genre. I am already reading the second one in the series.

This was a fun and gentle read, with some splashes of comedy and quirky characters. A great cozy mystery with a supernatural angle.

While I don't give this a great five-star review, I'll say that if I put aside any knowledge about crimes and investigation work, it's enjoyable enough. The characters are cute and the story was cute. I just couldn't get past the fact that the book seemed to be speaking on a juvenile level to the reader about a subject we can absorb a little more heavily. I see that Mrs. Kappes is an extremely accomplished writer and I respect that, but this would not be something I would ever consider a serious novel and I don't think that the author intended it to be a serious novel. For the genre, it was a good book and fun enough to read. It could be a bit banal at times, but it made me smile quite a bit. I look forward to reading the second one.