Despite not being on call, Dr. Katie LeClair's house painting gets interrupted by an urgent call for her to go to Baxter Community Hospital. Dropping her brush, she leaves immediately for the hospital. She is the new doctor in town and has recently joined the medical practice of Dr. Emmett Hawkins and his son, Nick, who was to be on call that night.

One of her patients, Ellen Riley, seems to have taken too many pills and a suicide attempt is assumed. A very competent Dr. Matt Gregor has done his best to resuscitate Ellen, but they can not save her. Surprisingly, the drug involved is not one that Katie remembers prescribing for her. When Katie goes to check Ellen's medical files at her office, they seem to have disappeared. What is going on? Dubious thoughts crowd into Katie's mind. Is Emmett covering for his son Nick? Is it someone else? Who can she trust?

UNNATURAL CAUSES is the debut mystery in a new Dr. Katie LeClair series centered around the experiences of a newly graduated doctor, fresh from her residency who has moved to the small town of Baxter, Michigan, that is not too far from Ann Arbor. Dr. Katie LeClair is a very likeable and intelligent character who loves her job and wants to do her best for her patients as well as for her friends. Katie has recently moved into a new place with her brother, Caleb. They get along well, especially as he likes to cook and is a whiz with a computer.

One of the best features of UNNATURAL CAUSES is Eastman's ability to bring a very authentic voice and sense of time and place to this small town and its members right from the first page to the last. This is well expressed in the relationship between Katie and Baxter Police Chief John Carlson. They started off well, yet both are a little suspicious of the capabilities and motivations of the other.

UNNATURAL CAUSES can easily be read as a stand-alone novel, yet readers, we are lucky that Eastman intends this to be a mystery series. I particularly look forward to reading more about Dr. Katie LeClair and how events in Baxter will unfold. Lots can happen in small towns and Eastman really knows how to capture those small town mannerisms and attitudes! I also want to check in on how things might or might not progress with Dr. Matt.

As a first book in a series, Eastman spends more time on character development than in making deep intrigue. Still, her plotting is well layered and the main characters are well developed and tensions or happiness between them are nicely pulled out, both in the humor and anger. Eastman has put in a lot of research to make this story ring true and to make it a real whodunit!

If you are looking for a new mystery author to follow, do check out Dawn Eastman. Find out what is happening in Michigan in UNNATURAL CAUSES and then we can both eagerly anticipate what happens the next Dr. Katie LeClair mystery!