Despite a series of strange and unfortunate events, Chloe (and we) learn a great deal about the Belgian immigrants (especially one Seraphine Lejeune) who settled outside of Green Bay in the 1800s, the hardship of trying to clear the land of old-growth forest, and the horror of the Great Fire which burned the same day as the Peshtigo Fire and which consumed over 2 billion trees and an unknown number (but into the thousands) of Wisconsin residents.
As usual, Chloe ends up in the middle of the nefarious plans of not one, but two baddies, but in the end, all is resolved. Boyfriend Roelke shows up in Brown County just in time to save the day (the first time), but ends up getting clocked in the head (the second time). There were some wonderful scenes toward the end of the novel, in both Chloe and Seraphine's lives, that got me a bit choked up. Great installment in this fun series!
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This first book of the series follows Chloe as she starts her new job as curator of collections at Old World Wisconsin in Eagle, where we quickly pick up snippets of Chloe's backstory--an abruptly-ended romance in Switzerland, a bout of serious depression in North Dakota. At the same time, we are introduced to the OTHER major character in the series--Roelke McKenna--part-time police officer for the Eagle police dept. Roelke is dealing with his own issues, and he crosses paths with Chloe almost immediately. What blossoms is a decidedly prickly relationship between Chloe and Roelke, with his cousin Libby stepping in to watch out for the both of them. I thoroughly enjoyed this first book, with a number of twists and turns, and I did not figure out "whodunit" ahead of the big reveal. The ending definitely leaves you ready to grab the next book in the series!
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