Do No Harm is the second book in the Dr. Katie LeClair series, written by Dawn Eastman. Dr. LeClair is a family practitioner in the small town of Baxter, Michigan, who has helped out with the odd murder mystery on the side.
Full disclosure: I didn't read the first book in this series but because the back story was explained so well, that wasn't a problem.

I enjoyed this story very much. I agree with some other reviewers who have mentioned that this book felt more like a cross between a cozy mystery and a full on murder mystery, but I liked that about it. The characters were likeable and the mystery was set up nicely. The pacing was done well, which made this a quick, enjoyable read.

In summary, I enjoyed this story very much and look forward to reading more of this author's books in the future.

5/5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley, Dawn Eastman, and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Given the cover and the genre, I was expecting more of a romantic suspense style mystery thriller and instead this story read more like a cozy mystery. In the beginning I enjoyed the cozy atmosphere and the way the mystery was developing naturally. As the story progressed, things felt a bit repetitive. I liked seeing Katie and her brother working on the case, but the addition of the holiday festivities felt a little extra. The mystery did have some twists which kept the momentum of the story moving through to the end.

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys cozy mysteries with a little romance and a thrilling ending. I did not read the first book and had no problem following the story, the characters, or the development of the mystery.

Do No Harm
Dr. Katie LeClair. Book #2
Dawn Eastman
5 Stars

Synopsis:

Readers of J. T. Ellison and Tess Gerritsen will be enthralled by Do No Harm, by real-life small-town doctor and national bestselling author Dawn Eastman.

Small-town doctor Katie LeClair is drawn back into an old murder investigation, a mysterious disappearance, and a dark undercurrent of violence.

The idyllic town of Baxter, Michigan, seemed like the perfect place for Dr. Katie LeClair to settle down after years toiling in medical school—until the murder of a patient shattered the peace she had found. Now on the mend and balancing the responsibilities of a new house and the joys of a new romance, Katie is finally ready to start enjoying life. But danger arrives just as the town is gearing up for its annual Halloween festival—and once again, this doctor-turned-sleuth will have to unmask a killer in their midst.

Trouble comes in threes this Halloween. Katie sees a new patient
who has just been released from prison for a murder he says he didn’t commit. Inexplicably, the patient suddenly goes missing. And matters take an even more sinister turn when a college student who had been investigating Katie’s old murder case is found dead in the woods near Baxter.

Could Katie’s involvement with the case be responsible for the student’s violent death? Is her new patient truly a cold-blooded murderer? Is this Halloween about to become a real-life horror show? Katie embarks on a desperate race to find the truth in Do No Harm, the second gripping Dr. Katie LeClair mystery. (Goodreads)

Review:

The characters are well rounded and well developed. Katie is a smart caring woman. She is a doctor in a small town and she cares about her patients. When one of them is being harassed after returning to town when he got out of prison, she is concerned about his safety. But when a college student, who was investigating the crime that her patient got sent away for, disappears, Katie does not know what is going on and who is guilty. She has her work cut out for her, trying to put the pieces together.

The writing style flows smoothly and defines the characters very clearly by their actions and words. The author is very talented in her descriptive writing, and because of these descriptions pulled me into the story and took me on a suspenseful ride. The mystery was well plotted and had plenty of suspects to consider and clues to sift through.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted mystery. I really enjoyed this book and getting to know Katie.

A good book. Well written with great characters and a good plot. The storyline flows and the mystery is enjoyable. I highly recommend.,

I loved the small town feel of this book. I loved the characters, and could really connect with them . It is a part of a series so I would try and read them in order. I loved the storyline . For me the ending was a bit disappointing.

was a gripping thriller that took you to every aspect of trying to figure out what was really going on and what was going to happen next! This was such an amazing book and I can’t wait to see what else is released from this author!

Though this is the second in a series, this novel works just fine as a standalone. Dawn Eastman has made the ultimate likable character in Dr. Katie LeClair, whose natural curiosity draws you in to the mystery even more. Well written, easy to read, somewhat predictable but that does not detract from the enjoyment in this case. Going to find the first Dr. Katie LeClair book now!

Dr. Katie LeClare is a new GP in a small town. She meets a new patient (Eugene) and later discovered that he's just been released from prison for the murder of a girl he knew when they were in college. He's always maintained his innocence and Katie believes him. When a college student goes missing while looking into the old murder, Eugene once again becomes a suspect and is harassed by the local residents. Katie is determined to get to the bottom of the murder and the recent disappearance on her own.

I enjoyed this book. It was pretty apparent who was behind everything from the moment the character was introduced. Also how does Katie have so much time to be an amateur detective interviewing half the town, when she has a full time job, volunteers for everything around town, and is in a relationship? The ending comes in like a freight train, fast, predictable, and abrupt. Do No Harm is the second book in this series. I didn't read the first book and it didn't hinder me at all; this could be a standalone book.

Dr Katie LeClair is settling in at the Baxter Family Medicine Center when a new patient comes in. Eugene has just gotten out of prison after serving 10 years for the death of a coed in Ann Arbor. He says he was innocent but the town doesn’t believe him and someone wants to scare him off. Another young coed who worked with Katie in the summer is missing. Taylor has been studying Eugene’s case for a class. Did this put her in danger? Katie is determined to find Taylor and help Eugene. Katie is a strong, believable, and likeable heroine. It seems rather coincidental that nearly everyone in this book is connected to Eugene’s case in some way. The story is well developed with the backstory developed all the way. There are plenty of red herrings to keep the reader on his toes and keep reading to see how the story ends. I enjoyed this book and would like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Do No Harm is the second book in the Katie LeClaire cozy mystery series. Katie is a small town doctor. She treats a patient who was recently released from jail. He's back in town and these people gossip. A girl goes missing and guess who is blamed? Katie doesn't agree and investigates on her own. The story is partly true to life. Small town people are extremely nosey gossips who need to get a life. Katie is likeable but not entirely believable. A doctor and an amateur detective? Who has the time or energy for that? It's a fun fast read and it's entertaining. Cozy mystery fans will enjoy it. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Do No Harm is the second in Dawn Eastman’s Dr. Katie LeClair series. The book centers around Katie’s newest patient, recently released from prison for a crime that he says he did not commit. The plot was well thought out but I found that this book did not hold my interest.

I received an advance copy of this book from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Dr. Katie LeClair is settling in and getting comfortable in Baxter, Michigan. Circumstances in book 1 have left the clinic shorthanded but Katie’s doctor boyfriend is filling in and picking up the slack.

Set in late October we meet Katie’s new patient Eugene Lowe, who has just been released from prison for a murder he still claims he didn’t commit. We also learn a young college student who had previously worked with Katie is missing. Taylor Knox just happened to be researching Lowe’s case for one of her classes when she went missing. After the girl’s body is found Eugene goes missing knowing he will be the prime suspect. Katie believes Eugene didn’t kill Taylor and probably didn’t kill the first woman either, she just has to prove it. With her brother Caleb techy knowledge and skills, she may be able to find the real killer.

I really like Katie LeClair, she is not only strong and smart she is compassionate and caring. She is not quick to judge and strives to get the true facts. Her brother Caleb has her back and is a great sounding board. New boyfriend Matt, also a doctor, wishes she would leave matters to police but knows Katie will not back away from the case so he also helps in any way he can. These characters are realistic and people I would like to know in real life. Ms. Eastman has also created a wonderful cast of secondary characters as well that clearly could be found in any small Midwestern town.

The mystery twists around and connects to Katie in different ways giving her the means to insert herself in key ways to follow up on clues and other information she has uncovered. I particularly enjoyed the way the police chief appreciated Katie’s input. The story had a rapid pace and elements that take this land this in the traditional mystery category. There was suspense in all the rights places and the author takes us on a great journey.

While this story can be read as a stand alone I believe the series should be read in order for maximum enjoyment. There are spoilers in this book if you plan to go back and read Unnatural Causes after reading this book.

Dawn Eastman has a writing style that I really enjoy. This is a great addition to this series.

This is the kind of book that makes you escape completely from your surroundings and your own life. If you're looking for that kind of thing, look no further than this sweet small town medical cozy mystery !

Eugene Lowe has just returned to his home town after being gone 10 years ... he was in prison for manslaughter. He has always professed his innocence and the town has been split between those who believed he was guilty and those who thought he was innocent.

Within a month after he was released from prison, another girl is found dead ...less than half a mile from where Eugene is living with his mother. The young victim was a college student looking into Eugene's case. Her father was a police officer at the time of the original murder and she was following her father's notes. He, too, believed in Eugene's innocence.

And then a third goes missing, along with her infant daughter.

Eugene is being hassled by local residents and after having been beaten shows up in her clinic. The form a sort-of friendship, but then he goes missing. Is he missing because he knows the police will be after him? Or has something happened to him to keep him away?

Katie and her boyfriend, Matt, and her brother Caleb start looking into the cases of the missing and murdered women. They go back to the very beginning and start looking at interviews, looking for any discrepancy. Katie undertakes a fast and furious race to save the one missing woman before she, too, is killed.

Although this is Book 2, it is easily read as a stand alone. Somewhat suspenseful, it's more of a mystery, and more than a cozy. The characters are solidly defined and unforgettable. The one anomaly I find is that although Katie has no problem jumping in and confronting possible killers, she doesn't have the gumption to face down the lady tyrant who runs the yearly parade in their small town.

Many thanks to the author / Crooked Lane Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of DO NO HARM. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Do No Harm: A Dr. Katie Éclair Mystery
By Dawn Eastman
Crooked Lane
December 2018

Review by Cynthia Chow

After an unsettling start at the Baxter Family Medicine office in Baxter, Michigan, Dr. Katie LeClair is feeling more assured that the small practice is the perfect place for her. While one partner in the practice recovers from a situation that nearly destroyed their office, Katie’s boyfriend Matt Gregor is doing locum tenens shifts and assisting as a temp doctor. His support within the office will be needed when Katie meets new patient Eugene Lowe, recently released from prison and suffering from a series of physical assaults. Although he refuses to admit the abuse or name his attackers, the rest of Baxter isn’t shy about voicing their concerns about the man who spent a decade in prison for the murder of college student Heather Stone. When another young woman goes missing, it’s not long before Eugene is quickly accused of being responsible.

The missing Taylor Knox had voiced her suspicions that Eugene was wrongly imprisoned, and had even begun her own investigations into the initial death. Eugene had been an easy target for suspicion because of earlier accusations of stalking, but soon it becomes evident that even those charges were murky. Feeling responsible for her patient, and also vulnerable to the pleas by Eugene’s mother, Katie begins to use her medical stills to diagnosis the cause of murders that have spanned decades.

This series is darker than her excellent Family Fortune cozy books, but it still full of witty dialogue and humor, highlighted with a mean-girl’s assignment that has Katie donning a pumpkin suit. The loss of both parents and then being raised by various relatives has Katie bonded to her brother Caleb, and occasionally they do each find themselves vying to spend time with Matt. Their friendships work well for now, but it will be fascinating to see how they evolve as their respective romantic relationships strengthen. There is a strong sense of small-town claustrophobia as gossip becomes truth, past reputations are cemented in people’s minds, and everyone seems to have a secret. Although readers are only shown brief glimpses into Katie’s life as a physician, her profession shines through in her ethics, self-sacrifice, and thought-processes. Overcoming the past is a struggle faced by many of these characters, and it is truly fascinating to observe those who fail and those who succeed.

Dr. Katie LeClair has recently finished her residency and is settling into her work at Baxter Family Medicine in Michigan. Her relationship with Dr. Matt Gregor is going well and she and her brother's house-sharing arrangement is working out great for both of them. Katie begins treating a new patient who has just been released from prison after serving over ten years for manslaughter. He insists he is innocent and is being tormented by local residents who think he should still be paying for the crime. Although something seems off about him, Katie wants to believe Eugene. However, when a local girl with some ties to Eugene goes missing, she isn't sure what to believe. With the help of her computer guru brother, Caleb, Katie is determined to get to the bottom of this troubling case.

"Do No Harm" is the second in this series. I enjoyed the first book, but liked this one even more. I don't think anyone new to the series would have any troubles diving right into this book. Katie is a great main character. She is clever and determined and always tries to do the right thing. I find it interesting that Katie is brave enough to take on a murderer but won't speak up to a local tyrant who oversees an event planning committee on which she volunteers. She is logical and thorough in her investigation and uses the same technique to organize her thoughts on the crime and suspects as she would when talking to a patient during an examination.

The medical clinic setting is unique for a cozy series and I really like it. I also like the realistic relationship between Katie and her brother and their realistic, teasing banter. He may kid around with her, but he's the first one there when Katie needs his computer expertise to research potential suspects in both an old case and in the current missing person case Katie's relationship with Matt is also good, but they don't share enough important scenes in this book. Another positive of the series is the local police chief isn't portrayed as a bumbling fool. John Carlson is competent and fair and gives consideration to Katie's theories. I'm less enthusiastic about Katie's best friend Gabrielle who jumps from relationship to relationship, but hopefully her good points will shine through if there are future books.

The book is well-written and suspenseful. Although there aren't any huge surprises, there are enough suspects to keep the story interesting from beginning to end. There isn't a fairy tale ending to the story, but I like how things are resolved by the end of the book. I hope there are more books to come in this series. I would love to read more about Katie's professional and personal life in future installments.

I received this book from NetGalley through the courtesy of Crooked Lane. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

Between her part in the town's medical practice, her new relationship, and looking out for her brother, Katie is busy and challenged, but she's enjoying life. When she sees a new patient, she is unaware of his background, but the town residents are not, and they don't hesitate to let her know what happened and where they stand on the issue. When a college student who shadowed Katie over the summer turns up missing, the townspeople are convinced they know what happened to her and who was responsible. But Katie doesn't necessarily agree and sets out to find the truth.

This is the second book in the Katie LeClaire series, and I'm happy to say that I was not disappointed in this installment. The small-town setting felt very real, especially the way everyone knows what everybody else is up to and can usually be persuaded to share his/her thoughts and conjectures without much prompting. I like the relationship Katie has with her brother, and most of the recurring secondary characters would be fun to spend time with as well. There were plenty of suspects in this story, for both the current situation and the one in the past, and like Katie, I kept changing my mind about who the identity of the likely culprit/s. I look forward to continuing this series when the next book is released.

A disappearance in a small town, a decade old murder case revisited, and an enigmatic man at the center of it all—Dawn Eastman’s Do No Harm is compulsively readable and absorbing. I’d almost consider this to be a cross between a cozy mystery and a crime thriller, since it centers around amateur detective and family practitioner Katie Leclair and takes place in a small town with some big murders. This is a fun one, and I think readers will adore Katie as much as I did!

About the Book

Small-town doctor Katie LeClair is drawn back into an old murder investigation, a mysterious disappearance, and a dark undercurrent of violence.

The idyllic town of Baxter, Michigan, seemed like the perfect place for Dr. Katie LeClair to settle down after years toiling in medical school—until the murder of a patient shattered the peace she had found. Now on the mend and balancing the responsibilities of a new house and the joys of a new romance, Katie is finally ready to start enjoying life. But danger arrives just as the town is gearing up for its annual Halloween festival—and once again, this doctor-turned-sleuth will have to unmask a killer in their midst.

Trouble comes in threes this Halloween. Katie sees a new patient who has just been released from prison for a murder he says he didn’t commit. Inexplicably, the patient suddenly goes missing. And matters take an even more sinister turn when a college student who had been investigating Katie’s old murder case is found dead in the woods near Baxter.

Could Katie’s involvement with the case be responsible for the student’s violent death? Is her new patient truly a cold-blooded murderer? Is this Halloween about to become a real-life horror show? Katie embarks on a desperate race to find the truth in Do No Harm, the second gripping Dr. Katie LeClair mystery.

Reflection

Do No Harm is actually the second in a series featured around Katie LeClair, a family practitioner and recent resident of the small town of Baxter, Michigan. I didn’t read the first book in this series but this one is easily a standalone. Eastman provides plenty of backstory to catch us up, and if it weren’t for the mention of the previous case (aka book), I wouldn’t have realized it was part of a series! That said, it does that frustrating thing where it completely spoiled the first book. I’d still read it, but I already know the who, the why, and the what.

I loved the way Eastman captured the feel of a small town. Every detail she wrote, from the adorable local sandwich shop with the grumpy owner to the town gossip led by Delores reminds the reader that in a town like Baxter, your business will soon become everyone’s business! This felt authentic to me. The way that the town revealed gossip about an investigation that had barely been announced, the way they follow poor Eugene, and the way they pressure Katie into dressing up as a giant pumpkin for the Halloween parade—these elements all added to the cozy feel of the book!

Katie herself is a wonderful character. I’d be shocked if readers disliked her. She is good without being a do-gooder, and inquisitive without being nosy. I loved seeing her blossoming relationship with Matt, her quirky friendship with her brother Caleb, and her competitive but fun best friend Gabrielle. I definitely want to read more about Katie! Though I did find myself wondering how she had so much time to sleuth with such a busy practice…

Finally, let’s talk a bit about the mystery. It centers around two cases—the disappearance of college student Taylor Knox and the return of convicted murderer Eugene. Seemingly unrelated at first, Katie soon begins to wonder whether Eugene’s case might be the reason Taylor went missing—she was investigating the possibility that Eugene was wrongly convicted at the time. I really enjoyed both of these cases. Eugene, though seeming innocent in many ways, also is his own worst enemy. He is awkward at times, and does things that make him seem obsessive. But those qualities don’t necessarily make someone guilty of murder, as Katie reminds us. Taylor is also a wonderful character, for someone who goes missing and is discussed mostly in the third person. I loved learning about her!

I highly recommend this page-turner! Fans of cozies, J. T. Ellison’s series, and Tess Gerritsen will enjoy it!

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for my copy!

This is the second Dr. Leclair mystery. I have read the first in series and enjoyed it very much. This book can be read as a stand alone. Dr. Katie is a very likable character and a small town doctor . She lives and works in Baxter Michigan. She is well liked by the town and has a good practice treating patients.

She starts seeing a new patient, Eugene, who was recently released from prison . Eugene finds himself being harassed by locals and his Mother is harassed as well. The locals are trying to drive him out of town when he finds himself the prime suspect in the disappearance of another girl . He is adamant he is innocent. Katie who was investigating the case that sent him to prison a decade before wants to help him and steps up to investigate the girls murder to find out the truth. .

The sleuth was well crafted with many clues and possible suspects. I enjoy the small town and the authors true deception of small town life. This is a enjoyable mystery series with a believable protagonist. Thank you for the ARC which does not influence my review. I look forward to the next in series.

I really enjoyed this fast-paced and riveting drama that pulled me in immediately. The author knows how to tell a story that envelopes every emotions as step by step, she gathers all the pivotal players and their role in this tale. Well written with engaging dialogue and staged in a way to keep this reader glued to the pages. A great second book in the series and I look forward to more adventures with Katie and her friends.