The Hero, The Thief and The Big Orange Cat

Cimmeron McCrae is miserable! Her mother has uprooted the family and moved them from New York City to a log cabin in the woods. Cimmie is eleven. She has recently lost her dad. Now she’s afraid she’ll lose all eleven years’ worth of memories of her dad. He was an artist. They lived in New York. She doesn’t want to “start over” in a country cabin. But before all the moving boxes are unpacked three shots echo through the trees, a large orange cat barges in the door, and a police car rolls down the driveway. A mystery is afoot and, like her dad, Cimmie loves mysteries. She and her younger brother Cody decide to investigate. With a growing crew of new friends, they start searching for clues. Their quest becomes more intense when they discover that a valuable painting has been stolen and someone they know is a suspect. In their determination to find clues and solve the case they come dangerously close to gun-toting thieves and stumble into a thrilling secret. But a secret shared by five friends is hard to keep and clues are hard to find. With a sharp-eyed detective circling and robbers still lurking, Cimmie begins to realize that instead of solving the mystery she and her friends have become part of it. Now they are headed for trouble and Cimmie feels her life in the country is barreling out of control, like a runaway subway car. That's when she smacks into a frightening question: Is she a hero or a thief? With the help of her brother, her friends and a big orange cat Cimmie tries to untangle that question and the mystery behind it. In doing so she comes to a new understanding of what it means to start over.