Lori C. (dollycas) reviewed on 1/20/2016 + 748 more book reviews

Dollycas's Thoughts

Detective Elizabeth Harris comes home from New York after her husband was murdered. She needs a quieter life to start over. But life at home isn't at all what she expected. A body is found in a barn in the heart of the Amish community. The young girl is "English", and her body had clearly been moved. Why would she be here were violence is condemned and life is "simple"? As the most experienced officer Elizabeth is assigned to the case, she thinks the killer is nearby while others believe it has to be an English outsider.

This is the type of story that I would expect to see on an episode of Criminal Minds. They definitely needed help coming up with a profile for the killer, but I don't know if even Shemar Moore's Derek Morgan could figure this one out.

Elizabeth Harris is a very strong, intelligent woman. She is not afraid to go anywhere or do anything to get justice for this girl and for a girl that had gone missing months ago. The disappearance of the first girl was never reported by her parents because she was Amish and everyone thought she had just run off. Well Elizabeth doesn't think that is the case. When the police handle the Amish with kid gloves she becomes very frustrated.

The author tells us before the story even begins that nothing like this has even happened in an Amish community but she sure writes a believable story. The characters come alive in the pages as does the town, the woods, the fields, and especially the river. The imagery was absolutely fantastic.

We meet Ezra Beiler, a Amish man who lost her his wife an child at a very young age. He is unhappy living in the Amish community and there is almost an immediate spark between him and Elizabeth. Their budding romance and flirtation plays throughout the story. The romance ebbs and flows and sometimes collides with the intense drama.

This story is very well written but some parts were a bit predictable. I could tell from one of the girl's behavior an underlying cause quite early, but was totally surprised by the way the story peaked.

I am happy to see the author plans on a series with these characters because I truly want to know them better. I feel their story is just beginning. This story has set the series off to a fine start.

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