By: Linda Castillo
Genres: Mystery Woman Sleuth
Posted: September 8, 2011
In PRAY FOR SILENCE, the second book in the Kate Burkholder series, author Linda Castillo once again takes her readers into the heart of the Amish society in a thrilling mystery that captures the end of a sense of innocence as a community struggles to understand the invasion to their private world.
Police Chief Kate Burkholder has few clues, no motive, and no suspect. Formerly Amish herself, Kate is no stranger to the secrets the Amish keep from the English, and each other, but this crime is horribly out of the ordinary. Ohio Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Identification agent John Tomasetti arrives on the scene to assist. He and Kate have worked together before on a previous case during which they began a relationship fraught with sexual tension and stress. They soon realize the disturbing details of this puzzling case will test both their fortitude and their emotional limits and force them both to face demons from their own troubled pasts.
PRAY FOR SILENCE is a fast-paced, well-executed novel that is full of twists and turns that will leave the reader breathless from chapter to chapter. There is a good deal of violent description involved in the beginning that is a bit gruesome, but is relevant to convey the senseless crime that the main characters are out to solve. Castillo does a good job of blending the peaceable aspects of the Amish way with the more rough and tumble outlook of the "English," the outsiders to the religious order.
Book Summary
One family. One horrific murder. An entire town under suspicion…
The Planks moved from Lancaster County Pennsylvania to the small Amish community of Painters Mill, hoping to resume the comforts of the Plain Life in Ohio. Less than one year later, the family of seven is found dead—slaughtered on their own farm.
Police Chief Kate Burkholder and her small force have few clues, no motive, and no suspect. Formerly Amish herself, Kate is no stranger to the secrets the Amish keep from their “English” neighbors—and each other. When the diary belonging to the rebellious teenager Mary Plank turns up, Kate is surprised to find not only a kindred spirit but a murder suspect: the charismatic stranger who stole Mary’s heart.
Then there’s Mary’s brother, Aaron. Shunned by his family and the rest of the Amish community, could he have returned to seek revenge? Now it’s up to Kate to search for some dark truths about the Planks—and confront long-buried secrets of her own. As Kate’s obsession with the case grows so does her resolve to bring the killer to justice—even if it means putting herself into the line of fire . . .
by: Linda Castillo
Minotaur Books
May 1, 2011
On Sale: April 26, 2011
Featuring: Kate Burkholder; Aaron Plank
352 pages
ISBN: 0312540035
EAN: 9780312540036
Kindle: B003JTHZCA
Paperback / e-Book (reprint)