As in his earlier Ohio Amish mysteries, Gaus, a chemist by training, combines drama and bewilderment in just the right...
Clouds without rain—people who spread darkness without a compensating benefit—are rare among the Amish of Holmes County, Ohio, where plain-living farmers know the virtues of church, family, and hard work. But John R. Weaver was one such cloud. Under the lenient leadership of Bishop Melvin P. Yoder, Weaver, equipped with a decidedly un-Amish computer and fax machine, grew rich by trading land futures from a secret room in back of his house. Now the new bishop—J.R.’s brother Andy Weaver—together with Pastor Cal Troyer wants to restore the Old Order ways. Before Andy can confront his errant brother, however, John is killed in a spectacular buggy crash, along with a young driver named Brad Smith and deputy sheriff Phil Schrauzer. Worse yet, the day after John’s death, eight families in Bishop Andy’s flock receive letters informing them that the farms rented to them by J.R. in a highly unusual lease-to-own scheme are being repossessed and sold to a firm of Cleveland land developers. To deal with the worldly consequences of this Amish-made disaster, Weaver and Troyer turn to an outsider: their old friend Professor Michael Branden (Broken English, 2000, etc.). But Branden has personal motives for his interest in the case. First, his old friend, sheriff Bruce Robertson, has been gravely injured trying to save his deputy. Second, the injuries to J.R.’s horse tell him that the crash was no accident.
As in his earlier Ohio Amish mysteries, Gaus, a chemist by training, combines drama and bewilderment in just the right proportions.Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8214-1379-1
Page Count: 196
Publisher: Ohio Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
Eskens’ debut is a solid and thoughtful tale of a young man used to taking on burdens beyond his years—none more dangerous...
A struggling student’s English assignment turns into a mission to solve a 30-year-old murder.
Joe Talbert has had very few breaks in his 21 years. The son of a single and very alcoholic mother, he’s worked hard to save enough money to leave his home in Austin, Minnesota, for the University of Minnesota. Although he has to leave his autistic younger brother, Jeremy Naylor, to the dubious care of their mother, Joe is determined to beat the odds and get his degree. For an assignment in his English class, he decides to interview Carl Iverson, a man convicted of raping and killing a 14-year-old girl. Carl, who maintains his innocence, is dying of cancer and has been released to a nursing home to end his life in lonely but unrepentant pain. The more Joe learns about Carl—a Vietnam vet with two Purple Hearts and a Silver Cross—the more the young man questions the conviction. Joe’s plan to write a short biography and earn an easy A turns into something more. Even after his mother is arrested for drunk driving and guilt-trips Joe into ransacking his college fund to bail her out, he soldiers on with the project, though her irresponsibility forces him to take Jeremy into his care. But it’s his younger brother who cracks the code of the long-dead murder victim’s secret diary and an attractive neighbor, Lila Nash, who has her own agenda for helping Joe solve the mystery, whatever the risk.
Eskens’ debut is a solid and thoughtful tale of a young man used to taking on burdens beyond his years—none more dangerous than championing a bitter old man convicted of a horrific crime.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61614-998-7
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Seventh Street Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2014
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.
Too much free time leads a New Hampshire bookseller into yet another case of murder.
Now that Tricia Miles has Pixie Poe and Mr. Everett practically running her bookstore, Haven’t Got a Clue, she finds herself at loose ends. Her wealthy sister, Angelica, who in the guise of Nigela Ricita has invested heavily in making Stoneham a bookish tourist attraction, is entering the amateur competition for the Great Booktown Bake-Off. So Tricia, who’s recently taken up baking as a hobby, decides to join her and spends a lot of time looking for the perfect cupcake recipe. A visit to another bookstore leaves Tricia witnessing a nasty argument between owner Joyce Widman and next-door neighbor Vera Olson over the trimming of tree branches that hang over Joyce’s yard—also overheard by new town police officer Cindy Pearson. After Tricia accepts Joyce’s offer of some produce from her garden, they find Vera skewered by a pitchfork, and when Police Chief Grant Baker arrives, Joyce is his obvious suspect. Ever since Tricia moved to Stoneham, the homicide rate has skyrocketed (Poisoned Pages, 2018, etc.), and her history with Baker is fraught. She’s also become suspicious about the activities at Pets-A-Plenty, the animal shelter where Vera was a dedicated volunteer. Tricia’s offered her expertise to the board, but president Toby Kingston has been less than welcoming. With nothing but baking on her calendar, Tricia has plenty of time to investigate both the murder and her vague suspicions about the shelter. Plenty of small-town friendships and rivalries emerge in her quest for the truth.
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0272-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
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