Amish Thriller

An extraordinarily beautiful Amish woman, a dangerous femme fatale, is the central figure in Linda Castillo's Her Last Breath, a story that reveals a dark side of Painter's Mill and its seemingly perfect Amish world. A rainy night, an Amish father returning home with his three children, a speeding car hurtling toward them out of nowhere. What at first seems like a tragic, but routine car accident suddenly takes on a more sinister cast as evidence emerges that nothing about the crash is accidental.

As a violent thunderstorm rages in Painters Mill, Kate Burkholder receives a call from a frantic young Amish woman: Her two-year-old son is missing. Kate and her officers brave the downpour to search for the toddler, fearing he may have been swept away in the rising creek waters. But an explosive family secret leads Kate to believe this disappearance may be more complicated than anyone is letting on. Can she find the boy and uncover the truth before darkness falls?

After Maria Mast's abusive ex-boyfriend is arrested for being involved in sex trafficking and modern-day slavery, she thinks she and her son, Carter, can safely return to her Amish community. But the danger has only just begun. Someone begins stalking her, and they want blood and revenge.

Newlywed Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is awakened by an urgent midnight call summoning her to a suspicious fire in the woods. When she arrives at the scene, she discovers a charred body. According to the coroner, the deceased, an Amish man named Milan Swanz, was chained to a stake and burned alive. It is an appalling and eerily symbolic crime against an upstanding husband and father.

SIX STRANGERS RECEIVE INVITATIONS TO A FUNERAL They are told that the deceased – a man called Reginald Charters – invited them on his deathbed. But who on earth is Reginald Charters? And why was he so desperate to have these six people at his funeral? “It’s a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie” The group of six strangers are told that they have 20 hours to work out why they have been invited to the funeral. If they can work it out, they will inherit a million pounds. So, they start talking. But it's complicated. Not everything is as it seems. More clues arrive, but they struggle to...

When a young woman is found murdered in a Painters Mill motel, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is shocked to discover she once knew the victim. Rachael Schwartz was a charming but troubled Amish girl who left the fold years ago and fled Painters Mill. Why was she back in town? And who would kill her so brutally?

It's autumn in Painter's Mill, and 14-year-old Katie Burkholder has been tasked with picking apples in Zimmerman's Orchard with her brother. It's just another day filled with chores - until her best friend, Mattie, arrives to help. Somehow boredom transforms into fun and games whenever the girls are together. The innocent fun comes to an end when Billy Marquardt and his gang of friends interrupt. Katie is no prude, but she knows better than to associate with the older English boys.

Sophie Wittenbauer left her strict Mennonite hometown under a cloud of shame and regret. After a rough childhood, her teenage poor choices harmed others, leaving her with no choice but to change her life. Her entry-level writing job at a newspaper puts her in the right place at the right time to overhear office gossip about a prisoner who has information on a decades-old unsolved crime. While the other reporters write off the tip as the ravings of an angry criminal, Sophie can't ignore it because she knows the name of this prisoner from her old life.

When a former Amish woman, Camille Esh, is murdered, the new detective in town is frustrated that no one in the Amish community will speak to him. The detective reluctantly turns to Ettie Smith for help. Soon after Ettie agrees to see what she can find out, the dead woman's brother, Jacob, is arrested for the murder. To prove Jacob's innocence, Ettie delves into the mysterious and secretive life of Camille Esh, and uncovers one secret after another. Will Ettie be able to find proof that Jacob is innocent?

Sarah's joy at her recent reunion with her sister, Hannah, and meeting the niece she didn't know she had is too soon interrupted when Deputy Sheriff Paul Gleason informs Sarah her sister has been killed. As she learns more about Hannah's death, the circumstances are eerily similar to their parents' murder. Sarah enlists Paul's help in digging deeper into the murders the police are dismissing as burglaries gone wrong. Paul's concern encourages Sarah's growing feelings for him, but as their investigation uncovers layers of lies almost 20 years old, they get close to uncovering the truth.

Where can a person go to be safe? Anna thinks she will be safe by adhering to the Catholic Church, but is this an option after learning some disturbing truths about the church? Her friends have joined the Anabaptists, but the Court of Holland is hunting for them because they are heretics, and heretic women are drowned or buried alive. Their sympathizers are shown no mercy either, forcing Anna to choose between staying loyal to the corrupt church or betraying her innocent friends. When Adriaen Geerts becomes a widower, Anna is conveniently available to look after his children while he ...

The peaceful town of Painters Mill is shattered when an Amish grandmother is brutally murdered on an abandoned farm. When Chief of Police Kate Burkholder arrives on the scene, she learns that the woman’s seven-year-old granddaughter is gone, abducted in plain sight. Kate knows time is against her - the longer the girl is missing, the less likely her safe return becomes. The girl’s family is a pillar of the Amish community, well-respected by all. But Kate soon realizes they’re keeping secrets - and the sins of their past may be coming back to haunt them....

Angie's parents are visiting Rolling Brook for Christmas - but unfortunately her ex is joining them. Luckily Angie has no time to dwell on her romantic troubles as she prepares her store, Running Stitch, for the town's traditional progressive dinner, featuring a sleigh ride stopping at each shop for a different course of the meal.

When a historic barn burns to the ground in the middle of the night, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is called in to investigate. At first it looks like an accident, but when the body of 18-year-old Daniel Gingerich is found inside - burned alive - Kate suspects murder. But who would want a well-liked, hardworking Amish man dead? Kate delves into the investigation and discovers Daniel had a dark side. He was a sexual predator. His victims were mainly Amish women, too afraid to come forward, and he's been getting away with it for far too long. Now someone has stopped him, but who?

Welcome to Lyonsville, a quiet place where English and Amish shops and stores draw tourists by the busload for the atmosphere, food and handmade crafts portrayed in the serene village. The worst crime in the last twenty years was shoplifting. Growing up together, Casey and Brad just want to get married and the entire town wants to be there. However, someone from the town’s past is using quilt blocks made by a dying woman to leave a trail of clues for an escalating crime wave in the small town of Lyonsville. Starting as simple vandalism, breaking a few windows, moving on to kidnapping and ...

Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is called upon by the sheriff's department in rural, upstate New York to assist on a developing situation that involves a reclusive Amish settlement and the death of a young girl. Unable to penetrate the wall of silence between the Amish and "English" communities, the sheriff asks Kate to travel to New York, pose as an Amish woman, and infiltrate the community.

Join Liz Eckardt and the lovable members of the Material Girls quilting group in the peaceful town of Pleasant Creek, Indiana. The scenery and serenity at the heart of Indiana's Amish country will envelop you as these women embark on heartwarming adventures to uncover the truth about the town's fascinating past.

Petunia Yoder is Blueberry, Pennsylvania’s youngest old maid, at twenty-two years of age, and is completely unmarriageable. But she’s determined to celebrate her friends’ weddings with joy and a full heart. Unfortunately, Petunia’s best friend, Eden Beiler, is playing a dangerous game with a man who is ruining her reputation. Ike Smoker is the community’s ice man—the one who cuts, stores, and sells the ice—and when Petunia discovers him dead with an ice pick in his chest, Eden is found on the scene with blood on her hands.

Spring has arrived in Holmes County, and Angie couldn't be happier. She's got great friends and a thriving business and is in the perfect relationship with Sheriff James Mitchell. The only thing raining on her parade is her mother drafting her into a massive home renovation project - and using their sudden mother-daughter bonding time to comment on Angie's ticking biological clock.

The Slabaugh family are model Amish farmers, prosperous and hardworking, with four children and a happy extended family. When the parents and an uncle are found dead in their barn, it appears to be a gruesome accident: methane gas asphyxiation caused by a poorly ventilated cesspit. But in the course of a routine autopsy, the coroner discovers that one of the victims suffered a head wound before death—clearly, foul play was involved. But who would want to make orphans of the Slabaughs' children? And is this murder somehow related to a recent string of shocking hate crimes against the Amish?