Book Review - A Plain Death

A Plain Death: An Appleseed Creek Mystery

By: Amanda Flower
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Publishing Date: July 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4336-7697-0
Reviewed by: Mary Lignor
Review Date: April 2012

This mystery is a perfect afternoon read, written by a librarian, who spent her early life in Amish Country in the state of Ohio. As a reviewer of mostly mystery books, I wanted to read this as I loved the writer's earlier books, Maid of Murder and Murder in a Basket. I don't know what I expected, as I'm not into Amish Country books all that much, but I loved this one too. Apparently, the author is an avid believer in writing what you know and she knows libraries and Amish living.

In this newest Flower installment, Chloe Humphrey, a young computer maven, moves to Appleseed Creek in Ohio. This little college town is smack in the middle of Amish Country. Chloe has come to Appleseed Creek to be the Director of Technology Services at a small college. The first person she comes in contact with is Becky, an Amish teenager who is running away from home and looking for a new one. Becky has gotten herself into a bit of a mess, trying to get away from a couple of real bozos who are bothering her on the road. Chloe comes along and gives her a ride, which puts Chloe on their list to harass.

Chloe tells Becky that she can stay with her a while until she finds a job and another place to stay. Enter Becky's extremely handsome brother, Timothy, who is a carpenter by trade and becomes a big help to the girls. The following day, Becky is on her way to see someone about a job. She is driving Chloe's car and, by the way, does not have a driver's license when she has an accident with an Amish buggy, killing an Amish elder. Becky is in big trouble but that changes a little when the police find that the brake line was cut on the car and now perhaps Chloe was the intended victim. Chloe goes into investigative mode to find the culprit before someone else gets hurt. With the help of Becky's family, including the handsome brother, they try to find out who wanted to hurt Chloe or the Amish gentleman and save the day. The storyline is great, perfect Amanda Flower writing and the characters are easy to both love and not love. I won't say hate because the characters don't seem to hate anyone.

Quill Says: This is a new series by the author and, I think, will take off. A very good book that covers much of the problems between the Amish and the Englischers in a small town and the college.