I read SWORN TO SILENCE , the first book in the Kate Burkholder series some years ago and loved it. After reading it, I did get several of the books in the series and planned to read them. I still plan to read them, even more so after finishing A GATHERING OF SECRETS, book ten in the series.

A GATHERING OF SECRETS starts off really strong! I was hooked from the beginning and couldn't stop reading the book. Chief of police Kate Burkholder gets called out to a fire on an Amish farm The oldest son in the family is missing only to be found burned alive in the remains of the barn. Who would want to kill Daniel Gingerich? Daniel was a young man, well liked in the Amish community. As Kate starts to dig deeper into Daniel's life is she noticing that this young man that so many speak so well of seemed to have a darker side. But how to get to the truth when everyone is keeping silent?

Kate Burkholder is an interesting character, born Amish, but an event in her youth changed the direction in her life and now she is the chief of the police. She still has family among the Amish, but her life and their lives are very different. The Amish life is one aspect of the book that intrigues me very much. Living side by side, Kate as a police chief is convenient because she speaks their language and knows their way of life. Still, she is an outsider because she no longer lives like the Amish.

The case is engrossing and sad, and I breezed through the book since I just couldn't stop reading. I wanted to know the truth about the secrets people who knew Daniel were hiding from Kate. A GATHERING OF SECRETS is a fabulous novel and can without a doubt be read as a stand-alone. Just be warned that you may end up wanting to read the previous nine books quite badly.