Petunia Yoder lives in Blueberry, Pennsylvania’s Amish community. The wintertime first in the Amish Seamstress Mystery series introduces her as an accomplished local seamstress living with her father, a farmer. Petunia doesn’t expect to marry because she’s not a great cook and likes to think for herself. MURDER OF AN AMISH BRIDEGROOM launches Petunia’s career as a consultant to the local police force.
Casually calling herself the youngest old maid in Blueberry, Petunia is delighted to help her friends who are marrying, but she thinks that Eden Beiler has picked the wrong fiancé. Ike Smoker, who turned up recently from another area, is the ice man who cuts and hauls ice from the lake and sells it. Petunia uses ice to make ice cream, which she sells to tourists and her father Elias gives buggy rides. One morning the ice house holds a shock. Ike Smoker is lying dead, with an icepick stuck in his chest. His distraught fiancée Eden is the prime suspect because Ike was carrying on with her and probably had no real intention of marriage.
New detective Asher Nate needs a helper and sometimes a language interpreter among the clannish Amish folk. Since Petunia wants to help her friend, she volunteers. The mystery is enjoyable with many side glimpses into the local way of life, whether as farmers or as a spiritual community. Problems arise over money, as they do anywhere, and families don’t want to break apart over rigid disapproval of a courtship. Asher Nate both manages the crime investigation and plays the part of the outsider so matters can be explained to the reader.
Many incidents occur which we would not associate with the Plain folk, but this shows that everyone is human and young people especially can be misguided. Ike Smoker had not committed to the faith, so his actions in the past are more believable. The Blueberry people are quite respectful of older traditions, so Petunia has to go half a mile to find a phone box at times, when some Amish romances show mobile phones in use for certain purposes, like emergencies.
Patricia Johns has created a good spread of characters and romances, so the chilly setting will appeal to cozy mystery fans. She has previously written stories set in Amish country and the Rocky Mountains. MURDER OF AN AMISH BRIDEGROOM introduces a splendid young woman who deserves an interesting life outside her sewing room.
The quiet Amish lifestyle isn't all that it seems in this debut cozy mystery series, for fans of Amanda Flower and Wanda E. Brunstetter.
Petunia Yoder is Blueberry, Pennsylvania’s youngest old maid, at twenty-two years of age, and 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 iceman—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. Homicide detective Asher Nate is new to the area, and he has a challenge on his hands. The Amish community sticks close together, and he doesn’t understand the subtleties and nuances of the clues he uncovers. He needs an Amish interpreter, and he asks Petunia if she’ll help. In a bid to keep her best friend out of prison, she agrees.
The community is filled with people who had good reason to hate Ike Smoker, especially as Petunia and Asher begin to uncover his secrets. Was someone trying to protect their family's reputation? Or to exact revenge for a sin buried deep in the past?
There’s a litany of damning clues that litters the ground—and if Petunia and Asher can’t come up with the truth, they could end up as the next ones on the killer’s list.
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