A Plain Death

May 21, 2012
Flower (Maid of Murder), a librarian, diversifies the popular Amish niche with this unsuccessful cozy. The premise promises: Chloe Humphrey is a 24-year-old geek hired to direct technology services at a tiny college in Ohio’s Amish country. A sad family history is packed in her baggage. Driving to her new home in Appleseed Creek, Chloe meets a young Amish woman, Becky, who needs rescue from two local thugs harassing her as she walks down the road. Thus begins the novel’s central relationship, soon complicated by Chloe’s work environment, a car accident that kills an Amish bishop, and Becky’s hunky brother Timothy, who has left the Amish but is still righteous enough to be a Mennonite. Unfortunately, the characters are cardboard. The bad guys are cartoony (“he grinned at me, tobacco juice trailing down his lower lip”); the theology of the Amish implausible (“there is not one right way to be obedient to the Lord”). Flower offers imaginative touches: pets with character (a crabby cat named Gigabyte). Amish cozies can work, but Flower needs to work on making characters credible and compelling. Agent: Nicole Resciniti.

July 1, 2012

Chloe Humphrey, a bright young computer geek, leaves Cleveland behind to take a job at a small college in Ohio's Amish region. Chloe takes Becky, a young ex-Amish woman, under her wing (and under her roof) after witnessing two redneck bullies harassing her. Then Chloe walks into a hostile work environment where her second in command appears intent on making her working life miserable. When Becky foolishly borrows Chloe's car, she ends up in an accident, fatally injuring a prominent leader in the local Amish community. Much to law enforcement's surprise, the car's brake lines had been cut. Who was the intended victim: Chloe? Mix in a badly timed tornado, and you can guarantee a thrilling climax. VERDICT A gentle and thoughtful Christian mystery, this series debut will appeal to readers wanting to learn more about the diversity within Amish communities. While her characterizations veer close to cardboard stereotypes, Flower succeeds at demonstrating her lead character's strong faith. This would appeal to those who have enjoyed P.L. Gaus's Amish mysteries. Flower, an academic librarian, also writes the "India Hayes Mystery" series (Murder in a Basket).

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