Amish Fiction

In this first book of a three-book series, author Vannetta Chapman brings a fresh twist to the popular Amish fiction genre. She blends the familiar components consumers love in Amish books - faith, community, simplicity, family - with an innovative who-done-it plot that keeps readers guessing right up to the last stitch in the quilt. When two women - one Amish, one English - each with different motives, join forces to organize a successful on-line quilt auction, neither expects nor wants a friendship.

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?

Millie is happy that her childhood friend, Uriah Schrock, has returned to Harvest after decades away. He was sweet on Millie in their school days, but she only had eyes for her future husband. Now, there's a new spark between them, so Millie is concerned when Uriah doesn't show up at the Harvest concert series - or for his job as the Village square's groundskeeper. Perhaps Millie has been involved in too many murder investigations, but she has a sinking feeling. And when she and her best friend, Lois, find Uriah with the police, it seems she's right....

As local merchants unite to attract tourists for a much anticipated weekend quilting event, business is sure to spill over into eateries like Daisy's Tea Garden. Reese Masemer had been dating one of Daisy's employees, Tessa, an artist, though their last interaction was as strained as a cup of loose leaf tea. Now Reese has been found dead near a covered bridge where Tessa's been practicing her sketches.

While enjoying a sleigh ride with his children, Amish widower Adam Lengacher discovers a car stuck in a snowdrift and an unconscious woman inside. He calls upon Chief of Police Kate Burkholder for help, and she is surprised to recognize the driver: fellow cop and her former friend, Gina Colorosa. Years before, Kate and Gina were best friends at the police academy and patrol officers in Columbus, but time and distance have taken them down two very different paths. Now, Gina reveals a shocking story of betrayal and revenge that has forced her to run for her life.

When Charlotte sees something underhanded going on beneath the merrymaking, she enlists the help of Sheriff Deputy Luke Little to find out if her unknown correspondent is none other than the town's biggest suspect. And the surprising truth about her suitor's identity has her contemplating leaving her Amish roots behind forever....

Margaret Yoder can’t seem to catch a break. Even though she’s dedicated to her Amish faith, her wild rumspringa won’t stay in the past, and her mother keeps pressuring her to get married. To placate her mother and get away from former “friends”, she decides to return to Birch Creek to visit family—and pretend to find a husband.

Martha Sue Helmuth wishes she could just relax and enjoy her extended visit with her beloved grandparents. Instead, she is nursing a broken heart over gentle widower Yost Beiler. Yost's thirteen-year-old son, Jonah, refuses to accept Martha Sue, and she refuses to risk coming between them. For now, she is just trying to avoid her Mammi's choice of yet another eligible suitor. But when Yost moves himself and Jonah to Huckleberry Hill to change Martha Sue's mind, she can't help dreaming that somehow, some way, she and Yost will have a miraculous second chance to be together.

Declan Miller has always had feelings for Bethel King. Back when they were in school, she was the smartest girl in the class and, in his opinion, by far the prettiest. Now, the two of them are in their twenties and while the attraction is still there, Declan is as hesitant as ever to let Bethel know how he feels. His corny jokes and wisecracks cover a heart that's afraid of rejection.

In the summer of 1951, 18-year-old Maggie Esh is in need of some hope. Sweet-spirited and uncommonly pretty despite struggling with a debilitating illness, she is accustomed to being treated kindly by the young men of her Old Order Amish church district. Yet no one but Jimmy Beiler ever asks her out, and she always declines, certain he only pities her. To make matters worse, Dat has recently remarried, less than a year after Maggie's mother died. And while her stepmother is kind, she's much younger than Mamm, and she simply doesn't understand Maggie or her illness the way Mamm did.

Pregnant and desperate, Victoria Worthington runs to the only place that’s ever felt safe. For years she’s been controlled, first by her crime-boss father, then by her ex-boyfriend. Donning a hand-sewn dress, a kapp, and a new name, she escapes as Abby Martin to the Amish community of Harts Haven, where she spent happy summers with her grandparents. Taking a job as a maid at the local inn, Abby plans to repair her grandparents’ abandoned house and build a new life for her baby.

When wild child Sophie Deiner - the daughter of an Amish bishop - is forced to return to Nappanee, Indiana, quilt-shop owner Jane Berger is one of only a few who welcome her back. It’s the last place she wants to be, but Sophie’s recent illness requires that she lay low for a while. As Sophie recovers, she befriends a group of migrant workers and is appalled when one of them is detained and threatened with deportation. Sophie begins advocating on their behalf but soon finds herself opposed by an ex-boyfriend, who is the farm foreman.

Sarah loves socializing but isn't ready to court anyone, much to the disappointment of her parents. As the oldest, her parents expect her to set a good example for her younger siblings. But the free spirit in Sarah refuses to be reined in - until she meets handsome Noah. Sarah is intrigued but appears standoffish, causing Noah to mistake her shyness for disinterest. A heartbroken Sarah turns to her friend, Aaron, who has always had an interest in Sarah. As their feelings for each other grow, Sarah can't get Noah out of her heart.

Growing up in the Depression, Tom thinks his southern Indiana life is perfect, until the day the green beans burn on the stove and he cannot find his mother. As an adult, Tom determines he will never forgive God for taking the most important person in his life. Not even the prestige of working in the White House under President Eisenhower and in the CIA under President Kennedy can ease his bitterness. Then, through an unexpected voice and an unpretentious Amish man, Tom Kirkman is forever changed.

ver a decade ago, beloved Amish bishop Ananias Stoltzfus disappeared without a trace. When skeletal remains showing evidence of foul play are unearthed, his disappearance becomes even more sinister. The town’s elders arrive in Painters Mill to ask chief of police Kate Burkholder for help, but she quickly realizes she has a personal connection to the crime. The handsome Amish man who stands accused of the murder, Jonas Bowman, was Kate’s first love.

Yvonne Wilson makes the trek from Texas to Indiana with just one goal in mind: to convince Amishman Jake Lantz to sell her client a rare book from his collection. But Jake is as strong-willed as Yvonne. On the eve of his grandfather’s death, Jake vowed never to sell the book, and he intends to keep that promise. But he can’t say more than that, having never read it and not knowing why it was so dear to his grossdaadi.

In The Quilter's Daughter, 21-year-old Abby Miller - loving, responsible, and unselfish to a fault - struggles to overcome a staggering tragedy. After her widowed mother marries a widower from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Abby inherits her mom's thriving quilt shop in rural Ohio. When she learns her 47-year-old mom is pregnant, however, she leaves her store in capable hands, bids her long-suffering fiancé goodbye, and goes to help.

Heidi King was one woman who needed a miracle. She left the Amish community years ago and built a life for herself as a successful New York City realtor. Loneliness and regret cause her to cry out to God. Heidi wakes the next morning to the life she would've had if she'd stayed in the Amish community and married Derek, her old Amish love.

In this electrifying thriller by New York Times best seller Linda Castillo, Kate Burkholder must uncover a family's long-hidden past to solve a brutal murder. When a tornado tears through Painters Mill and unearths human remains, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder finds herself tasked with the responsibility of identifying the bones - and notifying the family. Evidence quickly emerges that the death was no accident, and Kate finds herself plunged into a 30-year-old case that takes her deep into the Amish community to which she once belonged.

After her fiancé dies, 24- year-old Leona determines to never love again and devotes herself to teaching. But then she meets Jimmy, fresh from Washington state, and looking for work - and more.