Cast a Blue Shadow

October 20, 2003
In Gaus's fourth thoughtful Amish mystery (after 2001's Clouds Without Rain
), a blizzard tears into northern Ohio, devastating Millersburg College and the lives of many of the students and locals. Among the casualties is fabulously wealthy business executive Juliet Favor, patron of the college, who's discovered dead in her bedroom. The next morning Mennonite student Martha Lehman curls up in a fetal position outside her psychiatrist's office. Since she was involved with Juliet's son, she becomes the prime suspect in what proves to be a murder case. Professor Michael Branden and Sheriff Bruce Robertson must find the killer no matter who it may be. The true victim, however, is Martha, whose troubled past has cost her dearly and, as a Mennonite student in a secular environment, is doubly isolated. The psychiatric element works well here—Martha's not a nut case but a young woman in almost unbearable pain. How she will reconcile her past and find a place in society is part of the puzzle to be solved. The author portrays the conflicts among the various Amish sects whose varying degrees of strictness in some instances cause them to shun each other. Eschewing any academic pedantry, Gaus manages to expertly enlighten as well as entertain. (Nov.)

FYI:
The author teaches chemistry and alternative cultures at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio.