Harmless as Doves

May 16, 2011
A violent crime disrupts a peace-loving Amish community as well as the "English" (non-Amish) population of Ohio's Holmes County in Gaus's well-constructed seventh Amish-Country mystery (after 2008's Separate from the World). When a member of Bishop Leon D. Shetler's church, Crist Burkholder, who wishes to marry beautiful 17-year-old Vesta Miller, confesses to killing rival Glenn Spiegle, who's twice Vesta's age and favored by her authoritarian father, sorting out the twisted truths takes not only the wisdom and counsel of Shetler but also the investigative skills of Sheriff Bruce Robertson. The seeds of the killing lead Sgt. Ricky Niell and Professor Michael Branden to Pinecraft, Fla., an Amish winter vacation spot. Multidimensional characters on both sides of the cultural divide give depth to the narrative. While Gaus provides a serviceable plot, it's the complex interactions of these two very different cultures that make this such an enjoyable and enlightening read.

June 15, 2012
A rural Ohio community is rocked when one Amish confesses to killing another. The case seems as simple as it is astounding. Young Crist Burkholder tells his Bishop, Leon Shetler, that he's just killed Glenn Spiegle in a fight over who'll marry Vesta Miller. But Shetler, who cautions his flock to be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves," can't believe gentle Crist capable of murder. Soon Shetler is joined by Coroner Missy Taggert, who finds that Spiegel was killed by a savage beating, not the one blow Crist admits to. Crist's pro bono lawyer gets his confession bounced on the grounds that it's virtually impossible to Mirandize the Amish, and Sheriff Bruce Robertson finds his case unraveling even quicker than Darba Winters, a mentally fragile ex-teacher who owns the barn where Spiegel's body was found. Darba's husband, Billy, drives a truck that delivers Amish cheese all the way to Florida, where he and Spiegle once lived. But when Vesta's father, Jacob Miller, is found dead in Sarasota near the Pinecraft resort community where Amish travel to enjoy the beach, Robertson has no choice but to call professor Mike Branden (Separate From the World, 2008, etc.) away from his sabbatical at Duke. When Mike gets to Sarasota, he finds a trail of crime years old that leads him to a murderer who's more serpent than dove. A look at the Amish world that's both piercing and sensitive.

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