Courting Can Be Killer

October 1, 2020

Amish matchmaker Millie Fisher is worried about a young couple. When Ben Baughman moved to Holmes County, OH, he stayed with Millie, a "favorite aenti." The hard-working man falls for Tess Lieb, whose father objects to their courtship. Ben won't explain to Millie why the couple are in such a hurry to get married, but when he dies in a fire at a flea market where he works as a security guard, Millie feels responsible. Tess just bursts into tears when questioned, so Millie and her best friend, Englischer Lois Henry, probe for answers. Millie hears all kinds of rumors: that Ben was on drugs, that he set the fire, that he's responsible for so many Amish losing valuable goods in the flea market blaze. She stirs up enough trouble with questions that someone follows her home and throws a rock at her buggy. Now, she and Lois are in danger, but they know they're close to the truth. VERDICT There is nothing cozier than the second "Amish Matchmaker Mystery" (after Matchmaking Can Be Murder); it's filled with silly animals, including two Boer goats and a pig. However, the mystery itself is well plotted and will appeal to fans of Flower's Amish "Candy Shop" mysteries, set in the same community with crossover characters.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 12, 2020
Flower brings back the dynamic duo of Lois Henry and Millie Fisher in this fun second installment of her An Amish Matchmaker Mystery series (following Matchmaking Can Be Murder). One day at the flea market in Harvest, Ohio, 19-year-old Michigan transplant Ben asks matchmaker Millie to encourage Tobias Lieb to allow Ben to court Tobias’s daughter, Tess. But after the flea market burns and Ben dies in the blaze, everyone assumes the fire was Ben’s fault simply because he was an outsider. With Englischer best friend Lois’s help, Millie sets out to clear Ben’s name. The trail leads from one cryptic clue to the next as the duo dig into Ben’s troubled past in Michigan after finding letters from his estranged family. Their investigation roots out Tobias as the origin of the rumors surrounding Ben’s involvement in the fire, and Millie starts to believe the town has conspired to keep Ben from marrying Tess, who conveniently keeps popping up with half-truths and tears. The use of Millie’s matchmaking intuition in the murder investigation brings a refreshing edge to the cozy Amish genre, and Flower combines quirky characters, close-knit community, and first-class sleuthing to great effect. Fans of Amish mysteries will love this.

October 1, 2020
The Amish Miss Marple strikes again. Now that Millie Fisher of Harvest, Ohio, has solved a murder, her reputation as a sleuth is upstaging her skills as a matchmaker. Widowed Millie is a bit too independent to suit many in her conservative community, and her lifelong friendship with the flamboyant Englischer Lois Henry often gets her in trouble. As the book opens, she's searching the local flea market for Ben Baughman, an ambitious young man she met while caring for her invalid sister in Michigan and who just moved to Harvest to be among a larger Amish community. Ben has been working four jobs to save enough money to impress Tess Lieb's father, who's refused him permission to court his daughter. Millie counsels patience. While the couple is waiting, the flea market--where Ben works as a night watchman--burns nearly to the ground, killing Ben, who apparently was sleeping on the job. When Ben's blamed for the fire, Millie resolves to prove him innocent. With her sidekick, Lois, egging her on, she sets out to investigate Ben's employers and co-workers as possible suspects. Tess tells Millie that her father opposed any courtship because he's sending her out to Wyoming to help her aunt, who has triplets, a fate Tess is desperate to escape. Some of Millie's snooping clearly touches a nerve, because someone throws a rock at her with a threatening message attached. With only her beloved Boer goats to protect her, she refuses to give up. Flower's second exciting adventure offers a multidimensional portrait of Amish life.

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