Description (from cover):'When Angela Braddock inherits her late aunt's beautiful Amish quilt shop, she is welcomed to Holmes County, Ohio, with intricate patchwork, delicious fry pies--and murder.
With her snazzy cowboy boots and her ornithophobic French bulldog, Angie doesn't exactly fit in with the predominantly Amish community in Rolling Brook, but her aunt's quilting circle makes her feel at home at she prepared for the reopening of Running Stitch.
On the big day, Angie gets a taste of success as the locals and Englisch tourists browse the store's wares while the quilters stitch away. But when Angie finds the body of ornery Amish woodworker Joseph in her storeroom, the future of Running Stitch looks bleak.
With evidence mounting against her, Angie is determined to find the culprit before the local sheriff can make an arrest. Rolling Brook appears to be a simple place, but the closer Angie gets to the killer, the more she realizes that nothing in the small Amish community is as plain as it seems...'
My thoughts:
I absolutely adored this debut mystery novel. It was an engaging story that left me wanting to learn much more about the Amish and their way of life. Isabella Alan has done a fantastic job of weaving mystery and learning about a secretive people. I have enjoyed her other Amish mysteries under the pen name of Amanda Flower and so when I learned that she was creating a new Amish-themed cozy mystery series, I knew that I had to read it at my first opportunity. I was not disappointed. This author has a way with words, a way with detailing the Amish way of life that left me wanting to learn more.
Angie Braddock has moved from the fast-paced Dallas to the more simpler Rolling Brook in the heart of Ohio's Amish country. While she has spent some of her childhood summers in Rolling Brook amongst the Amish, she is considered to be an outsider and will have to face some struggles while opening her aunt's quilt shop. She knows little about the Amish, but is surprised when one Amish elder is rude to her on the day of the quilt shop's reopening. When the naysayer turns up dead in her shop, she has to solve the murder before she is arrested for a crime she didn't commit.
I loved the main character and the setting. I cannot wait for the next book in this series to be released, as I find it to be a different approach to the cozy mystery. I love the quaintness of the small town setting and the glimpse that the readers get into the very unique Amish way of life. I never thought that I would be the one to admit that I find the Amish people interesting. If you want a cozy mystery that is fresh and entertaining, then this is the book for you.
Overall Rating: 5+
Title: Murder, Plain and Simple
Author: Isabella Alan
Series: Amish Quilt Shop Mystery #1
Publisher: Signet
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Pages: 368
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Get It: Amazon; Barnes & Noble
Disclaimer: This book was selected from the library by myself and I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.
