Millie Fisher and Lois Henry are the Odd Couple of Harvest, Ohio. Millie may not be the strictest Amish woman in town but her heart is Amish. Her best friend Lois? Not even Amish. Not only that but flamboyant, outspoken, colorful, and has multiple divorces behind her. She's still a romantic, however, and hasn't given up on love even as Millie and she push toward age 70. Together, these two make a formidable sleuthing team.
Amanda Flower is one of my go-to authors, not to mention that I enjoy following her own farm adventures on Facebook. I enjoy how she deftly blends in bits about the Amish culture and beliefs in her Amish related books, all the while allowing Millie and others to push back gently against its strictures. In addition, Flower is a master at character building, creating characters with both flaws and strengths, such as the Bishop's overbearing wife who often seems more intent on enforcing Amish laws than celebrating its heart, with Millie always finding something to admire about her even when exasperated at her attitudes. It isn't just the humans who have strong personalities, either. There's Jethro the seemingly always in mischief pig, a bit of a tv star in his own right on a blended over character from another Amish series by Flower. Then there are rambunctious goats Phillip and Peter, who are cranky but loving and protective of their human, even when they perhaps think their human, Millie, has lost her mind. In other words, the characters that people this series seem real enough that one might expect to meet them should you happen upon an Amish gathering in Ohio.
As for the mystery, it's an odd one. Who killed Paige via a, no lie, a cuckoo clock falling from a tower (see cover photo)? Millie and Lois are on the site when it happens since Paige's new husband just happened to be one of Lois' ex-husbands. What are the odds of such a strange event being murder? As it turns out, pretty high. In the meantime, everyone in town is saddened by the drug fueled death of an Amish father's son. I won't detail the plot further except to say as bizarre as the means of murder, it works and flows smoothly and steadily forward. Life events often intertwine and they certainly do in this instance, leading to both a sad but satisfying conclusion. Give it a read.
Thanks to #NetGalley and #KensingtonBooks for inviting me back to Harvest, Ohio, to spend some time hanging out with Millie and Lois. It was fun to see Bailey blend over into this series and I'm looking forward to finding out how her business expansion is coming along.
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