Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9780425251317
Berkley Publishing
288 Pages
$7.99; $7.99 Amazon
June 5, 2012
⭐⭐
Claire Weatherly has fled a high-stress lifestyle for a slower pace -- in Amish country; Heavenly, Pennsylvania. She only planned a short visit but instead found herself opening an Amish specialty shop, Heavenly Treasures, and settling in. Claire loves her new home, and she's slowly making friends among the locals, including Esther, a young Amish woman who works in the shop. So when the store's former owner, the unlikable Walter Snow, is murdered, and the man Esther is sweet on becomes a suspect, Claire can't help but get involved.
Newly returned Detective Jakob Fisher, who left Heavenly -- and his Amish upbringing -- as a teenager, is on the case. But his investigation is stalled by the fact that none of his former community will speak with him. Claire's connections make her the perfect go-between.
As Claire investigates, she uncovers more than she wanted to know about her neighbors. And suddenly, everything she had hoped to find in this peaceful refuge is at risk...
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Claire moves to Heavenly, Pennsylvania after leaving a job that caused too much stress, and now she's hoping for something else. After purchasing a shop that sells Amish goods, she starts to make friends, including young Esther, who also works for her. But when the former owner is murdered, there's trouble. It also seems that he was stealing from the Amish and not paying them for their hard work. Now Claire's caught between two worlds as she tries to find a killer, keep her friends and her shop, and help the new detective by being a go-between for him and his estranged family members.
I really wanted to read this book because my husband grew up around the Amish and I have spent many hours poring through items in their shops and those carrying their goods (and probably spending more money than I should have). That's about as much connection as I have to what's in this book.
In a couple of words: it's boring. The conversations are boring, even the murder was boring -- we only got details after the fact (a chalk outline). I pretty much skimmed a lot of it, so this will be short. The murder is committed right away, but the only thing we know about the victim is how he died and that he stole from the Amish. The next is a bit of a spoiler (although it doesn't specifically name the killer). Finding out who the murderer was, was a pretty easy thing to do. Anyone can figure out that there aren't a lot of suspects, and the author isn't going to kill off one of the people who will definitely be in later books. That leaves you to figure it out pretty easily.
Anyway, while I realize this is the beginning of a love triangle -- which I absolutely abhor in books of any genre -- at least I can say that it doesn't really matter because I have no inclination to read any of the other books in this series. Pity, because I really like this author. Sorry, it just wasn't for me.
https://www.amazon.com/Hearse-Buggy-Amish-Mystery-Bradford/dp/0425251314/ref
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2714585675
More on Laura Bradford's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/laura-bradford/
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