Murder, Served Simply (An Amish Quilt Shop Mystery #3)

Author:  Isabella Alan
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; [MP 3]; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780451413659; [9781494561178]
Obsidian Mystery; [Tantor Audio]
343 Pages
$7.99; [$29.99], $4.99 Amazon
December 2, 2014

⭐⭐⭐

Angie's parents are visiting her in Rolling Brook, Ohio, for Christmas -- but unfortunately, her ex is joining them.  Luckily, Angie has no time to dwell on her romantic troubles as she prepares her store, Running Stitch, for the town's traditional progressive dinner, which features a sleigh ride that stops at each shop for a different course of the meal.

The meal ends with an Amish-themed Christmas play at the Swiss Valley Hotel and Barn.  But the performance is cut short when an actress falls to her death from the scaffolding.  Once the sheriff suspects foul play, tensions between the Amish and Englisch heat up, as do rivalries among the acting troupe.  Now Angie and her quilting circle must stitch together clues before they're the ones running for cover...

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It's nearing Christmas in Rolling Brook, Ohio, and Angie Braddock, who inherited her Aunt Eleanor's Amish quilting shop, is gearing up for her parents visit.  She's not happy that her mother has invited her ex-fiancé, Ryan, but there isn't anything she can do about it except vow not to spend any more time with him than she needs to.  It's also apparent Sheriff Mitchell isn't happy about Ryan being there, as his own relationship with Angie is starting to take shape.

On the night of the Amish progressive dinner, everyone is going to various places for a different course, and then at the end watching a play put on by an acting troupe.  Angie discovers that the lead actress - Eve Shetler - is former Amish and not everyone wants her there.  It's never more apparent than when she falls to her death from scaffolding, and the suspects range from the Amish to the Englisch.  Angie decides to do a little sleuthing herself since she met and liked Eve, even if everyone wants her to stay out of the investigation.  But somehow it's giving her more questions than answers, and the final one will make all the difference...

This is the third book in the series, and I think I liked it better than the first two.  While I really didn't think Angie had any real claim to investigate, I did like the idea of the progressive dinner, and merging Amish Christmases with Englisch ones seemed interesting in itself.  We got to learn more about Angie's parents which was a lot of fun, and her mother's idea of decorating a Christmas tree was unusual, to say the least.

I really didn't care for the fact that Angie was dodging Ryan instead of talking to him, but I guess it was what he deserved for deserting her at the altar, after all.  I would have expected her to develop a little bit of backbone with everything she's been through; but I didn't see that.  Still, I imagine she had her reasons for putting him off.

When we finally get into the mystery, which actually played second fiddle to Angie's non-visit and visit with her parents (read the book and you'll understand why I say that) I didn't feel that we were given enough on the murder itself; and while the clues were there, at the same time they actually weren't.  There was one huge red herring that turned out to not to have anything to do with it at all, actually.  So while I don't think this was a bad book, I do think it could have been given a little more detail on the mystery to solve.

https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Served-Simply-Amish-Mystery/dp/0451413652/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3331132281

More on Isabella Alan's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/isabella-alan/

Murder, Simply Stitched (An Amish Quilt Shop Mystery #2)

Author:  Isabella Alan
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780451413642
Berkley Obsidian Mystery
347 Pages
$7.99; $7.99 Amazon
June 3, 2014

⭐⭐⭐

Angie is finding her niche as the new owner of her late aunt's quilt shop, Running Stitch.  But as the summer is winding down, so is business.  To bolster support for the shop, Angie decides to sell her quilts, including some of her aunt's most prized works, in the Rolling Brook Amish Auction.

The quilts promise to be a hit - but the gavel comes down on the lively event when Angie stumbles upon the body of township trustee Wanda Hunt behind a canning shed.  The cause of death: a poisoned blueberry fry pie from Rachel Miller's bakery table.  Now Angie's closest friend is a murder suspect.  With Angie taking the lead, she and the other women of her aunt's quilting circle set out to patch together the clues and stop a killer set on shredding the simple peace of Rolling Brook.

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Angie owns an Amish quilt shop, Running Stitch, even though she's not Amish.  It was left to her by her Amish aunt, and she's coming to be a part of the community, and making friends among the Amish.  She's excited to be having a few of her aunt's quilts up for auction in the Rolling Brook Amish Auction.  Her friend and business neighbor, Rachel Miller, is also selling baked goods from her bakery.  Rachel's husband Aaron is planning to open a factory for the pies, but not everyone is happy about it.

When Wanda Hunt, a town trustee, comes to Rachel's table she tells her that there's no way the factory will be approved and Aaron should have looked at the rules before he bought the land.  Rachel is upset, but refuses to involve herself in her husband's business, instead offering one of her fry pies to Wanda.  Later, while chasing her dog Oliver, Angie chases him through the auction grounds where she finds Wanda dead -- holding what's left of a blueberry fry pie.  Now, with Rachel in the hot seat, Angie vows to do whatever it takes to keep her friend from being unfairly accused of a crime -- even if she winds up in the sights of a killer...

This is the second book in the series and I have to say that I did like it better than the first.  Although it still bothers me that Angie's snooping is too overt - by that I mean she just walks up to people and asks them questions without even trying to be subtle about it.  It's invasive and just a tad uncomfortable to read.  I find myself skimming over most of it, when I shouldn't have to do that, because I want to see what peoples' answers would be.  I would like to see Angie tone it down a bit when it comes to trying to get information out of people.  In real life, her actions would more than likely get her physically attacked by someone.

Other than that, it was nice to see the connections she's making in the community, and one especially that will bring her closer to the Amish.  I do like that her relationship with Sheriff Mitchell might be moving forward, as it's obvious they're both attracted to each other; although I do think that his ex-wife, while protective of her son, might be using him as a weapon against her husband to get him to do what she wants, and I really don't like that.

I also don't care much for Angie's mother.  She's deluded in her daughter's life and refuses to allow Angie to grow up and do what she feels as right.  Even from Dallas she's trying to run her life.  Angie just hasn't moved far enough away to get away from this woman.  I don't know how she dealt with her.  I wouldn't be able to - at least not for long.

The mystery itself was interesting, and there were plenty of characters who could have killed Wanda, even though there never seemed to be a motive strong enough until later in the book.  Once we had the motive, we pretty much knew how to narrow it down.  So, although not many clues, it was still done nicely.  All in all, even though it was an easy read and can be read in one night, I have to say that I really dislike it when the author leaves cliffhangers at the end.  However, I will read the next in the series, but if it follows the same formula for the ending, I won't pursue this any further.

https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Simply-Stitched-Amish-Mystery/dp/0451413644/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3266088651

More on Isabella Alan's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/isabella-alan/

Murder, Plain and Simple (An Amish Quilt Shop Mystery)

Author:  Isabella Alan
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780451413635
Berkley Obsidian
368 Pages
$7.99; $7.99 Amazon
September 3, 2013

⭐⭐⭐

With her snazzy cowboy boots and her ornithophobic French bulldog, Angie doesn't exactly fit in with the predominantly Amish community in Rolling Brooke, but her aunt's quilting circle makes her feel at home as she prepares 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 Amizh community is as plain as it seems...

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Angie Braddock recently left Dallas, Texas because her late aunt left her a quilting shop, Running Stitch, in the Amish town of Rolling Brook, Ohio.  Her Aunt Eleanor married an Amish man and gave up her Englisch ways to join their community, and now the shop was hers.  To tell the truth, Angie didn't mind leaving, considering after a seven-year relationship, her boyfriend broke it off, telling her he couldn't commit to marriage.  Now she's in a new place with new people and trying to find her way.

It's also apparent that the woodworker next door, Joseph Walker, doesn't want her there.  He's insistent the shop belongs to his family and he'll find the deed her aunt hid to prove it.  But Angie stands her ground - and the next morning when she enters the shop, accompanied by Danny Nicholson, a reporter, she finds the body of Joseph in her storeroom, killed by one of her tools.  Now she's under suspicion of murder, and since the sheriff won't let her off the hook, she's determined to find the killer on her own.  But asking questions could be detrimental to her health - permanently...

This is the first book in a series, and I really wanted to like it.  Although many of the characters seemed authentic, I didn't think that the town trustees were all Englischers when this is supposedly an Amish town.  How did that happen?  Maybe things like that don't bother others, but I'm a great believer in details, and it's details that I pay attention to.

I also didn't care for the 'nemesis' angle.  Why on earth would anyone open a quilt shop directly next door to one that is obviously popular?  For the sole reason of taking away all the customers and forcing the Amish in the quilt circle to choose sides?  Nope; not interested.  I much prefer series where someone isn't out to ruin the life of the protagonist.  So if this continues in the next book - or even plays a major role - then I will stop reading (although I do like to give at least three books before I make a decision, the nemesis thing really irritates me in books.)

Then there was the ending, which didn't make sense to me at all.  Things the murderer did just didn't seem like they made any sense, but I have hidden this in a spoiler, because even though this is an older book, others may not have read it yet, so if you haven't read the book, please don't read the spoiler below:

1) How did the killer know that a property deed would be hidden in a quilt? Is this where all the Amish keep their important papers? I seriously doubt it. Yet for some odd reason, the killer knew that the quilt must be the hiding place when no one else even thought of it. 2) Why did the murderer keep the deed at all? What good would it have done them? Were they going to just show up with it after someone else was convicted of the murder like it appeared out of nowhere? How would they explain that little detail? It would have made more sense if they had just left the deed in Joseph's hand for Angie to find. 3) Since when do Amish people sew their important papers into quilts? Why would her aunt do that in the first place? If she wanted Angie to have the shop, wouldn't it have made more sense to leave the deed with her attorney to prove the shop belonged to Angie? This didn't make any sense at all. Because of these things, I had a hard time believing the ending. No one who wanted to prove ownership would just hide the deed in a quilt and then not tell the heir where the deed was unless they were crazy or didn't want the heir to know. I had a hard time not rolling my eyes at this.

Unfortunately, because of the way things were explained, nothing Angie's Aunt Eleanor did made any sense to me.  As I stated, I will read the next in the series, but there's no saying at this point whether I will even finish that book or not.  Sorry.

https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Plain-Simple-Amish-Mystery/dp/0451413636/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3197769016

More on Isabella Alan's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/isabella-alan/