Book Review: "Broken English" by P.L. Gaus

Synopsis from BN.com: The peaceful town of Millersburg, Ohio, in the heart of Ohio's Amish country, is rocked by the vicious murder of one of its citizens at the hands of an ex-convict. When a local reporter covering the story ends up dead as well, with the convict already behind bars, suspicion falls on David Hawkins, father of the first victim. But Hawkins is nowhere to be found, not even among the protective Amish colony that had taken him in as one of its own regardless of his shadowy past.

Following on the critical and popular success of his first book, mystery writer P. L. Gaus again brings us a moral and legal conundrum as Professor Michael Branden, Sheriff Bruce Robertson, and Pastor Cal Troyer set out to uncover the truth that seems so elusive in their otherwise quiet corner of the world.

I have really liked this Amish mystery series from P.L. Gaus. I had read the first book in the series last year and really enjoyed it because it was not the normal Amish book. In fact, after reading this book, I really think it needs to be marketed with the regular mystery novels and NOT with Amish books. Yes the Amish are present and that the suspected murdered had converted earlier in his life to the lifestyle. However, readers who are used to Amish romance and learning about Amish life aren't going to find them in these books.

Instead what they get is a darn good mystery. This story is about an a Amish man who has kept his past hidden until his daughter gets murdered. The thing I like most about this series is that the reader is not easily able to solve the mysteries in this book. Certain information is kept from them but it's realistically kept as the main characters who need to solve the case aren't aware of all the facts as well. This is important to me because I hate being solve a case so soon in the story as well as

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It's a bit short at less than 200 pages, but the story packs a big punch in the small amount of pages. As I said before, I didn't know the answer to the mystery so it kept me turning pages. I feel like the Amish are portrayed as real people and not just an idealized society in these books. I am looking forward to reading more in this series and following the adventures of this unlikely crime fighting team.

Broken English by P.L. Gaus is published by Plume (2010)

This review copy was provided by the publisher