Plainly Murder

Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries .5

By Isabella Alan

ISBN# 9781101623961

Author’s Website:  isabellaalan.com

 

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Jeanie

 

Synopsis:

 

Welcome to Rolling Brook, Ohio, a quaint Amish community where life is less tranquil than it seems.

 

Angela Braddock has come to Rolling Brook to lend a hand at her Aunt Eleanor’s traditional Amish quilt shop. But when Eleanor’s quilting circle mourns the loss of their oldest member, Evelyn, they make a startling discovery about a tragic event in Evelyn’s past. More than a decade earlier, during a barn raising, Evelyn’s son Eric fell from the roof and died. Evelyn had always insisted that Eric was pushed, and now a clue in an old quilt convinces Angie to dig up the truth…and discover one of Rolling Brook’s darkest secrets. (from Goodreads)

 

Review:

 

Plainly Murder, a prequel novella in the Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries, is a delightful introduction to Angie Braddock, her Texan English bulldog pup Oliver, and her Aunt Eleanor and her friends in Rolling Brook, Ohio.  Eleanor had converted to the Amish church when marrying the love of her life and had no children of her own.  Eleanor owned a quilting shop, Running Stitch, for many years.  When growing up, Angie spent summers with her aunt and learned what she knew about quilting from her. It has now been a long time since Angie visited her beloved Aunt Eleanor, whose health is now failing, so she took a break from planning her wedding with her over-zealous mother and fiance in Texas. Seeing Rolling Brook through adult eyes after years in a huge city was quite a pleasant awakening!

 

Eleanor has a quest for Angie while in Rolling Brook, that she fulfill the final wishes of Eleanor’s late friend Evelyn.  This included delivering Evelyn’s quilt to the young woman who had dated her late son as well as find out who had murdered the young man several years ago by pushing him from the roof of a barn being raised.  Angie barges into some of the small town relationships and asks questions, meeting people and annoying many of the locals and the law enforcement.  Will Angie be able to make headway even while being deterred by the Amish who were at the barn raising that day?  Will anybody even speak of it any longer due to their practice to forgive and forget the past?  Aunt Eleanor’s friends and quilting circle members begin to accept Angie because of Eleanor, but they can’t quite get used to a very forward Englischer with a pet dog who wears color-coordinated winter clothing and footwear and is afraid of … birds?

 

Isabella Alan has a quirky sense of humor and a fine eye for detail.  I enjoyed reading the first-person perspective, and appreciated the lifestyle differences between a small town in the Midwest and a big, noisy desert metropolis.  While I have not experienced living in an Amish town or having Amish friends, it sounds that Ms. Alan has done her research well.  I very much enjoyed the challenge of trying to solve a mystery, especially in the Amish culture, before the answers were revealed.

 

And a challenge it is in the case of Plainly Murder, as the plot thickens with each new clue.  It was a blast to meet the residents of this wonderful little town and see their reactions to Angela and Oliver!   If there was anything at all that I was less than happy with, it was that I felt hurried through the adventure due only to the nature of a novella – short!  I absolutely look forward to the full-length novels to come!

 

I give this prequel to Ms. Alan’s new series two thimbles up!!  I highly recommend this to mystery lovers who like to read about the Amish lifestyle, quilting, female sleuths, or short cozies in general.  It is young-adult friendly, and can be enjoyed by adults of all ages.  This is one author who I hope will be writing for a very long time!