Thursday, March 8, 2012

Missing by Shelley Shepard Gray

When one of her friends throws her backpack in the bushes because she's upset with her, Abby never expected it to land on top of a body...

Edelweiss and Harper Collins allowed me to download an ebook of this book for review (thank you).  It will be published on March 20th, so add it to your TBR list now.

This story is set in Amish country and I enjoy reading about that way of life.  I don't know a lot about it, so it's an education as well as a mystery for me.

It seems the dead man didn't have very many friends anymore.  He had originally been a good son, but then he found drugs.  No one in the Amish community wants to speak badly about him.  They wish he could be buried and forgotten.  But the law doesn't work that.

As the out-of-town cop who is helping the local cop makes his way around, he finds they don't want to talk him.  He also has trouble figuring out how to ask his questions so he doesn't offend them.  

While he's searching and asking questions, the last two people to see Perry alive locally are struggling to know what to say and what not to say.  This conflict leads to them talking to each other, even though Lydia is Amish and Walter is not.

This is a good read.  The author does a good job of giving every character a few problems to work their way through and that makes them seem so much more real.  My only frustration was that the story ended without solving the mystery.  I understand that this the first book in a series, but somehow it felt like it ended too soon.  I wanted to get death resolved in this book.  The personal relationships in this small community gives the author more than enough to write about in the future books.  I guess I'll have to read the next one and see if Perry's murder gets solved there.

My favorite part of reading about the Amish is that they are so practical about things.  That doesn't mean they don't make mistakes, but they're honest and forthright.  I like that in people.

Happy reading.

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