An Evil Heart by Linda Castillo

I love Linda Castillo.  Not in a romantic way.  But as one of my favorite authors.

When people ask me for my favorite author, I don't have one, but I have many. And one of the best is Linda Castillo.  She and Dana Stabenow are always at the top.

She writes a compelling mystery and each new book in her Kate Burkholder series is as good as the first.  This is not true for all of the series that I enjoy.  One of the best parts is how Kate grows and changes over time.  This is also true of Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak.  The experiences they have is manifested in their characters and I truly love this.  The characters written by Jack Reacher and Stephanie Plum are pretty much the same in each book. 

In Castillo's newest book, An Evil Heart, Police Chief Kate Burkholder once again has a murder to solve.  A young, well liked Amish man has been killed by a crossbow and she needs to find the killer while still planning her wedding.  Murder investigations take whatever time is necessary and this adds a nice back story to the darkness of a terrible murder.

In typical fashion, Kate dives in to solving the murder and uses her knowledge of the Amish community to her advantage.  

I truly love this series.  As with most series, I suggest starting with the first book and reading in order. Sworn To Silence is the first one, so start there.

Splintered Silence by Susan Furlong

  

I just finished Splintered Silence by Susan Furlong.  It is a murder mystery involving Irish Travellers ( also known derogatorily as gypsies), Marines, Cadaver dogs and PTSD.  There is a small resemblance to Linda Castillo's Kate Burkholder series.  Both books involve women who belong to a group of people belonging to a closed community that tends to keep to themselves and avoid outsiders.  Burkholder is a former Amish that is now a Chief of Police is a community with many Amish.  Brynn Callahan, from Splintered Silence, is a former Marine that left her Irish Traveller community in Bone Gap, Tennessee.  Both have experienced trauma from within their community and then got no support when they tried to get help.

It is also interesting that the titles in both series have started with the word Silence.  Both the Amish and the Travellers tend to avoid other people and try to solve problems within the community without calling in outside help, like the police.

Brynn was an MP and K-9 handler in the Marines and was deployed 3 times to Iraq and Afghanistan.  She and her service dog  were both injured in an explosion and Brynn was medically discharged.  She was able to get her HRD (Human Remains Detection dog) and has gone home to her Traveller community  after being fired from 3 jobs because of fallout from her PTSD.  There are not a lot of services for PTSD and even fewer for female service members.  She ends up relying on prescription drugs and alcohol to mask her symptoms.  Her dog, Wilco, has lost a leg, is now deaf and also suffers from PTSD.

Shortly after returning to her grandparents home, Wilco discovers a body in the woods behind the mobile home community where they live.  Soon another body is discovered by the dog near the mobile home park. The settled community, those that are not park of the Traveller clans, are outraged and use this opportunity to protest against them.  Wilco has been instrumental in recovering the bodies, and Brynn has to navigate the line between helping the sheriff find the serial killer and hurting her family by cooperating with the authorities.  It becomes personal when she discovers a connection to both of the victims.

The bodies and the violence of the protests are all triggers for Brynn's and Wilco's PTSD.

I like a good mystery and appreciate when I can learn a bit about a different culture. The incidents of PTSD were realistically and respectfully handled.  I'm looking forward to the next book in the Bone Gap Travellers series.

After The Storm

 

I recently read the latest Linda Castillo book.  She is one of my favorites authors and I look for her latest book each year.  I hate it when an author takes more than a year to finish a book.  Don't they know I am waiting impatiently?

Castillo writes a series about a former Amish who is also Chief of Police in Painter's Mill.  That is a blessing and a curse when dealing with the local Amish population.  She can speak Pennsylvania Dutch and understands the culture, but a lot of them don't trust her because she left the church and even some of her family still shuns her.  When she comes around as a detective, they are obligated to speak to her.

I recommend starting with Sworn To Silence, Castillo's first book in the series.  It helps to see the progression of her character development as Burkholder works her way through some traumatic events in her past that lead her to leave the church.

After The Storm takes place after a tornado roars through Painter's Mill.  During the clean up a body is found.  The Amish are generally a peaceful people, but they have the same human emotions and fears of all people and someone is trying to stop Burkholder from discovering the truth about the dead body. 

At the same time the investigation takes place there is a disruption in her personal life as she and State Agent Tomasetti hit a bump in the road.

I prefer a novel to have some emotional depth and not just be a police procedural.  Castillo excels at this and her books never disappoint.