A Perfect Square by Vannetta Chapman Series: Shipshewana Amish Mystery #2
Published by Zondervan on March 20, 2012
Genres: Amish & Mennonite, Christian, Fiction, General
Pages: 352
Amazon|Barnes&Noble|Goodreads
There’s more to the quaint northern Indiana town of Shipshewana than handcrafted quilts, Amish-made furniture, immaculate farms and close-knit families. When a dead girl is found floating in a local pond, murder is also afoot. And Reuben Fisher is in jail as the suspect! Reuben refuses to divulge any information, even to clear himself of a crime Deborah is certain he didn’t commit. So, with her English friend, Callie—fellow sleuth and owner of Daisy’s Quilt Shop—Deborah sets out to uncover the truth. But the mystery deepens when an elderly man seeks Callie’s help in finding his long-lost daughter, missing since the days of the 1965 Palm Sunday Tornadoes. An old man who has lost his past. A young man who may lose his future. Once again Deborah and Callie find themselves trying to piece together a crazy quilt of lives and events—one that can bring unexpected touches of God’s grace and resolve the tragedy that has shaken this quiet Amish community.
It should be no secret by now that Vannetta Chapman is one of my favorite authors. She takes a genre I appreciate, Amish Fiction, and mingles it with a genre I love, mystery, sprinkles a little bit of romance and a whole lot of faith and has yet to disappoint me. I reviewed the first book, ‘Falling to Pieces‘, in the Shipshewana Mysteries series back in June and it’s been an interesting journey to get from there to here. While the journey is important, getting into this series is a perfect stop along the way. We are back with Callie, and Max, and her friends as yet another death comes up in this small, relatively crime-less, Amish town. It’s not even been a year before the girls are tugged into another body, another death, and one of their own on the line for it.
I have to wonder if Callie ever thinks that perhaps moving to Shipshe was perhaps not the best idea. I mean, yes she finds new friends and a social life but geez Louise Merry Christmas she also finds herself enmeshed in a lot of death. It’s been mere months and another body finds it’s way into her life. She sure didn’t experience that in her isolated life in Texas. She’s also found a few eligible bachelors who might perhaps maybe have an interest in her. Again, didn’t happen when she was living in Texas, even if she’s not quite sure she’s ready for a relationship since her husband’s passing a couple years back. I guess you take the bad with the good? (And I swear on my fuzzy socks I literally was singing the Facts of Life theme song in my head while I typed that!) That being said I have to share a couple of things with you that I loved, not only about this book but all Vannetta books. First, this is not a ‘story’, this is a life. All the depth of things that happen around you every day are woven in. Though I’m super grateful that she doesn’t have us tag along on potty breaks, it’s literally the woven fabric of life. It’s so multidimensional. Callie is running her store and falling, maybe, in like and finding a body with her friends and making time for an old timer with a few memory hiccups who wants to find his daughter missing for decades that no one believes exists. Sound familiar? I mean not that I just ran down your life but just that everything swirls and whirls and stacks up around you while you are making breakfast and doing dishes and trying to figure out if you dog likes wearing bandanas to match your clothes or not.
And while you are living life and making plans things come together that no one ever saw coming. Who knew that senile old guy would help to solve the mystery of the body. Who knew that dress seams were such a big deal, or that someone would even notice?!? Not I for sure and certain. The second thing I love is that it’s not always sunshine and rainbows and happy endings. Sometimes when you do something wrong, even if it’s an accident, there are consequences. I’ve said for years, and the Minions hate it, that everything in life has consequences. Positive outcomes are still a consequence of our choices. I guess, in my mind, I’m trying to help them break the stigma of ‘consequence’ to realize that life is about outcomes. Give and take, positive and negative, natural and enforced; it all comes down to choices and outcomes. I can’t wait to visit Callie and Deborah and the rest of the Shipshe gang next month when I bring you ‘Material Witness’ the final installment in the Shipshewana Amish Mysteries series.
About Vannetta Chapman
She has sold more than one million copies and has written for Abingdon Press, Harvest House Publishers, Harper Collins Christian Publishing, and the Love Inspired line of Harlequin Books. She currently is focusing on her indie projects in the genres of dystopian thrillers, techno thrillers, and cozy mysteries,.
Vannetta has received numerous awards including the ACFW Carol Award for best mystery (Falling to Pieces) and Christy Award finalist (Anna’s Healing). Her recent release Against All Enemies is a finalist for the 2024 Daphne du Maurier award in mainstream mystery suspense.
Her educational background includes both a BA and MA degree in English from the University of Texas at Arlington. She has 25 years’ experience as a public-school teacher as well as an adjunct college professor. She also speaks to writing groups on how to get published, plotting your novel, what’s in a mystery, how to acquire an agent, and more.
Chapman currently writes and makes her home in the Texas Hill Country. She is represented by Nicole Resciniti of the Seymour Literary Agency.
Wanna share your thoughts? Leave a comment!