BOOK REVIEW: Murder Tightly Knit by Vannetta Chapman

Murder Tightly Knit by Vannetta Chapman
Series: Amish Village Mystery #2
Published by Zondervan on December 16th 2014
Genres: Amish & Mennonite, Christian, Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Romance, Women Sleuths
Pages: 384
Amazon|Barnes&Noble|Goodreads

In a town where Amish and Englisch Mingle every day, a grisly murder leads to mutual suspicion. Can Amber and Hannah find the killer before fear unravels the community . . . and before he strikes again?

Even before she heard of Owen Esch’s death, Hannah Troyer knew something was amiss at The Cat’s Meow yarn shop. The store has been closing at odd times, the ever-dependable Mary isn’t always at her post . . . and an Englisch man has been loitering around back.

Now, as leaves of brown, gold, and orange blanket Middlebury, Indiana, Owen lies dead on the Pumpkinvine Trail. The only clues to the murderer’s identity point in two very different directions—one of them leading right to The Cat’s Meow.

The police call in a federal investigator, but Hannah and village manager Amber Bowman are in no mood to wait for them to figure out what they already know—that no one from the Amish Village killed Owen Esch.

Amber and Hannah need to work quickly to solve the murder mystery and bring harmony back to the Amish community.

Discussion Questions Included

I just have to pause for a moment before I jump into this book because. . .this was my 50th book of the year!  I’m almost halfway through my Goodreads reading goal and it’s still April, not for much longer but still for just now.  It’s yet another milestone of the year, and I get to share it with Vannetta!  OK, enough about me, let’s talk about this book.  The second book in the Amish Village Mysteries series ‘Murder Tightly Knit’ builds on the community and characters from ‘Murder Simply Brewed‘.  It’s been a couple months (for them and me!) and Hannah and Jesse are now more serious in their relationship while Amber and Tate are living their happily ever after.  And yet again, someone ends up dead under mysterious circumstances.

Here’s what sorta bugged me.  I get that murder in their community isn’t a thing that normally happens but they are still worrying and wondering over the death of Ethan (I mean I get it, the barista is vital to life sustainment – is so a word red squiggly lines of hate, it is! – but still) and it still clouds and winds its way into their everyday worries.  Another thing, Amber and Hannah have been down this road before, the need to solve a crime aside from law enforcement because they don’t feel heard.  However, they come across as these wishy-washy nervous Nelly’s half the time and too big and bold for their britches the other half.  I feel like they were jumping in both feet and then when their brains caught up they realized their folly.

Guess what?  I don’t really care about that whole paragraph above, and let me tell ya why.  First, while yes this story is not quite so ‘tightly knit’ with meandering thoughts and story-lines and potential killers and even characters it still builds a world that was engaging.  It was interesting see the different sides and takes on the idea of prepping (from the church group to Shaw who saw all preppers – including the entire Amish way of life – as anti government or individuals who were setting up the government to fail).  It was refreshing to have an Amish character who was not your typical squeaky clean and wholesome and well balanced as is usually portrayed in fiction.  This resonated with me because Amish is a faith, it’s a culture and a way of life but it’s also all about people.  People who are *gasp* human with all the foibles and quirks and even mental health issues that goes with humanness and the base of human nature.  I also loved seeing relationships (friendships and more than friendships) grow and develop.  I can’t wait to get into the next (and sadly final) book in this series!

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Posted By: Fizzy Pop · In: Amish Village Mystery, book review, Vannetta Chapman