Matchmaking can be murder . . .
When widowed Millie Fisher moves back to her childhood home of Harvest, Ohio, she notices one thing right away—the young Amish are bungling their courtships and marrying the wrong people! A quiltmaker by trade, Millie has nevertheless stitched together a few lives in her time, with truly romantic results. Her first mission? Her own niece, widowed gardener Edith Hochstetler, recently engaged to rude, greedy Zeke Miller. Anyone can see he’s not right for such a gentle young woman—except Edith herself.
Pleased when she convinces the bride-to-be to leave her betrothed before the wedding, Millie is later panicked to find Zeke in Edith’s greenhouse—as dead as a tulip in the middle of winter. To keep her niece out of prison—and to protect her own reputation—Millie will have to piece together a patchwork of clues to find a killer, before she becomes the next name on his list . . .
Release Date: Dec 31, 2019
Series: An Amish Matchmaker Mystery
Book: 1
Publisher: Kensington
Price: $6.99
Millie FIsher has a talent for knowing when two people are right for each other and is responsible for several successful matches in her Amish community. Millie is pleased when her beloved niece Edith calls off her wedding to Zeke Miller. However, when Edith finds Zeke’s dead body in the greenhouse she manages, Millie is afraid her niece will be blamed for the murder. Millie teams up with her childhood, non-Amish friend, Lois Henry, to find the real murderer and finds out she has a knack for sleuthing as well.
This book is the beginning of a new series that is set in the same location as the author’’s Amish Candy Shop mysteries. Some of the Harvest, Ohio residents from that series, including Deputy Aiden Brody, who leads the murder investigation are also main characters in the author’s other series. I haven’t read all the books in that series and still had no problems enjoying this book. Those who follow that series or fans of Laura Bradford’s Amish mysteries will want to get to know Millie better. She is a devout Amish woman, but isn’t afraid to speak her mind especially if she is defending a friend or family member. She has a habit of sprinkling Amish proverbs into her conversations and I appreciate the wisdom of those sayings.
Millie’s friendship with Lois makes this book even better that it would be without their teamwork. Lois is loyal and soft-hearted, underneath a brash, bold exterior. Some of the members of the Amish community aren’t sure how to take her, but Millie knows Lois well since they grew up on neighboring farms. When the two team up to solve Zeke’s murder and clear Edith’s name, the book really gets entertaining. There are more suspects than you would think since Zeke is a seemingly hard-working Amish man, but they learn the young man was keeping many secrets. This gives Millie and Lois plenty of opportunities to question suspects in their own unique way. It’s no surprise with these two friends on the case, the surprising truth eventually comes out.
Like most cozy mystery series, there is some light romance included as well. This works perfectly in this book considering Millie’s vocation as a matchmaker. There are a few different potential pairings that she is considering that I assume may play out in future books. There is even a hint of romance in the widowed Millie’s own future that I look forward to reading about. I think Matchmaking Can be Murder is an excellent start to a new series and look forward to the next book.
~ Christine
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