After Paul D. finds his old slave friend Sethe in Ohio and moves in with her and her daughter Denver, a strange girl comes along by the name of "Beloved." Sethe and Denver take her in and then strange things begin to happen. Set in rural Ohio several years after the Civil War, this profoundly affecting chronicle of slavery and its aftermath is Toni Morrison's greatest novel, a dazzling achievement, and the most spellbinding reading experience of the...

"Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates the brutal death of a young Amish man in An Evil Heart, the latest installment of the bestselling series by Linda Castillo. On a crisp autumn day in Painters Mill, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder responds to a call only to discover an Amish man who has been violently killed with a crossbow, his body abandoned on a dirt road. Aden Karn was just twenty years old, well liked, and from an upstanding Amish...

Tawawa House in many respects is like any other American resort before the Civil War. Situated in Ohio, this idyllic retreat is particularly nice in the summer when the Southern humidity is too much to bear. The main building, with its luxurious finishes, is loftier than the white cottages that flank it, but then again, the smaller structures are better positioned to catch any breeze that may come off the pond. And they provide more privacy, which...

James Goodenough, whose family had originally settled in Connecticut from England brings his family to Ohio to carve out a new life for them in the Black Swamp in 1838. As swamp fever gradually picks off their children and they wrestle daily with survival. This course will see their family engulfed in tragedy and fifteen years later we pick up with their youngest son, Robert who has been running west since the trying to escape his memories of what...

The Plank family moved from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to join the small Amish community of Painters Mill, Ohio, less than a year ago and seemed the model of the Plain Life. On a cold October night, the entire family of seven is found slaughtered on their farm. Police Chief Kate Burkholder and her small force, assisted by state agent John Tomasetti, have few clues, no motive, and no suspect. Formerly Amish herself, Kate is no stranger to the secrets...

The Slabaugh family are model Amish farmers, prosperous and hardworking, with four children and a happy extended family. When the parents and an uncle are found dead in their barn, it appears to be a gruesome accident: methane gas asphyxiation caused by a poorly ventilated cesspit. But in the course of a routine autopsy, the coroner discovers that one of the victims suffered a head wound before death--clearly, foul play was involved. But who would...

"Married for eight years with no children to help fill her days, Heidi Troyer cooks up the idea of teaching classes in the art of Amish cuisine in her Holmes County, Ohio, home. But it is a recipe for drama when five very different men and women answer the advertisement. Charlene Higgins is engaged, but to the despair of her fianc'̌s family, she can't cook. Kendra Perkins, a teen estranged from her family, is facing an unwanted pregnancy alone. Loretta...

"Linda Castillo follows her instant New York Times bestseller, Shamed, with Outsider, an electrifying thriller about a woman on the run hiding among the Amish. Chief of Police Kate Burkholder's past comes back to haunt her when she receives a call from Amish widower Adam Lengacher. While enjoying a sleigh ride with his children, he discovered a car stuck in a snowdrift and an unconscious woman inside. Kate arrives at his farm and is shocked to discover...

Rachel Mast is doing all she can to keep her life together one year after the tragic death of her husband. Against the Amish traitions she was raised with, she is running her small farm and raising her twin boys on her own. And for the first time in a long time, Rachel is happy.

Grace Hostettler, having put her rumschpringe, or running-around years, behind her four years earlier, is engaged to marry a gentle young man in her Amish community in Holmes County, Ohio, when an Englisher who knows things about her she would like to keep secret shows up and threatens to destroy her future.