Murder, Served Simply: An Amish Quilt Shop Mystery by Isabella Alan

              I don’t know about you, but I’d be quite upset if anyone tried to push me into getting back together with someone I know isn’t right for me.  If that were to happen, I don't think I’d be as patient about it as Angie is with her mother.  Especially, since Angie’s mother goes to the lengths of bringing Angie’s ex-fiancé up from Texas to celebrate Christmas, without any agreement from Angie herself.  Not to sound callous, but in many ways, murder was exactly what Angie needed.              

                It’s Christmas time and Angie Braddock, owner of an Amish quilt shop, has her parents up from Dallas, TX to visit for the holidays.  Without consulting Angie first, they have brought along Angie’s ex-fiancé, Ryan, to celebrate with them.  At least her mother has.  Angie’s father does not seem to be in too much on the ploy her mother and Ryan have conjured up to get them back together.  Angie does her best to avoid Ryan, but with her mother trying to put them together at every turn, it is not easy.  That’s why, as terrible as it sounds, a murder comes along at the perfect time.  It gives Angie just the right excuse to avoid actually dealing with Ryan.

                Unfortunately, this time, the murder is much more personal to Angie than the others had been.  Not only had she recently met and liked the young woman that was killed, but the murder happened before her very eyes.  In fact, it happened in front of an entire audience. 

                Aspiring actress, Eve Shetler, had returned to her hometown to star in a play.  She grew up Amish in the community where Angie now lives, but she left that way of life to pursue her dreams in New York.  When the opportunity came up to star in an Amish play in her hometown, Eve jumped at it, not having any idea what was going to happen next.

                During one of her scenes, Eve is meant to be raised and lowered on a swing.  On opening night, the swing breaks and Eve falls to her death from a great height.  At first everyone thinks this was a tragic accident, but it does not take long for everyone to realize that is not the case.  The swing was sabotaged.         

                Having really liked Eve when she met her earlier in the evening, Angie becomes determined to solve the murder.  She takes time away from her parents and her shop to talk to every possible person who could have been out to hurt Eve.  Angie even goes so far as to talk to Eve’s estranged uncle, a man everyone says is crazy, something of which Angie can attest as she has encountered this man as well.  Dealing with this man proves that Angie will do pretty much anything to solve this murder, and avoid being with Ryan.               

                As much as I felt badly for Angie with the situation she was in, I really felt badly for Angie’s sort-of-boyfriend Sherriff Mitchell.  Angie has not told her parents about him, and with Ryan in town, he gets shoved into the shadows.  This was not fair for Angie to do to him, even if she did feel trapped between the two men and her mother.  Somehow, no matter how Angie tried to be a good person, she always ended up caught in a bad place.  This was especially true when Mitchell justifiably lost patience with the situation.  Constantly worrying about not hurting anyone, and avoiding things instead, Angie only ended up hurting everyone in the process.                      

                Despite the personal problems going on, Angie does a really good job investigating the murder.  While I’m sure some of the people she visited (some repeatedly) would have preferred Angie stop asking them questions, Angie knew she was doing whatever she could to find the right answer.  In the process, her personal problems were resolved.  It took longer than it should have, in my opinion, and things would have probably been easier on Angie had she taken care of things earlier, but in the end, everything was set right and for the better.