Lethal Licorice: An Amish Candy Shop Mystery by Amanda Flower

Image provided by Kensington Books.

             When I saw the second book in the Amish Candy Shop mystery series was coming out, I was eager to give it a try.  With a mix of characters who are Amish and English (Englisch), and those who live in the town and those from New York City, I was curious to see how everyone was going to get along in this second book.  I’m sad to say, not well.         

                New York City chocolatier Bailey King has entered the Amish Confectionary Competition in place of her deceased grandfather.  While this would not seem like a problem since Bailey does work in her family’s Amish candy shop, not everyone is happy Bailey is in the competition.  She is what the Amish call an “Englischer”.  Despite where she works, and being fully willing to follow the contest’s Amish candy making rules, some of the contestants do not like that a non-Amish person is in the competition.  The most vocal about her displeasure is Josephine Weaver.  She confronts Baily about her participation at the competition itself with the contest organizers in tow.  Despite Josephine’s protests, the organizers refuse to dismiss Bailey.  Upset over their decision, Josephine declares she will get Bailey disqualified, somehow, some way.

                Disqualifying Bailey is not a chance Josephine gets, though.  She is found dead inside of the church organ before she gets the opportunity.  Not only is Josephine found dead, she is found by her estranged niece, Charlotte, with Bailey standing nearby.  With both of the them not having the most pleasant of history with Josephine, both Bailey and Charlotte become the prime suspects in her murder.      

                While Bailey’s conflict with Josephine is about the contest, Charlotte’s is far more personal.  Charlotte is at the time in her life where she must figure out whether or not she wants to stay in her Amish community.  Her new deacon has declared the music Charlotte so enjoys playing to be wrong.  Charlotte does not agree, putting her at odds with her family and community, including her aunt Josephine.  The situation gets so bad, that eventually Charlotte is disowned.  With nowhere else to go, Charlotte moves in with Bailey and her grandmother.  It’s a sad situation, but after the death of her husband, caring for someone else is just what Clara King needs.

                Since Bailey is once again a suspect, and she feels protective of Charlotte, Bailey does whatever she can to clear both of their names.  She does this, while still competing in the confectionary competition and searching for the missing pig, Jethro.

                More accurately Bailey does the investigating and searching for the pig.  There is some competing, but most of the work is done be her assistant, Emily.  I don’t know how many times Bailey ran off while the competition entries were being made, leaving everything in Emily’s hands.  Sometimes Bailey’s disappearances were so bad that Emily would have to go search for her before the judges arrived at their table.  If Bailey was not there during judging, she could be disqualified.  With Bailey running off so much, I must say I found it disappointing that Emily got so little credit for their success in the end.

                Something else that was difficult to read was the hatred that kept getting directed towards Bailey from the Amish.  I’m not talking about only those in the competition, but from some outside it as well.  They were fully willing to listen to and believe the worst about Bailey, without ever asking Bailey if what they were hearing was true.  A lot of judgement was spread around, all without any of them knowing Bailey herself.

                While there were a lot of sad parts in this book, I would not call it a sad book.  There is a mystery to be solved and a pig to be found, after all.  Now that I think about it, for what is supposed to be a quiet Amish town, there sure is a lot going on.