The Hidden One is the 14th book in the Kate Burkholder mystery series by Linda Castillo. Kate Burkholder is a Chief of Police with an Amish background. She had left the Amish community some time ago, but still has connections there. I have never read any other book in this series, but I did review another novel focused on an Amish protagonist. It was Her Fear, a romantic suspense novel by Shelley Shepard Gray. See my review of Her Fear here if you are inclined to do so. I received a copy of The Hidden One from the publisher via Net Galley.
We learn that Kate's significant other, John Tomasetti,works for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. I was curious so I decided to look it up on Wikipedia. I discovered something about its history that sounded very inappropriate to me. It was founded in 1921 as a record keeping facility, and convicts maintained the records. This meant they could potentially change their own records or even make sure they disappeared. Why didn't this occur to those in charge? It really sounds bizarre to me. I guess that this is another example of fact being stranger than fiction.
Kate has been asked to investigate the murder of an Amish bishop. A member of the Amish community is being held by the police because his hunting gun was found at the crime scene. His name is Jonas Bowman. The elders don't believe that Jonas could have committed this crime. Kate doesn't believe it either. She and Jonas were close when they were teens.
The police had arrested Jonas because he had accused the victim, Ananias, of having caused his father's death by heart attack. They argued very publicly. Jonas actually threatened Ananias. Then Jonas damaged Ananias' buggy and Ananias called the police. Two months later Ananias died. Jonas admitted that the murder weapon was his though he hadn't seen it for years. He said that he just lost track of it. He certainly looked like a likely suspect. On the other hand, the gun was kept right near the door. Anyone who knew that could have come in and taken it.
One of the characters belongs to a sub-sect called the Byler Amish. They have bright yellow topped buggies. I found a photo of a yellow topped buggy on Wikipedia that was from Belleville, Pennsylvania where this novel takes place. So I decided to include it in this review below.
There are mentions of certain characters who have a "funny accent" when they speak the Amish language, Deitsch. Such differences in speech play an important role in the plot of The Hidden One.
According to a Wikipedia article on the Pennsylvania Dutch language, most Amish settlers originally came from a region of Germany called the Palatinate. The Wikipedia article goes on to say that modern Germans who come from that region will be able to make themselves understood to the Amish in a limited way. Yet, it may cause the Amish to think that they speak Deitsch strangely.
The Hidden One took longer for me to read and review than expected. I have been distracted lately. I hope to be more focused on reading and reviewing going forward.
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