Shadows of Lancaster County- Mindy Starns Clark

Shadows of Lancaster County
Mindy Starns Clark
Harvest House, Jan 2009, $13.99
ISBN: 9780736924474

Although she still suffers nightmares, she felt she paid her dues a long time ago when she left her Dreiheit, Pennsylvania Dutch home for California. Anna Bailey changed her name from Annalise Jenson and became a skip tracer. However, the call from her sister-in-law Lydia Jenson changes all that. Anna’s brother Bobby, the only person back in Amish country who had her phone number gave it to his wife last night telling her to use it if something happens; Bobby is missing.

Anna agrees to come home to search for Bobby although she ruefully knows her “J’accuse” past will surface in living color. In Dreiheit, Anna investigates the clues of her sibling’s disappearance and soon links him to missing rubies. As she gets closer to the truth of what happened to Bobby and the treasure, her fears grow that he is dead and if she survives somehow this time fleeing to the West Coast may not be stabling enough for her; however this time also there is Remy Villefranche and especially Reed Thornton.

This is an exciting Christian investigative suspense thriller that hooks the audience with the shocking opening proclamation, a terrific story line and a fabulous final twist. The story is fast-paced from the moment Anna knows Annalise is coming home and never slows down as she conducts her inquiry. Although the romantic subplot feels a bit forced, Mindy Starns Clark provides her grateful audience with a strong tale of redemption with deliverance from a fabrication by the more powerful.

Harriet Klausner