The Slabaugh disaster seems like an accident at first, but turns out to be murder. An excommunicated uncle wants to care for the kids, but he's strongly opposed by Amish Bishop Troyer and his congregants. The tragedy leaves four orphans - Mose (17), Salome (15), Samuel (12), and Ike (10) - whose custody becomes a contentious issue. Solly Slabaugh, his wife Rachel, and his brother Abel are found dead in the Slabaugh farm's manure pit, where the decomposing hog poop gives off deadly methane gas. In the midst of these incidents an Amish family experiences an unthinkable tragedy. This is followed by other hate crimes such as: a Molotov cocktail being hurled into an Amish buggy an Amish farmer being beaten, tied, and left out in the freezing cold an Amish teen being brutalized and slashed with a buggy whip a deliberately set barn fire that results in a death and so on. Like many minorities, the Painter's Mill Amish are sometimes subject to prejudice and abuse, and - as the story opens - a couple of thugs sneak into an Amish farm and slaughter four sheep.just for fun. Nevertheless, Kate understands and empathizes with the local Amish community, an insular group that avoids interaction with the 'English.'
Police Chief Kate Burkholder of Painter's Mill, Ohio was raised Amish, but left the fold after a traumatic incident in her teens. The book can be read as a standalone, but knowledge of the characters is a bonus. In this 3rd book in the 'Kate Burkholder' series, the Police Chief has to deal with a series of hate crimes as well as multiple deaths.
Together, they search for the link between the crimes-and uncover a dark secret at work beneath the placid surface of this idyllic Amish community. Because the other series of attacks are designated hate crimes, the state sends in agent John Tomasetti, with whom Kate has a long and complex relationship. Having grown up Amish, Kate is determined to bring the killer to justice. But who would want to make orphans of the Slabaughs’ children? And is this murder somehow related to a recent string of shocking hate crimes against the Amish? 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. 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. The Slabaugh family are model Amish farmers, prosperous and hardworking, with four children and a happy extended family. Police Chief Kate Burkholder is called to the scene of a horrific tragedy on a peaceful Amish farm.
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