Murder Simply Brewed, An Amish Village Mystery

As a young girl growing up in a small Minnesota town, we had a tiny little library.  However, the collection of Nancy Drew, Box Car Children and Hardy Boys' Mysteries kept me going back each week to check out new books.  I loved mysteries!  I have always have.  And apparently, even though I am older than that little girl who read Nancy Drew, I still love a good mystery.

Vannetta Chapman has authored a great book for those who enjoy and love this genre.  And it mixes it up a bit with Amish and "Englisch" together side by side working to resolve the crime.

This book takes place in the Amish community of Middlebury, Indiana.  The setting is the Amish artisan village shop area where Amish items are sold.  Some of the workers are Amish and others are not. 

Hannah, an Amish girl working in a quilt shop arrives at work and notices the normal smells permeating from the coffee shop next door were not there.  She wonders why the difference and discovers that the proprietor, Ethan Gray had arrived to work that day and appears to have died in the coffee shop.

Hannah calls the manager of the Amish shops, Amber, and it would appear through police reports that a heart attack caused by vandalism would be the cause of death for Ethan Gray.  However, a continuing series of events occur which rule out death through health causes.  As the story progresses, new characters come into play which could be the possible perpetrators of the death of Ethan and the vandalism.

Hannah is asked by Amber to take over the work at the coffee shop and Hannah is concerned because she has never done this type of work.  She quickly catches on and the coffee shop begins to come back to life.  As the vandalism in the Amish artisan village continues there is no doubt that Ethan was murdered and Hannah and Amber combine efforts to find the answers to the mysterious happenings.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I love a good mystery and that it was!  I was taken in immediately into the lives of the characters of the book and enjoyed the sparks of romance that brought people's lives together in the book, as well.  A very well-written and enjoyable book.  And if you love a mystery, you will love Murder Simply Brewed!