The Hidden One (Kate Burkholder, #14) by Linda Castillo

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Content: Strong language

 

The discovery of an Amish bishop's remains leads chief of police Kate Burkholder to unearth a chilling secret in The Hidden One, a new thriller from bestselling author Linda Castillo.

Over a decade ago, beloved Amish bishop Ananias Stoltzfus disappeared without a trace. When skeletal remains showing evidence of foul play are unearthed, his disappearance becomes even more sinister.

The town’s elders arrive in Painters Mill to ask chief of police Kate Burkholder for help, but she quickly realizes she has a personal connection to the crime. The handsome Amish man who stands accused of the murder, Jonas Bowman, was Kate’s first love. Forced to confront a painful episode from her past, Kate travels to Pennsylvania’s Kishacoquillas Valley, where the Amish culture differs dramatically from the traditions she knows. Though Bishop Stoltzfus was highly respected, she soon hears about a dark side to this complex man. What was he hiding that resulted in his own brutal death?

Someone doesn’t want Kate asking questions. But even after being accosted and threatened in the dead of night, she refuses to back down. Is she too close to the case―and to Jonas―to see clearly? There’s a killer in the Valley who will stop at nothing to keep the past buried. Will they get to Kate before she can expose the truth? Or will the bishop’s secrets remain hidden forever?

 

This was a good solid addition to the series. I enjoyed reading yet another part of Kate's past that gave more insight into what made her the person she is. I loved that Tomasetti was trusting and supportive and that their relationship continues to strengthen and endure. I'm really hoping that they take that next step and finally get married. 

I thought the mystery was good in this one. There was less of Kate jumping into dangerous situations head on, but still a lot of danger as someone was trying to hinder her investigation. It did get a bit unbelievable near the end where she finally puts everything together. I thought this situation could have been handled differently and more realistically, without all the drama that ensues. It wouldn't have taken away from anything to have left that last bit of danger and conflict out. By that time I was ready for things to wrap up, and didn't feel the need for yet another life threatening event, but overall, I enjoyed this book. 

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC of this book.

 

 

 

June Reading Challenge

The reading challenge for June was titled Series Love: make progress on or finish as many series as you can this month. 

Ok, so I had pretty lofty goals for this challenge. I had a huge list of books that I wanted to get read, which probably wasn't very realistic. I ended up reading seven of them, well almost. Realistically, that probably wasn't bad at all. 

I started the month off with the last book in the Kingdom of Birds and Beasts Trilogy by Alice Ivinya, Kingdom of Feathers. I thought this one would go fast and I would have my first completed series for the challenge out of the way. Well, it didn't exactly go the way I planned. I thoroughly enjoyed books 1 and 2 of this trilogy, and there really isn't anything wrong with book 3, but for some reason I've been almost forcing myself to read this book. This is the complete opposite experience I've had with every other book I've read by this author. Her books have been easy to read and hard to put down, until this one. I wasn't feeling it, and I think it's just my mood getting in the way. I can be a real mood reader at times. It may also be that the story has just been too drawn out for me. Trilogies, or quartets feel this way to me sometimes. I'm just ready for the story to be over and it's just not holding my interest any more. Either way, this is not a bad book and I'm about halfway through. I'll keep going at my own pace until I'm done, because forcing it doesn't work. So, no rating or review for this book or series, at least not now, but I did rate and review the first book in the series here.

 

Next up was the third book in the Lady Darby Series by Anna Lee Huber. I've been buddy reading this series on Goodreads in a mystery book club and enjoying it quite a lot. I've neglected to write any reviews of this series, but I think it's a nice historical mystery series that has a few cozy mystery elements to it. I've been listening to the audio versions because they are free for me on Hoopla, but I am not real crazy about the narrator. I like the main character a lot. She is dealing with some trauma from her past marriage, and I do hope that she is able to put it behind her soon. I don't mind the trauma being there, but the repetition of what happened, multiple times over three books has gotten old. I would like to start seeing more healing happen so that she can move forward more. I did feel like there was a little of that in this book, and I'm hoping in book 4 she can start looking forward to new things.

 

Series rating as a whole so far: 4 of 5 stars

 

Probably my most anticipated read for June was The Domino Pattern by Timothy Zahn. This is the fourth book in the Quadrail Series and I've been loving it. This author has quickly become one of my favorites. I've been reading these on my Kindle, but I've also just begun buying copies for my bookshelf. This is another series that I've neglected to write any reviews for. I'm not sure how that happened, because when I'm really loving something, I usually want to write a review for it. Anyway, I really love the idea behind this space train, and this book in particular was so good that it slapped me in the face with some reveals that I did not see coming! I also want to point out that The Domino pattern also has a Murder on the Orient Express feel to it that I loved. There's only one more book to go in this series, and when I'm done reading it I'll be sure to post a review for the whole series. 

 

Series rating as a whole so far: 4.5 of 5 stars

 

I've also been listening to this Steampunk Proper Romance Series by Nancy Campbell Allen for free on Audible Plus. I had already read book one and was able to get two more of them read in June, Kiss of the Spindle, and The lady in the Coppergate Tower. It's a nice light diversion and perfect for listening to when I'm cleaning or working on other projects. I particularly liked the second book in the series that was based on Sleeping Beauty. 

 

Series rating as a whole so far: 3.5 of 5 stars

I got another Cork O' Connor book read in June, Tamrack County, and now I'm down to only two left of the already published books in the series. After those two, I think that will be it for me with this series. It's a series I like ok, but I don't love it, and if you read my review of Windigo Island, then you already know my feelings on this series as a whole at this point. I do need to add here that I thought this book was better, and the bad guys were even of the opposite political persuasion this time around, so that was good. However, it seemed like they were not being painted as evil as the others because they had a "worthy cause" so that had me rolling my eyes. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with the cause or any political views from either side, nor do I have to always agree with the characters in the books I read. I just don't like when excuses are made for people's bad behavior. Anyway, another one of this series down!

 

Series rating: 3 of 5 stars

 

And finally, I read the second book in the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. I just posted a review on it on June 23rd so I won't say much here. I was unfortunately not crazy about this book any more than I was about the first book in the series, and I decided not to continue on with the series. I'm not going to rate this series as a whole because I've only read 2 books.

  

 

So that wraps up my June reading challenge. I'm glad I was able to make some progress on these series that I have going, and even weed one out.