Matchmaking Can Be Murder if you’re Amish.
Amish matchmaker Millie is newly returned to town. Her first action is to convince her niece, Edith, to break off her engagement with Zeke. Edith was pressured by societal norms to find a new father for her three children after her husband’s recent death. But she isn’t in love with Zeke and is suspicious that her successful nursery may be Zeke’s sole motivation for marrying her. But then Zeke turns up dead and suspicion falls on Edith. What can a loving Aunt do but find the real murderer?
It’s interesting to see the rural Ohio town of Harvest from new eyes. Harvest is the same town featured in the Amish Candy Shop series. This is a spin-off of that series, which is one of my favorites and consistently gets 5 stars from me.
This book is just as well-written. It contains authentic and varied characters that you want to spend time with that feel like old friends already. The chief difference between the two series is perspective. In the Amish Candy Shop mysteries, Bailey is a non-Amish fish-out-of-water. Where the Amish Matchmaking Mystery series is from the point-of-view of an older Amish woman, who is just trying to help young Amish people find true love. Both heroines stumble across murders that they solve to protect their loved ones.
The author thoughtfully provides Millie with an Englischer named Lois to provide hilarious sidekick humor to Millie’s investigations. I also loved Millie’s two goats, Peter and Phillip, who provide slapstick comedic relief during the book. They are true “rapscallions” as Millie puts it.
If you enjoy humorous cozy mysteries with genuine characters in an unusual setting, you will love Matchmaking Can Be Murder. 4 stars!
Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.