Vigilantism is not the way to go

By Ande Jacobson

Linda Castillo’s tenth Kate Burkholder novel is A Gathering of Secrets. This time the Amish community goes full vigilante trying to right a horrible wrong. The prologue begins with the suicide of a young woman on the cusp of adulthood with her whole life ahead of her, though it takes some time to link it to an even bigger wrong in the community. The story begins in earnest six months after the suicide with a dramatic barn fire. It takes some doing, but the authorities eventually identify the one victim from the fire, a young Amish man just finishing his rumspringa. By all accounts, the young man was a pillar of the community. Initially, everyone Chief Kate Burkholder and her team talk with sing his praises saying what a tragedy it is that he died, how hard-working he was, and how nice and helpful he was. Despite the praises, Kate senses there’s more to the story of how and why Daniel Gingerich died in that fire. The investigation shows that his death wasn’t an accident. He was locked in the tack room with no way out when the fire was set. The big questions are why anyone would do something so horrific, and who was involved?

As Kate digs into the case, she uncovers a number of tightly held secrets. One is that the young woman who died in the prologue was betrothed to a hardworking young man and looked forward to her marriage and starting their family. They were saving themselves for marriage as is the rule among the Amish, but it also turns out that the young woman was pregnant when she died begging the questions of the circumstances and with whom that happened? Kate begins to uncover some further disconnects as well between the wholesome young murder victim described to her and something much darker. Kate eventually discovers that Daniel was actually a predator who sexually assaulted young Amish women, and many women in the community had been harmed by him.

Kate becomes conflicted. Her job as an officer of the law is to solve crimes, not evaluate the moral worthiness of a victim. Still, what he had done was so heinous that some might think he deserved what he got. For Kate, this brings back her personal history when she was attacked as teenager. She knows that vigilante justice is never the answer, and in the current case, there are soon far too many suspects among those Daniel hurt along with the family members of his victims.

Castillo delves into the fact that the Amish, while generally peaceful and community oriented, prize separation from the outside world even when they really should let the police handle serious, violent crimes. This separation can create some dicey situations when the Amish community tries to deal with such things internally using what could be considered biblical justice. She shows that the Amish are so very human, and the ills found in the outside world can also be found within the Amish community. When that happens, significant damage can be done. She also shows that sometimes, the strict rules the Amish live by can be extremely unforgiving and can cause great harm, such as when a young woman is attacked and the blame is thrown on her rather than her attacker. It’s particularly heartbreaking when those doing the blaming are the very people the victim trusts the most. Kate eventually uncovers that this is the case with the young woman from the prologue.

When Kate eventually solves the crime, she again faces a potentially life-threatening situation, this time escaping with only minor injuries. She’s disturbed by the resolution because in some ways she sympathizes with the actions the perpetrator(s) take, although she cannot condone them. She knows they are wrong even though she herself had done something similar (though in a less gruesome way) after being attacked as a teenager. In her case, she never faced any legal consequences for her actions, but it was a pivotal reason for her leaving the plain life when she did. In the current case, Kate cannot let the actions stand without consequence, and that haunts her.

Still, the story isn’t all tragedy. Kate is able to do something that greatly helps her mighty yet perpetually understaffed police department. She’s allowed to add a new patrol officer, and in recognition for her can-do attitude, enthusiasm, and studies, she promotes her night shift dispatcher, Mona Kurtz, to be that new officer. The guys are completely on board, and she again realizes that these people are her chosen family. They all do their utmost to support one another, and she’s truly at home with them. They are far more than colleagues. Even though Mona is promoted to her new position, she has to continue working the night dispatch shift until Kate can hire a replacement, something that turns out to be a rather difficult proposition carrying over to the next book in the series at least. If nothing else, it highlights just how important Mona is to the team. It will be fascinating to see how Mona’s role expands in future stories as she takes on a much wider variety of assignments.

Kate’s team includes:

Mona Kurtz – the night shift police dispatcher, and newest rookie officer
Lois Monroe – the day shift dispatcher
Jodie Metzger – the newly hired second shift dispatcher
J. Banks – formerly the youngest police officer on the team
Rupert “Glock” Maddox – a former Marine and Kate’s most experienced officer
Chuck “Skid” Skidmore – another veteran police officer
Ludwig Coblentz, the local coroner and physician
Roland “Pickles” Schumacker – a retired officer who serves as an auxiliary officer and brings a wealth of experience and expertise to any case
John Tomasetti – a BCI officer and Kate’s boyfriend

The primary Kate Burkholder series includes:

1. Sworn to Silence (2009)
2. Pray for Silence (2010)
3. Breaking Silence (2011)
4. Gone Missing (2012)
5. Her Last Breath (2013)
6. The Dead Will Tell (2014)
7. After the Storm (2015)
8. Among the Wicked (2016)
9. Down a Dark Road (2017)
10. A Gathering of Secrets (2018)
11. Shamed (2019)
12. Outsider (2020)
13. Fallen (2021)
14. The Hidden One (2022)
15. An Evil Heart (2023)
16. The Burning (2024)
17. Rage (2025)

There are also a few Kate Burkholder novellas beyond the primary series, but they are side stories and break from the formula and tone of the primary series though still involve Kate and company.

References:

Sworn to Silence, by Linda Castillo
Pray for Silence, by Linda Castillo
Breaking Silence, by Linda Castillo
Gone Missing, by Linda Castillo
Her Last Breath, by Linda Castillo
The Dead Will Tell, by Linda Castillo
After the Storm, by Linda Castillo
Among the Wicked, by Linda Castillo
Down a Dark Road, by Linda Castillo
A Gathering of Secrets, by Linda Castillo